“I am convinced the devil lives in our phones.”
“We thought we could control it,” Mr. Anderson said. “And this is beyond our power to control. This is going straight to the pleasure centers of the developing brain. This is beyond our capacity as regular parents to understand.”
It is possible that Mr. Anderson is crazy. I’m just throwing it out there.
While I am generally skeptical of most ‘science’ that is produced today, and definitely wary of any silicon valley trend, I always research the facts and judge the message based on the value of the content and NOT whom is saying it.
Just because silicon valley is full of paedos and junkies doesn’t make the essence of the message any less truthful. There is significant research indicating that smart devices are altering brain structures, permanently so as the age is reduced. Do some research and look at some of the MRIs that we have comparing children over years with and without screen addictions. We are losing the ability to remember facts and being conditioned to perpetually seeks short term gratification. No, this is NOT the same as when newsprint was developed or TVs introduced. This technology is orders of magnitude more addictive than any other that has come before it.
Anyone with a face not cemented to their phone’s screen has noticed the zombification of the public, whether at the mall, at the rink, at a restaurant, anywhere. Particularly for children, in their effort the make their parenting lives as easy as possible, many parents are giving devices to their children as soon as they are able to hold it.
This does not mean that one must go hardcore and throw away all screens; however, parents (and primarily parents) must resist the temptation to put a screen in front of their kids to keep them passive. I’ve seen kids turn into feral animals when their devices are taken away, don’t try to tell me this is nothing!
I had breakfast this morning in a small restaurant in Timmins, Ontario. Across from me sat a small child and her mother. The mother was on her cell phone the entire time, totally ignoring her child who had only a menu to play with. I had to make faces at the little girl to make her smile and her mother never noticed.
There is no doubt that cell phones and ipads are changing behavior. I will ignore the MRI evidence as I’ve heard this nonsense repeated many times over the years and it never goes anywhere.
Humans are constantly adapting to new technology. Back in the 1930s and later in the 1950s when the radio and television were brought into people’s homes I have no doubt there were many parents ignoring their children and still many more worried about the effects the new technology would have on the children.
Cell phones cause cancer, microwave ovens cause cancer, overhead power lines cause cancer…now cell phones and ipads are changing children’s brains. There used to be a time when being fat and smoking were considered unhealthy. We are now looking under the smallest rocks in hope of finding the biggest cause (of things we can fear).
You are right to be skeptical of at least fMRI studies. One of the most overrated pop-science fads of our time.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3061577/20-years-worth-of-fmri-studies-may-be-bunk-thanks-to-a-software-error
Even if this those positives aren’t false, having a part of your brain ‘light up’ really doesn’t mean all that much.
Well, there you have it. UnMe has spoken, so go ahead and shove the phone right up your azz and into your brain, it’s good for you.
You can ignore the MRIs if you want. You can ignore the walking dead. You can assume smartphones are just like TV, no harm no foul.
I am sure it will all turn out fine, resume the sleepwalk…..
What’s the difference between what those people do and drug pushers? Both peddle a form of addiction which they themselves won’t use.
I’m reminded of the line by Walter White in Breaking Bad:
“I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger.”
What they feel threatened by children with the attention span of a gnat?
What is wrong with these people?
Good thing they still want to censor the net,to help prevent wrong-think in the common folk.
It’s a different world, all us boomers are old fogies now. I use my phone as a phone, and texting is like having a mobile office.
I don’t watch movies or play games or go online much. I listen to music during my workouts with wireless headphones.
Very convenient and a boon to business; but I’m still an old fogie. Anyway, good luck winning that one for the grandkids, poppa!
You’ll pry my flip phone from my cold, dead hands.
And your two wheel drive pickup! ~:D
I just bought new flip phone in case I lose the one I am using. Afraid there won’t be any more when I need a new one.
I admit to being on the fence with this one. I grew up running in the hills and creeks of my semi-rural suburban town. I was obsessed with building models (everything from customized cars to WWII planes … both plastic and wood), stamp collecting, music (guitar) and fishing. My friends and I built our own forts and had mudball “wars”. I feel I did just about everything a suburban kid could do. And … I also watched quite a bit of TV.
I honestly believe I had a healthy mix technology (of the day), and a good old fashioned … diverse … childhood. I was a latchkey kid, so my brother and I had to learn how to entertain ourselves. I remember going to my brothers older friend’s home and helping him build a still. Yep. Built a home distillery in middle school … it was quite educational (and undrinkable).
I feel profoundly SAD for the children of today, who will never experience the broad, diverse, things I did as a kid. I know the “smells” of the seasons, from spring wildflowers to the sweet smell of the sycamores in winter … up close and personal. I crawled through the high, green, grasses of open fields. And yeah … climbed more trees, and balanced on more fallen trunks spanning creeks than you could imagine. Today’s Bay Area kids? None of that. Not one bit. No wonder these young video screen shut-ins “believe” in global warming … they’ve never felt the actual temperature of natural world on their skin.
I’m not anti-technology … but I have NO DOUBT that Satan lives in our video screens. If I were raising my kids today … I would definitely keep them off the CRACK of the video screen (and selfie video cam). As with many things … Star Trek got it exactly RIGHT …
https://dai.ly/x5ep6hg
Yes, my brother and I were massive Star Trek fans in 1964. Watched it on the video screen … only after our homework and an exhaustive romp outside.
Lamenting “the state of childhood these days” is such a tedious exercise. There’s always some segment of every generation that thinks everything is all going to hell in a hand basket. They’re always wrong.
” …They’re always wrong.”
No, you were right up to that point. But eventually a generation come along that is right about that, it does all go to hell in a handbasket. And there is always an element that says what you just said. They are right, generation after generation until … they are proved wrong.
I certainly never said today’s kids are going to Hell in a handbasket … in fact, I’d say the ultra wealthy children of these elite Silicon Valley parents who are being deprived of their “smart” phones have it pretty damn good. While I crawled around in the grass … these kids are skiing in Vail.
But they aren’t like most of today’s kids … who sit on the couch playing violent video games all day long … or use social media to torment the cute girl who you don’t like. Now THAT’S tedious!
This is beyond our capacity as regular parents to understand.
No, it’s not. Thirty-five years ago, I heard “That’s enough TV, now go play outside and don’t come back until dinnertime” every Saturday morning.
This story isn’t really about “screen time”. It’s about parents who won’t parent their children.
“This story isn’t really about “screen time”. It’s about parents who won’t parent their children.”
Bingo!
Thirty-five years ago the TV also went straight to the pleasure centers of the developing brain. No difference.
TV thirty-five years ago wasn’t interactive.
Neither is the ‘passive’ stuff the parents are freaking out over in the linked piece. Gaming too much is hardly a new concern either that’s more recycled hysteria.
And then blame the teevee for the fact Johnny’s autism is so bad he’ll end his days in an asylum.
Sounds like the Ideal way to develop NPC communication skills……No human interaction
This is a “fad-of-the-moment” tech executives in Silicon Valley we’re talking about. Guys who are hilariously wrong about everything to do with humanity, all the time. The same guys who believe in cold-pressed juicing to cure cancer.
What are the chances they’re wrong about this too?
” Guys who are hilariously wrong about everything to do with humanity, all the time. ”
So much so that they make billions of dollars.
I love watching you argue both sides at once. It’s like fine art.
Sour grapes. If social media had not put Donald Trump in the White House, if it were not able to expose Deep State coverups within hours, if Silicon Valley were not staring anti-trust rulings (as Kate recommends) and even expropriation (as I recommend) in the face, we would not be hearing about banning the cellphone “for the children.”
For the love of the God Mark Zuckerberg swears doesn’t exist, they have some jackass from the “foundation” he set up to evade taxes giving quotes here.
I’m definitely not a brain scientist, but my theory is, an excessive reliance on pictures to amuse or inform children undermines their verbal abilities. In particular, I think young people use the word “like” as often as they do because it mimics the strategy employed by film makers in telling stories. Unlike a novelist, a film maker doesn’t rely exclusively, or even mostly, on words to convey the feelings of his characters. Often, he simply shows you a situation and lets you draw your own conclusions. So it is with young people today. Rather than search for words to describe how they felt in a particular situation, they say “like”, and then they slightly expand their narrative, which is usually limited to external, observable (i.e., film accessible) actions, in the hope that you’ll draw the correct conclusion regarding their internal thoughts and feelings. If you read the article, you’ll note that even those parents who fear screen addiction use the word “like” excessively. The insidious effects of this technology have been operative for quite a while.
4G phones are a great tool to make life easier but I have noticed a couple of things about the social media part of them that personally I avoid. Too much social media makes children AND adults grumpy and irritable.
eons ago I realized the hypnotic effect of telebision. unlike radio which provided a perky tune of mebbe some Beethoven IN THE BACKGROUND whilst the listener proceeded to be productive, unlike the ‘boob tube’ which DEMANDS (present tense!) FULL attention incl the eyes.
thus the hypnosis. unless it’s possible to hypnotize solely via sense of hearing. and Im not referring to brainwashing, related but different.
when the hype hype hype came out about the commodore64, I bought into it for a while, but soon started telling my private school class that similar to everywhere else, roughly HALF of the hype you hear about computers is BULLSHIT propaganda meant to shame you into spending thousands of dollars so your privileged progeny are not ‘deprived’.
Ive never had an iphone, dont even have wifi in my house, this colossal waste of time. if you see a posting from me its via my access @ the local library. that aint gonna change unless somebody will volunteer to finish all the drywall, do the final hookup of the upflush 1/2 bathroom downstairs, sand and varnish the recycled t&g oak living room floor and shingle the roof.
etc etc.
sign of the times !!! hey digital brat, obesity beckons !!!
Anybody still remember when video games were Rotting The Minds Of Today’s Youth!!! and we needed legislation to stem the tide? A whole generation was going to grow up as insane serial killers!!!!
Notice how nobody is talking about that anymore?
This is the same as that.
Oh and by the way, about brain plasticity. The brain changes to match what you’re doing all the time. If you change what you’re doing, it changes too. Treatment for stroke depends on this trait.
So if the kid really does have changes in the brain from using an iPad (which I strongly doubt) then as soon as the kid stops, as in when they get a job flipping burgers because that’s all they’re trained for, those structures will change to match the new environment.