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Slashdot Asks: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (theatlantic.com)
Teens today are more likely to be lonely, depressed and immature than any previous generation, according to analysis published in The Atlantic. According to the professor of psychology who did the analysis, who also has been researching generational differences for 25 years, the culprit is the smartphone. From the article: The advent of the smartphone and its cousin the tablet was followed quickly by hand-wringing about the deleterious effects of "screen time." But the impact of these devices has not been fully appreciated, and goes far beyond the usual concerns about curtailed attention spans. The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers' lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health. These changes have affected young people in every corner of the nation and in every type of household. The trends appear among teens poor and rich; of every ethnic background; in cities, suburbs, and small towns. Where there are cell towers, there are teens living their lives on their smartphone. What do you folks think?
My kids were introduced to cell phones and tablets and a young age, and I noticed withing a few months that they started to be less confident with social interactions than they should be for their age. For example, slight fear to talk to the lady at the drive-through for a cheeseburger.
As soon as I noticed the deficiency, I made immediate changes to their phone/tablet time and forced them into social interactions that would be suitable for their age. The changes helped significantly. As time passed, and phones/tablets became more prevalent, it became clear to me which parents had devoted any attention to how the devices were impacting their children.
Let's make like a bird... and get the flock outta here.
I'm all for having real data and robust analysis, but it doesn't take a science paper to tell me not to experiment with walking off a cliff or holding my hand in a fire. It also doesn't take a science paper to tell me that it's not a healthy situation when a generation of young people are so obsessed with their phones that they don't get proper sleep, can't concentrate on anything important, lack even a basic level of fitness, and would rather spend a huge proportion of their lives communicating with their "friends" in short messages punctuated by emoticons than doing anything more constructive.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
it doesn't take a science paper to tell me ...
If any of the things you insist are "obvious" were actually true, then it would be easy to support them with actual data ... yet you can't.
The state with worst obesity and lowest academic test scores is Mississippi. The state with the lowest ownership of smartphones is ... Mississippi. Many of the ills you describe are not even correlated with smartphone use.
No, it doesn't.
Your approach is simplistic borderlining retarded, and I don't try to be offensive (but I might succeed, that's entirely your opinion).
There's a gazillion differences between past "disruptive" inventions and smartphones.
1. Past inventions were not close to you everywhere. Books arguably could have been, but they were never considered disruptive.
2. Past inventions were very far from having the level of interactivity smartphones have.
3. Past inventions were not actively begging for your attention (aka notifications).
4. Past inventions wouldn't actively punish you if you would stop interacting with them, and this is a BIG issue with smartphones, or rather the games residing on them. Most games do punish you if you don't play them, and that's plain evil. "Play every day or you'd lose this bonus", "Your villagers miss you", "Planet X will soon start a rebellion because you haven't logged in today", etc.
5. Past inventions weren't all-in-one replacements for a multitude of activities. You couldn't interact with your neighbor Jack through TV, radio or a book. Now you can, through your smartphone.
There you go, some of the many reasons that make smartphones a lot more dangerous to people's development than past inventions.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)