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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?
The theme repeats. :)
Don't just stand there, get that other dog!
People have complaining about the youth having something wrong with them since before the trial of Socrates. There's always something to blame, be it a philosopher, books, video games, or smartphones. People will talk down about a generation until that generation gets old enough to have power in society. Then, they will in turn talk down to next generation. Circle of life I suppose.
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.
Better question: Will any generation not insist their children are going to inevitable ruin for the technology they adopt?
Happens every generation
Modern phones objectively allow folks to do things on the go, that they haven't ever been able to do before. Folks are still learning what NOT to do, but for the most part, they're safe, and much less dangerous than other similar disruptive technologies.
Flamebait article.
Ryan Fenton
Facebook opened up to everyone around the time the iPhone came out, and increased Facebook/social media usage has been correlated with loneliness and depression. Many people use their smartphone to access social media. It might be that social media usage doesn't cause loneliness and depression, and it's only a correlation, but only a correlation was found between these and smartphone usage as well.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
I'm old enough to know the before/after here -
... and we'd come up with smalltalk and jokes to pick things up and get the conversation moving again which brings out people's personalities and depth
Before the smartphone I'd go out to dinner with family and friends and eventually the conversation would inevitably die and
Now? We check our smartphones.
The problem is nobody learns the basic smalltalk skills anymore and the people you're with are "real" and not as interesting and entertaining as the 50 people in your facebook friends list who can always keep you going. It breaks down "social structure" in lieu of a social artifice in the "virtual" world.
I'm not immune to this and have done it myself but I would've easily done the same thing growing up as a teen and probably never learned how to hold a conversation.
There's always some old crank with too much time on his hands
Except in this case the "researcher" is SELLING BOOKS, and actually profiting from her viewpoint. But I am sure her high integrity keeps the profit motive from interfering with her objectivity.
I think it's the rapid adoption that's the problem, not the smartphone itself.
If in some alternate timeline smartphones had taken 20 years to become affordable enough for mass adoption, we probably would have merged them into our lives differently and more thoughtfully, better avoiding or adapting to some of the negatives associated with them.
But instead, they were adopted by nearly everyone simultaneously, along with a land-rush of novel social applications, and we're not necessarily done sorting out what are good uses and not so good uses, in addition to re-structuring our social habits to align with the capabilities of a smartphone.
It's kind of like liquor and indigenous populations that have never been exposed to it. Europeans and other alcohol-informed cultures had millennia to adapt to alcohol consumption, and for the most part have -- structuring social rituals and institutions to more or less train people on how to handle alcohol. Indigenous populations had none of these things and then their culture adopted alcohol all at once, and it was disastrous for them, as you might expect any addictive and toxic drug given to an uninformed population might be.
The mistake always made by those making this argument is assuming an unchanging world. My observation is that the under 30 folks are operating under completely different rules than what I grew up with. Interestingly, I am as locked out of their world as they are from mine. There are many millenial companies that basically won't hire folks over 30.
They may be less confident in in-person social interactions, but if that is not what dominates their world when they get to power (20-30 years from now when they are in their 50s and 60s), then it won't matter. And if that is not their skill, then it WILL NOT be what dominates their world. The "world" is adjusted by each generation to fit their skills and mindset when they take over the reigns. Those who do not have the strong electronic communications skills will be the ones kicked to the curb.
I know everyone is making themselves feel good by pointing out the obvious that every generation thinks their descendants will be the ruin of the world. I've heard plenty of it.
But I'm not so sure they aren't at least a little right about smartphones and smart devices. And the reason I think this is because it doesn't just affect the "new generation". I've seen entire families, from eldest to youngest, all glued to their screens at dinner, outside, everywhere. Times when you would be interacting, thinking to yourself, using your mind, etc. It allows you to be force fed stimulation, like a foie gras of the mind. It is turning us into "push" consumers, allowing material, content, and even values and principles to be pushed on us, willingly. It seems every new invention of technology ups the ante on this just a little bit more.
The stimulation is addicting. Your mind gets accustomed to a certain level. And once it drops below that, you reach for your phone. You know there's a silly meme, a new snapchat, and goofy video, a mindless game, a funny video, all just waiting to amuse you.
Now days, if you are sitting alone somewhere in quiet contemplation and you AREN'T swiping away at your cell phone, you look like the one out of place. Balk all you want, but I'm not sure this a good thing this time, folks...
Complaining about too much screen time misses the point.
The problem has never been 'too much video games' or 'too much facebook'. The problem is 'Not enough meaningful activities that improve ones quality of life". As long as any given individual is doing something that is personally fulfilling, and as long as they put enough time and effort into those things, it really does not matter how they use the rest of their time.
But if a random person has few friends, no hobbies, and lacks the means and opportunity to find and pursue something of interest to them, they are going to be depressed and isolated.
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