I saw him being interviewed last week and found what he said both deeply unsettling, but also heartening. It seems that finally the adverse impact of social media is gaining more attention and do think that, in years to come, we will look back in horror at how we allowed it to happen.
This is a fascinating topic, technology for me is now more of a tool, back in my teens and early twenties, my friends and I wasted so much time playing games on our PC's NES, PS1 etc. (I am a Gen X) but as I am a gardener, conservationist, wildlife volunteer, and keen walker, I soon left all that behind. I now have daughters who are twelve and started secondary school last September, they had to have a smart phone, as their maths is all done on an app, and they have another app for the school timetable, homework updates, house points, assembly's and detentions etc. my wife and I have to have this app as well so we can keep track of how their school is going. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not. We do use a google app which allows us to monitor their phone use but luckily they don't spend much time playing games on them, they would rather play together, or read a book (we are all great book lovers).
I do use a lot of wildlife reporting apps, and identification apps for they are useful, and although I do make use of social media I only like Instagram as it is not so toxic as the others but I can end up scrolling down a rabbit hole. It can be a time waster. people do seem to rely to much on tech, phones especially, I see people walking around my workplace and the Roe deer will be grazing in the meadows and Staff wander past head bowed over their phones, and miss it all. Sad.
Thanks for sharing so honestly and compellingly - I suppose in one sense I’m even more fortunate - to have lived a childhood and early adulthood without digital tech - and you are right I can see so clearly those healthy benefits. As an educator for 30yrs I share your deep concerns about its pervasive and even visceral influence on young people who seem to feel they have no choice but to succumb. Related aside - I walk our boy dog every night before bedtime (9-10) and a lovely neighbour of ours has three children - the oldest now 14/15. Often she is on the swing in the garden in the dark - and I think back to my childhood and how lovely being out in our garden at night was - usually kicking a ball against a wall - I now realise it was an emotional and sensory regulation activity (!) and I thought our neighbour’s daughter was doing the same (it was like an awww moment) - she attends a v pressured academic school… and then one night I saw the illumination of a digital screen. Presumably she goes to the swing to spend time on her phone… in a sense it became a sad and almost despairing vision of the future - the dark skies foregone in lieu of the mendacious screen. I used to lament schools that outright banned mobile phones as a draconian step - now perhaps I’m not so sure…. I do love my digital tech - here I am: able to read your wonderful posts on Substack; reply or respond in writing whilst listening to a new (for me) digital discovery- the brilliant post-hardcore jazzy Karate (check them out!), but then I realise its dark allure - as a musician and indie artist I too struggle with the apparently necessary self-promotion via soc-med. I guess it’s a case of being with lumped with it; using it responsibly and with discipline and keeping those notifications off! And I will get and read the book.. 🙏🙏
So interesting- yes convinced that tech can be harmful. Susan Greenfield the neuroscientist was doing research years and years ago on how new tech was re wiring brains, especially young brains. It was fascinating but I don’t think anyone was listening.
I love this topic too and read most of the books on it. I’ll add this one to the top of my TBR!
It really is a shame what the internet and social media has done for the younger generations. My 16 yo grew up with it. Her 1st grade class handed out iPads that they’d take home and do homework on. It continued every year until they got chromebooks in middle school and now high school. When I’d wait for her after school when she was in 4th grade (9yo) I’d see 5th and 6th graders leaving and texting and looking at things on their iPhones! I dreaded the day she was going to ask for one because I knew it was coming.
She did in 5th grade and I got her an iPod to hold her over (she was the only one in her friend group with no phone at this point) because she wanted to take pictures of her friends at school. This was the time musically came around (then switched to TikTok) and she and all her friends went on it. And it was truly the beginning of the end. It was cute at the time because it was all kids their age singing songs. When it switched to TikTok all of the teens and adults joined and turned it into what it is. Now she and her friends are still on it. Luckily my daughter is a browser and never posts anything but even still I hate it.
Starting in 7th grade her teachers expected the kids to have smart phones. They’d have to take pics of homework and email it and use it for the calculator in class and have classroom apps and things.
It became something parents couldn’t say no to because your kid would literally be the only one in class not able to do these assignments and other things.
It’s only escalated in high school. Now we have WhatsApp group chats for the sports team info and other stuff. If we didn’t have WhatsApp we’d be out of the loop for games and practices. It’s so annoying!!
I could go on but I’ll spare you 😅
I will say that I think the gen z is realizing what it’s done to them because I came across a YouTube video of a gen z person switching to a flip phone for a week so I watched it and then I kept seeing more of them on my suggestion page. There seems to be a collective epiphany.
I feel your rage! (And love it! 😂)
I saw him being interviewed last week and found what he said both deeply unsettling, but also heartening. It seems that finally the adverse impact of social media is gaining more attention and do think that, in years to come, we will look back in horror at how we allowed it to happen.
This is a fascinating topic, technology for me is now more of a tool, back in my teens and early twenties, my friends and I wasted so much time playing games on our PC's NES, PS1 etc. (I am a Gen X) but as I am a gardener, conservationist, wildlife volunteer, and keen walker, I soon left all that behind. I now have daughters who are twelve and started secondary school last September, they had to have a smart phone, as their maths is all done on an app, and they have another app for the school timetable, homework updates, house points, assembly's and detentions etc. my wife and I have to have this app as well so we can keep track of how their school is going. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not. We do use a google app which allows us to monitor their phone use but luckily they don't spend much time playing games on them, they would rather play together, or read a book (we are all great book lovers).
I do use a lot of wildlife reporting apps, and identification apps for they are useful, and although I do make use of social media I only like Instagram as it is not so toxic as the others but I can end up scrolling down a rabbit hole. It can be a time waster. people do seem to rely to much on tech, phones especially, I see people walking around my workplace and the Roe deer will be grazing in the meadows and Staff wander past head bowed over their phones, and miss it all. Sad.
Thanks for sharing so honestly and compellingly - I suppose in one sense I’m even more fortunate - to have lived a childhood and early adulthood without digital tech - and you are right I can see so clearly those healthy benefits. As an educator for 30yrs I share your deep concerns about its pervasive and even visceral influence on young people who seem to feel they have no choice but to succumb. Related aside - I walk our boy dog every night before bedtime (9-10) and a lovely neighbour of ours has three children - the oldest now 14/15. Often she is on the swing in the garden in the dark - and I think back to my childhood and how lovely being out in our garden at night was - usually kicking a ball against a wall - I now realise it was an emotional and sensory regulation activity (!) and I thought our neighbour’s daughter was doing the same (it was like an awww moment) - she attends a v pressured academic school… and then one night I saw the illumination of a digital screen. Presumably she goes to the swing to spend time on her phone… in a sense it became a sad and almost despairing vision of the future - the dark skies foregone in lieu of the mendacious screen. I used to lament schools that outright banned mobile phones as a draconian step - now perhaps I’m not so sure…. I do love my digital tech - here I am: able to read your wonderful posts on Substack; reply or respond in writing whilst listening to a new (for me) digital discovery- the brilliant post-hardcore jazzy Karate (check them out!), but then I realise its dark allure - as a musician and indie artist I too struggle with the apparently necessary self-promotion via soc-med. I guess it’s a case of being with lumped with it; using it responsibly and with discipline and keeping those notifications off! And I will get and read the book.. 🙏🙏
So interesting- yes convinced that tech can be harmful. Susan Greenfield the neuroscientist was doing research years and years ago on how new tech was re wiring brains, especially young brains. It was fascinating but I don’t think anyone was listening.
I love this topic too and read most of the books on it. I’ll add this one to the top of my TBR!
It really is a shame what the internet and social media has done for the younger generations. My 16 yo grew up with it. Her 1st grade class handed out iPads that they’d take home and do homework on. It continued every year until they got chromebooks in middle school and now high school. When I’d wait for her after school when she was in 4th grade (9yo) I’d see 5th and 6th graders leaving and texting and looking at things on their iPhones! I dreaded the day she was going to ask for one because I knew it was coming.
She did in 5th grade and I got her an iPod to hold her over (she was the only one in her friend group with no phone at this point) because she wanted to take pictures of her friends at school. This was the time musically came around (then switched to TikTok) and she and all her friends went on it. And it was truly the beginning of the end. It was cute at the time because it was all kids their age singing songs. When it switched to TikTok all of the teens and adults joined and turned it into what it is. Now she and her friends are still on it. Luckily my daughter is a browser and never posts anything but even still I hate it.
Starting in 7th grade her teachers expected the kids to have smart phones. They’d have to take pics of homework and email it and use it for the calculator in class and have classroom apps and things.
It became something parents couldn’t say no to because your kid would literally be the only one in class not able to do these assignments and other things.
It’s only escalated in high school. Now we have WhatsApp group chats for the sports team info and other stuff. If we didn’t have WhatsApp we’d be out of the loop for games and practices. It’s so annoying!!
I could go on but I’ll spare you 😅
I will say that I think the gen z is realizing what it’s done to them because I came across a YouTube video of a gen z person switching to a flip phone for a week so I watched it and then I kept seeing more of them on my suggestion page. There seems to be a collective epiphany.