The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes.
Not going out and interacting as freely with people paying direct attention to one another leads to heightened mental issues? Shocking.
I grew up in the 80’s and we were super fucking social. Anyone that didnt live it cannot grasp how far we have fallen from what we once had, and we had no idea how good we had it.
Not to mention everything is being recorded to haunt every kid there is.
I feel read bad for modern day kids, my daughter included. An important aspect of humanity has been lost.
That’s not a phone issue, that’s a place issue. Where can your daughter go (without needing to drive) to hangout with friends? Can she conceivably walk there? Can her friends? I’ve been hearing my entire life that I just need to go outside and Bla Bla Bla but I don’t have anywhere to go. The closest park is a good half hour walk and now there’s even sidewalks! How pleasant. There’s nowhere for children outside, it’s nigh impossible to walk anywhere and it’s not like your parents would let you anyway since there probably isn’t even sidewalks the whole way.
For perspective I live a very reasonable 10 minutes walk away from the elementary school I went to. I think you’ll agree that’s a reasonable distance for at the very least the older kids to walk. However it took them till I was a senior in high school before they put in the side walk. You literally couldn’t get to the elementary school on foot without walking on the side of the road for ~4 minutes. Even now the experience is awful and the crossings are unsafe. This is the world us phone kids grew up in. It’s not that we don’t want to go hangout in person, there’s just nowhere to go and by the time people can drive it’s far too late.
Also the high school is about 40 minutes walk, there’s even sidewalks the whole way (now (only on one side))! It’s an awful experience as there’s absolutely no shade and about half of it is down a stroad.
Exactly. Sure, we can say it’s not directly related to tech devices, but it’s definitely related to not wandering and having real human connection constantly.
And with the recording of everything - absolutely changes behavior.
There is a wast difference between the internet. That gives you access to information.
And social media with algoriths fine tuned to keep you there as long as possible.
Cameras everywhere is for sure a disaster for anyones sanity and development.
100%. I read my phone a lot. Typically Lemmy and Wall St Journal. If I didn’t have this device I’d be reading paper magazines and newspapers just like I did pre-device / internet.
It’s not the device, it’s how it’s being used that’s harmful. But I think we all agree with that
Yeah, everyone in this thread saying the phone bad is a Boomer cop out is oversimplifying the issue.
Yeah, there’s probably a component of taking the blame away from decreased quality of life by blaming it on phones—but you can’t neglect the effect that lack of social interaction has. I’m from the same era, and it’s overwhelming to think how much more complex everything has gotten.
Not going out and interacting as freely with people paying direct attention to one another leads to heightened mental issues? Shocking.
I grew up in the 80’s and we were super fucking social. Anyone that didnt live it cannot grasp how far we have fallen from what we once had, and we had no idea how good we had it.
Not to mention everything is being recorded to haunt every kid there is.
I feel read bad for modern day kids, my daughter included. An important aspect of humanity has been lost.
That’s not a phone issue, that’s a place issue. Where can your daughter go (without needing to drive) to hangout with friends? Can she conceivably walk there? Can her friends? I’ve been hearing my entire life that I just need to go outside and Bla Bla Bla but I don’t have anywhere to go. The closest park is a good half hour walk and now there’s even sidewalks! How pleasant. There’s nowhere for children outside, it’s nigh impossible to walk anywhere and it’s not like your parents would let you anyway since there probably isn’t even sidewalks the whole way.
For perspective I live a very reasonable 10 minutes walk away from the elementary school I went to. I think you’ll agree that’s a reasonable distance for at the very least the older kids to walk. However it took them till I was a senior in high school before they put in the side walk. You literally couldn’t get to the elementary school on foot without walking on the side of the road for ~4 minutes. Even now the experience is awful and the crossings are unsafe. This is the world us phone kids grew up in. It’s not that we don’t want to go hangout in person, there’s just nowhere to go and by the time people can drive it’s far too late.
Also the high school is about 40 minutes walk, there’s even sidewalks the whole way (now (only on one side))! It’s an awful experience as there’s absolutely no shade and about half of it is down a stroad.
I had no idea they were called stroads, thank you.
Haha no problem, I hate the damn things
By any chance are you a fan of Strong Towns? If not they are very active in trying to kill Stroads
I mean how else would I know what a stroad is lol
It’s like, their whole thing!
Exactly. Sure, we can say it’s not directly related to tech devices, but it’s definitely related to not wandering and having real human connection constantly.
And with the recording of everything - absolutely changes behavior.
There is a wast difference between the internet. That gives you access to information. And social media with algoriths fine tuned to keep you there as long as possible.
Cameras everywhere is for sure a disaster for anyones sanity and development.
100%. I read my phone a lot. Typically Lemmy and Wall St Journal. If I didn’t have this device I’d be reading paper magazines and newspapers just like I did pre-device / internet.
It’s not the device, it’s how it’s being used that’s harmful. But I think we all agree with that
Yeah, everyone in this thread saying the phone bad is a Boomer cop out is oversimplifying the issue.
Yeah, there’s probably a component of taking the blame away from decreased quality of life by blaming it on phones—but you can’t neglect the effect that lack of social interaction has. I’m from the same era, and it’s overwhelming to think how much more complex everything has gotten.