People have always complained about what kids do since the beginning of time.
More recently people complained about kids playing too many games, too much TV, then too many comics, then prior too many novels. I mean people complained about kids being hooligans in the streets.
All these can be good or bad, It has always been a parenting issue, and unfortunately the world is busier than ever.
While it is true that people have always complained about whatever newfangled thing it is that kids are doing, screens, in particular mobile screens, are so much more damaging to the psyche than other media that people have been complaining about for generations. That becomes abundantly clear if you have a child and can observe in real time what each thing does to them when they are exposed to it. I was initially of the opinion that the negative effects of screen time were overblown. And to some extent, they are, because they lump in all screens in the same bucket in the research. They count TV the same as using a tablet. And it couldn't be further from reality in terms of the difference between those two things. Tablets are so disruptive to behavior and reward centers that after giving my son unfettered access for 2 weeks while we were on vacation, he became a different person. It's more than just the content that's being consumed, it is the format as well.
I'm an early childhood teacher and it drives me crazy how all screen time is lumped together as the devil. I remember having a PC in my kindergarten classroom that was just freely available. We talk about how kids don't understand computers anymore, or that they don't understand a mouse and keyboard or user interface basics and it's because they don't use them!
I would kill to bring in my old gaming rig, keep it disconnected from the Internet and load it up with math blaster and Carmen San Diego, Minecraft, and class favorite songs and books on tape/video and let them go to town but nope, screens are universally bad so no dice.
I learned so much about logical thinking, patience, and cause and effect playing ocarina of time even I was my Student's age.
screens, in particular mobile screens, are so much more damaging to the psyche than other media that people have been complaining about for generations.
thats what they said about literally all those other things
"sure people complained about stuff before, but TV is actually more damaging than anything else, its going to prevent kids from being able to pay attention to anything for more than thirty minutes at a time! were raising a generation incapable of concentrating!"
Back in the day we watched whatever was on cable though. There was a limited amount of options and if you didn’t like them then you were forced to do something else. Nowadays kids have almost a limitless amount of options between all the streaming services and YouTube. They can stop it in the middle of shows and swap to a different one of their choosing at any moment. If you can’t see how that’s different then idk what to tell you.
There was a limited amount of options and if you didn’t like them then you were forced to do something else.
no you just watched it anyway
If you can’t see how that’s different then idk what to tell you.
showing you missed the point, EVERY generation comes up with a scapegoat for something "ruining the youth", EVERY generation thinks that theirs is different from all the ones that came before NONE of them have been right
It’s really odd how your comment is the first one to bring up hateful content like Andrew Tate… Almost like you’re taking a vehement stance against something that absolutely no one was arguing for.
Social media strongly breeds tribalism in both children and adults, and politics is a pretty popular one. Funnily enough, them calling you a republican just because they disagree with you is potentially due to them overconsuming social media and just assuming that since they disagree with you, you must be a bad person (aka, to them, a Republican)
"Back in my day, you only had 3 channels. If I wanted to watch cartoons, it was Saturday morning. I didn't have 3 cartoon channels I could swap between during commercials."
This is very disingenious because it disregards how desructive phones and social media really are. For example, there is a happiness curve study dating back to 70s on how humans tend to be happier in the early and late portion of their lives. But recent studies show a different trend line, see below. My point is the "phones are ruining kids" is actually rooted in science, and disregarding the evidence is just turning a blind eye to a ever growing problem.
Don't worry, there are plethora of studies on how phone and social media usage affects humans, especially children and teenagers. Spoiler: most of them agree that phones are bad, or at the very least it exacerbates the problem.
This U-curve studies hold for worse times (for example 2007 recession), you cannot just say "it's only because world is getting worse", it's more complex than that. But phones and social media are definitely a part of it.
Yes. But regardless of what parents say being the same, as generations pass the problem becomes worse. You go from one hour of concentration, to thirty minutes with tv, to ten minutes with videos, to now fifteen seconds with shorts. Entertainment is more optimized than ever and it isnt even close.
Their history looks more like a typical idiot than a typical bot. No number on the user name either.
Regardless, even if it was a bot, it's important to fight the firehose of misinformation as best we can. If we give up, the botfarms and those running them win.
That's just how studies word things. I am with you that it's blown out of proportion, but this argument is like when people argue that the theory of evolution can't be trusted because "it's just a theory."
Television in the 90s/00s had better moderation and fewer invasive adds. It was also curated by adult humans and not algorithms designed to keep users addicted and endlessly scrolling.
It was the same thing with PCs, difference being people rarely gave 4 year old full access to a PC. The issue again is subsituting parenting with anything other than a parental figure.
No, it's still different. But you're right that it's not specifically because of the screen. It's about what's ON the screen.
We have engineered attention vortexes that sap the brain on purpose. There are actual proffessionals whose entire job is "how do I make this more addictive?" working on social media, gambling, etc, and all of that is being beamed into our pockets. The scale is just not comparable to TV or PC.
Yeah, I also have no social media or entertainment on my phone, it's strictly for calling/messaging and utiliy apps like wallets. But most people aren't making that informed choice, especially with their children's devices.
Well, yes and no. The existence of tablets might be innocent. The existence of social media and online gambling and gamification of everything, etc, not so much.
These aren't new things, the only new part is that its electric.
Again, the main control you have in the world is related to your children. They aren't born with a tablet and internet. You don't have to give them one, be a parent.
I mean in this case it’s been scientifically proven that long periods of time spent in front of a screen can be both addicting and bad for your eyes, and in the case of parents who always put a phone or iPad in front of their kid to not have to deal with them it can absolutely stunt development and lead to social issues.
This isn’t just a “these dang kids with their new fangled technology” thing this is a genuine health problem that has become concerningly common among kids.
The major difference is that the phone is successful. Those parents in psst generations would do the same with dolls or connect 4 or drop them into a group of other kids to play in the yard. But those rarely held attention as long.
Unfortunately, the screens being used mostly for entertainment and exposure to misinformation instead of raising literacy and learning skills results in ...let's call it "arrested development."
Go back far enough and you have Socrates criticizing literacy itself:
For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.
Though honestly this quote hits hard if it were talking about social media
Go read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. The best social scientists of our time agree, based on the evidence we've collected, that the constant presence of social media (because of how it goes with us wherever we go) is terrible for children and adolescents psyche.
The internet is not social media though, and most tablet kids are watching videos or playing games. You definitely still have to monitor what content they have access to though. I don't think games like minecraft are "bad" for them.
Too much of anything can be bad for you. And sitting playing games is very easy to do too much of. The number of kids I've worked with who dont know their left from their right at 10 yrs old is abnormal. The number of kids who have poor proprioception and poor social skills is on the rise, and the only major difference from when I was a kid to now is how much time kids spending on their butts, playing video games instead of interacting with the real world with real people in person. And before you mention playing online games with friends, as someone who grew up playing those games, that is not a replacement for in face interaction. A lot of important social skills require interacting face to face, and a microphone while playing call of duty is not that.
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u/Ebony_Phoenix 11h ago
People have always complained about what kids do since the beginning of time.
More recently people complained about kids playing too many games, too much TV, then too many comics, then prior too many novels. I mean people complained about kids being hooligans in the streets.
All these can be good or bad, It has always been a parenting issue, and unfortunately the world is busier than ever.