The average American minor spends nine hours a day using electronic devices (smartphone / tablet / computer / TV / set-top box).
This alarming conclusion was made by experts of the Common Sense Media organization during a large-scale study.
It's hard to believe it, but it is devices, and not drugs and alcohol, that today are the main reason for the physical and intellectual degradation of an entire generation of young people. The consequences of "device addiction" are already manifesting themselves in a variety of areas. Young people do not strive for anything and are very dependent on their parents financially.
It is important to say that many adults admire the ability of adolescents to quickly master modern electronics. “These guys are incredibly talented,” parents say proudly when they see children with a smartphone or tablet. “In just a few minutes, they understand how this sophisticated technique works. We can't do that! Our children will become geniuses!"
In reality, however, mastering a modern smartphone or tablet is not much more difficult for a child than learning to hold a tablespoon in his hands. Members of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) proved this a few years ago.
“The talent of a child is not evidenced by the ability to use the device, but the goals that the child wants to achieve with the help of this device,” experts say. - If electronics is of an educational nature, then it is useful. If it is used only for entertainment, then access to it should be limited."
Let's try to figure out what exactly an ordinary teenager who has electronic devices spends nine hours a day.
39% of the time is spent listening to music, watching videos (in most cases of humorous or pornographic content) and reading news sent in.
Promotional video:
26% - for correspondence on social networks Facebook / Twitter and video calls with friends.
25% - on video games and "loitering" on the Internet.
3% - for creativity and education.
Thus, the average teenager spends less than 15 minutes out of 9 hours of daily use of devices on something really useful. In the vast majority of cases, electronics "dull" adolescents and absorb a huge amount of time from the best life period.
“We are dealing with the most unfortunate generation of youth in world history,” said Ken Garwell, a former school psychologist and father of eight. - Teenagers are degrading in all respects. They go out less often, spend practically no time in nature, do not know the elementary laws of physics and chemistry. They have no fantasy and imagination at all. Their whole life is focused on electronics."
Garwell believes that devices are the main cause of mental illness, as they are completely alien to human instincts and needs. A long stay behind smartphones and tablets turns into infantilism, nervousness and fear of the big world, which begins where the Internet and electronics end.
“When I first brought the kids to my father’s farm in New Mexico, where there was not even electricity, they went into hysterics,” Garwell recalls. - They roared and asked to provide them with at least a TV. It all looked like a drug addict withdrawal. For several months we lived far from civilization and the children received a powerful charge of emotions.
Fishing, boating, spending the night in tents, lighting a fire, reading books - all this was a discovery for them."
Scientific and technological progress, paradoxically, has led to the degradation of modern youth and today's teenagers look incredibly pitiful compared to their peers two decades ago.
“The most important thing in human life is emotion,” Garwell continues. - It is strong emotions that shape life experience. Anyone who has never experienced fear, love, fame, anger and hatred cannot experience what real life is. And this is the main danger of devices. They prevent teenagers from experiencing emotions 100%."
Garwell is absolutely right. Earlier this year, professors at the University of California found a direct link between modern devices and complete indifference to knowing the world. For example, an ordinary teenager will never be eager to visit Yellowstone Reserve, because in a smartphone he can find a lot of information about this object - articles, photos and videos.
“Electronics has dramatically changed the psychology of the younger generation,” says Annette Howards, an expert on adolescent depression. - Children no longer seek to know the world with the help of their senses. They learn about everything on a small, high-resolution color screen. Instead of real dates - video chat. Instead of walking in the fresh air - an episode of your favorite TV series. If you put teenagers in jail and give them smartphones with high-speed internet, then the majority will not even notice the change of scenery."
Passion for devices has already led to the fact that nine out of ten teenagers practically do not remember anything from their lives.
For example, school workers in Indiana asked students to share three of the most memorable experiences in their lives. Most of the stories boiled down to Internet achievements (getting "likes" on social networks and high-profile victories in video games), trips to amusement parks.
The authors of the study were extremely disappointed when they learned how dismal the lives of children living in the most prosperous country in the world are.
“Determining the value of a person's memories is easy,” says one researcher, Nicholas Richards. - To do this, it is enough to find out how often electronic technologies appear in memories. If a person remembers how he got into a fight, broke his leg, fell in love, became a victim of scammers or, for example, the object of a joke, then he lives a full life, since even negative emotional memories in the 21st century are better than the joy of watching a TV series or playing a video game on the most difficult level.
Psychologists advise Americans of all ages to more often give up electronic technology and from time to time immerse themselves in the way of life that existed decades or even centuries ago.
Here are three of the coolest tips:
- Try for at least a week with the whole family to live without TV, devices and Wi-Fi. You will be surprised how quickly the feeling of discomfort will be replaced by things that you forgot about a long time ago. Your family will start reading books, sorting out old things, drawing, writing poetry, talking to each other much longer than usual. You may want to play a board game or walk down the street together. In just a week you will become completely different people and you will understand how harmful the "zombie" (TV) and other devices are.
- Send your children to the countryside at least once a year, where there is no free internet, and even better - electricity. Many parents have no idea how much modern technology has narrowed the horizons of their children. Being in nature (supervised by adults, naturally) develops and sharpens the senses of children and teenagers. They change for the better and understand much faster what they really want from life.
By the way, the Boy Scout movement in America has not gone anywhere. With the development of high technologies, it has acquired even greater meaning. Now this is a real salvation from "device slavery", which is the exact opposite of the term "real fulfilling life."
- Bring more extreme to life. The sphere of tourism and recreation did not stand still and developed rapidly along with electronic technologies. Today, thousands of American companies offer services that will lead to a powerful adrenaline rush and will be remembered for a lifetime. These are skydiving, horseback riding, rafting on mountain rivers, jeep races in the desert, snowmobiling, exciting hiking, etc. Unfortunately, the passion for devices made Americans forget what real entertainment is.
Finally, I would like to wish all RB readers to include in their New Year Resolution a clause obliging you and your loved ones to use electronics less. Spend more time outdoors, play sports more often, and spend all your free time on travel and "non-electronic recreation".