According to research from Common Sense Media, teens now spend an average of nine hours a day glued to their devices, with teens not far behind at six. And that doesn’t take into account the use of technology in our nation’s classrooms, or all the computer homework that follows our children home from school.
Heralded as a learning tool, many teachers now incorporate Twitter and video games into their lessons, negatively affecting attention span and critical thinking, along with spelling and writing skills.
As for the teachers who refuse to jump on the edtech bandwagon? They are called “resistant” and are often criticized for being old school and far behind.
Fortunately, they are not alone.
Among those concerned is Steve Fischer, eBay’s chief technology officer, who sends his kids to a Waldorf school instead of the local tech-heavy public school; so do many Silicon Valley employees.
This is because founder Rudolf Steiner designed the Waldorf curriculum to focus on the academic, artistic, and practical in order to develop students’ imaginations and prepare them for the real world, without the need for screens.
Yet the result for everyone else’s children is a technology-driven world, both inside and outside of school.
In fact, Common Sense Media founder and CEO Jim Stryer calls the amount of media technology in children’s lives “mind-boggling.” As he points out, he dominates his world and they can’t seem to resist his lure.
One result: multitasking. Now, 50% of teens say they “often” or “sometimes” use social media or watch TV while doing homework; 60% say they text and over 75% listen to music at the same time.
But pushback is growing with teams like Truth About Tech: How Tech Has Kids Hooked.” Sponsored by Common Sense Media, the Center for Humane Technology and others, it held an event in DC earlier this year. Its mission is to expose the techniques used by technology companies to hook our children and find a way to ensure their digital well-being as well.
As the Center points out, “technology is hijacking our minds and our society.”
And it has all been done intentionally.
Indeed, Facebook founding chairman Sean Parker has admitted that he and other top brass devised “a social validation feedback loop” that makes the social media platform addictive.
At one point, another of FB’s early executives, Chalmath Palihapitiya, accused his company of creating “short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that are destroying the functioning of society.”
And though he tried to take that statement back, he still has legs, so to speak.
Even Apple CEO Tim Cook gets it. Although he himself has no children, he not only sets firm limits for his nephew when he reaches out on social media, but he doesn’t consider it a success if we all use technology all the time.
As it is, 50% of teenagers feel that they are addicted to their mobile phones, and 60% of their parents agree.
One teen confided, “I’d rather not eat for a week than have my phone taken away. It’s really bad.”
In addition, Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of iGensays that heavy device users (5 or more hours a day) are:
- 56% more likely to say they are not happy;
- 27% more likely to be depressed; Y
- 35% more likely to have a risk factor for suicide.
These numbers are supported by numerous experts and also supported by brain imaging studies.
However, Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, author of Glow Kids: how screen addiction is hijacking our childrenhe points out that none of us want “some one who tells the truth and tells us that the emperor has no clothes”, and that the devices we are so attached to pose a problem, especially for the developing brains of children.
However, regardless of the disturbing evidence, Facebook is not stopping, far from it.
Not satisfied with its current 2.13 billion users, all supposedly over the age of 13, it now aims lower with Messenger Kids, created with kids as young as six in mind.
This video, calling, and messaging app lets kids connect with friends and family via tablet or smartphone, and boasts that countless parents and child advocates were involved in its design.
However, many of those contributors received funding from Facebook…
Meanwhile, among Messenger Kids’ boasts: Parents must first approve all contacts, and it makes kids and parents chat with each other in “a safe and controlled environment.”
Safer than what, face-to-face conversations?
Countless child development experts and others disapprove.
Organized by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, several of them recently sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging him to remove Messenger Kids. Citing its potential for harm, they noted that young children are not equipped to handle social media, online relationships, or the misunderstandings and conflicts that can arise from them.
However, Messenger Kids is still working, so…
Bottom line: keep it personal, not virtual.