It took awhile for television to become mainstream in the United States, but as prices fell and regularly scheduled programming emerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s, it wasn’t long before TV evolved from a source of wonderment into a primary form of entertainment and information for the entire country. It would be an understatement to describe the impact as anything but revolutionary to our entire culture, and the implications would take a 1,000-page tome to deconstruct. Suffice it to say, our world changed when “the tube” became ubiquitous, and not everyone was pleased with the result. As programming became more sophisticated, and color replaced monochrome, viewers spent more and more time captivated by the screen, and sometime later the term “couch potato” was born. People began to lament how TV would create an idle generation of kids who would be unfit to lead us into the future. Roald Dahl in his poem “Television” warns parents to, “Never never let them near your television set.” A few versus later he laments in amusing detail:
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ!
There is more to the poem, and I encourage you to read it in the hot link above. What is amazing is how prescient Dahl was about the impact of screens on our youth. Thankfully, the world didn’t fall apart with the advent of the TV. Although there is data to suggest a correlation between TVtv watching and a number of other negative traits, most of us were able to eventually pull ourselves away from the tv and grow into productive adults.
Similar fears around technology arose with the rise of video games in the 1980s, the internet in the 1990’s, and, of course, with the rise of social media and excessive screen time over the past 12 years. Humanity was able to adapt and thrive through the earliest of these technological advances, but recent data shows that we may not yet have the resilience to survive the latter. After 2012, when Facebook became mainstream and the term “screen time” entered our lexicon, teen depression rates rose 52% between 2012 and 2017 as seen from this graph that I’ve pulled from Jonathon Haidt’s The Coddling.com website.
Figure 1: Major depressive episode in the last 12 months, by age group, 2005-2017, NS-DUH. [Note that the rise happens only for Gen Z and younger millennials.]
During our viewing of Screenagers last night, we discussed the impact of phones, modern video games, and general technology use amongst our own kids, and we learned a number of things through our discourse. I’ll do my best to summarize a few of the problems we outlined.
We’re all in this together. If you are living through the challenges of your childrens’ constant access to technology, you are not alone.
Modern technology is addictive by design. Apps and browsers use algorithms to learn a user’s preferences in order to stimulate their brain’s variable reward system, which releases a minute amount of dopamine with each stimulus. This renders the user vulnerable to screen addiction.
Excessive screen time changes a child’s brain chemistry. Here is a quote from Michael Rich, director of Then Boston Children’s Hospital Center on Media and Child Health: “The growing human brain is constantly building neural connections while pruning away less-used ones, and digital media use plays an active role in that process. Much of what happens on screen provides ‘impoverished’ stimulation of the developing brain compared to reality.” Children need a diverse menu of online and offline experiences, including the chance to let their minds wander.“Boredom is the space in which creativity and imagination happen.”
Screen time is depriving students of the volume of sleep they need for healthy development, which begets a host of mental and physical challenges.
Playing video games with friends remotely, while talking through Discord is a very common way for kids to socialize these days. Although this isn’t bad per se, online communication isn’t a replacement for face-to-face communication. Additionally, students have a hard time walking away, which results in frequent arguments over “game time.”
Excessive mobile phone use impedes our youth’s ability to develop meaningful relationships through deep conversations, both foundational elements to empathy.
The use of phones in school reduces achievement. This applies even if a phone is in a pocket, or if another student has a visible cell phone present.
Screen time has replaced free play, and the implications are dire. Free play is an essential component of child development, as it provides the foundation for empathy, conflict resolution, self-efficacy, and a host of other traits necessary to a productive and happy adult life.
Not all apps are created equal. Jonathon Haidt has gone as far as stating that young teenagers should not use TikTok at all.
It takes an average of 20 minutes to get back on task at work or home when you get off task. Imagine how hard it is for our kids to focus and get work done with the constant distraction provided by their technology.
User “streaks” are the bane of our existence! Apps and tech companies encourage daily use by rewarding users to “keep their streaks going,” and this has beget bad, and sometimes desperate, behavior in our kids.
This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but just to show that the pitfalls of technology are numerous and constant. The big takeaway is that we, as parents and educators, need to protect our kids from the perils of excessive screen time while helping them develop the self-control and awareness needed to use technology for good in their lives. Some of the strategies we discussed are as follows:
Have open discussions with your children about the dangers of technology overuse so they can understand the problem and be a part of the solution.
Set limits. Set both time limits and limits as to what your kids can actually do online for their own safety. With limits comes the need for alternative activities. Go for walks, play, or just help your kids use their creativity to overcome “boredom.”
Have regular sit-downs, screen-free meals with your children.
Put down your device. Be present with others. Observe the world around you. Let your mind wander.
Avoid blue light-emitting screen use before bedtime.
Play online games with your children rather than forbidding them. Learn how to play from them and, as you play, help them think about what they're seeing and doing on screen.
Help your children plan how to spend their time, focusing on important and favorite activities to avoid sliding into the screen abyss.
Schedule “screen free” hours, days, and/or weekends during the school year.
The following are some resources you can use to develop your own policies around technology with your students:
Screenagers blog called Tech Tuesdays.
The Coddling.com website. (This is an extension of the book, The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathon Haidt. Click on the “Solutions” menu option where you’ll find research, graphs, and suggested solutions.
To learn more about what teenagers and young adults are thinking these days, the book iGen by Jean Twenge is a great resource.
Watch, “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix to learn more about how tech companies use algorithms to keep users online for hours at a time.
What strategies and resources have you used? Please feel free to email me with your feedback so that we can compile a resource bank for the whole community to post on our website. Technology and its uses is an ever changing field, and we can work together to make sure our kids are prepared to thrive, not just survive, in their increasingly automated worlds.
Thank you to those who came to Screenagers last night. I enjoyed getting to know you better and learning more about the challenges you are facing as parents, and some of the solutions that have worked for your families. And, thank you to all who have sent feedback on this very important topic. Please keep the conversation going.
Have a great three three-day weekend.
Best regards,
Steve Thygesen