Smart Phones as a Mental Health Crisis

[Davis Webb]

Following up on what was a very active thread, this is a great piece on smartphones and teens, so well researched that it really needs its own spot here. Its evident that smartphones are a risk factor now for all kinds of pathology, its not just opinion any more.

I would ask, respectfully, that if you comment on this post, that you READ the article first. Just skim it if you wish. It is not enough here to see the post title and have a good conversation. If you post, please do it in response to the article and the scientific data in it, that can elevate this to more of a call to action. It presents real data, not opinions. But how do you interpret the data?

In short, if you have a smart phone, stop using it. If your grandkids or kids have them, take them away or admonish them to dump them. That is where this data set is going...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ration/534198/

[Jcamp]

Very long read but interesting. Most of it was stuff we’ve been saying all along just cause we’ve seen it. I do disagree with the sexual encounters part. I’d say a lot of those teens are lying cause I’ve seen in my own family that the use of phones allows them to sneak around a lot easier than past generations and they are having their first experience around 14-15 year mark. I do also still point blame at the parents. Your freaking kid does not need a phone and they most definitely don’t need a smartphone. They ain’t paying for it so you do have the power and you do have the responsibility to say “No”.

[rokdog49]

Thanks for submitting that article.
Made me think of what folks said about the television and it's effect on the kids of my generation but hey, that didn't hurt nobody did it?

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

Its evident that smartphones are a risk factor now for all kinds of pathology, its not just opinion any more..... In short, if you have a smart phone, stop using it.

There was a lot of anecdotal evidence in that article. My interpretation is, the article is an overreaction or an unjustified negative reaction to the use of smart phones and social media.

One of the claims is that extensive use of smart phones, etc. is correlated to "unhappiness." I think the author may have misidentified the reason for this. Smart phones and the web allow anyone to immediately find information that was not easily available prior to these devices. That includes news and what's going on in the world. IOW, reality is more well realized than in the past for pre-adults. And reality for humans, especially today's political realities, is not a candy-coated fantasy that pre-teens of the past may have viewed it. Life can be tough! And kids today may be finding that out sooner than kids of the past. Is viewing life more realistically a bad thing? I don't think so, even if that makes you less "happy" than living in more of a fantasy world.

[Paddy1951]

A good read. Yes, I have seen much of the cell phone induced behavior. I have 4 grand daughters.

Teenagers just live differently today and not all of it is because of cell phones. If it were up to me, I say limit all device use. Have young people learn to write a letter in cursive. Learn how to communicate face to face. How to hold a conversation. How to become creative without devices. How to play without devices.

The sad thing is that it would be almost impossible for a child to grow up normally without devices. To go cold turkey- without devices, other problems would develop.
Think of restrictive home schooling. Many who were home schooled lack social tools. I witnessed this in the 90's when I went back to college as a non-trad student.

I think cell phones have many downsides. The fix is pretty complex, I would say.

[RedJoker]

I just read this on my smart phone. Can I send you my therapist bill since the screen time has increased my level of depression?

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

There was a lot of anecdotal evidence in that article. My interpretation is, the article is an overreaction or an unjustified negative reaction to the use of smart phones and social media.

One of the claims is that extensive use of smart phones, etc. is correlated to "unhappiness." I think the author may have misidentified the reason for this. Smart phones and the web allow anyone to immediately find information that was not easily available prior to these devices. That includes news and what's going on in the world. IOW, reality is more well realized than in the past for pre-adults. And reality for humans, especially today's political realities, is not a candy-coated fantasy that pre-teens of the past may have viewed it. Life can be tough! And kids today may be finding that out sooner than kids of the past. Is viewing life more realistically a bad thing? I don't think so, even if that makes you less "happy" than living in more of a fantasy world.

I knew this argument was coming. Your assumption is that what comes across a smart phone or notepad as "reality " is actual truth. There is so much fake everything that the "candy-coated fantasy of which you speak would be a welcome replacement for today's dishonest hyperbole, fake news and fake everything. The ability to attack people anonymously, especially children, bullying, propagate immoral and illegal activity 24/7 and on and on is now a part of the everyday landscape of our culture and it's right there in their hand.
The anxiety created by this "instant info" world and the need to be connected is
far more unhealthy and destructive than the Pollyanna fantasies of my youth that were sold to me by my parents and teachers.
At least I had time to be a child for a while before I had to face "reality".
I don't think that kids learning about all the garbage in the world at an earlier age helps them cope, they aren't ready for it.
It desensitizes and demoralizes them and that's a fact.

[fazool]

That was a great article. Well written and really elucidates a difficult to pin down issue.

I'm going to share it with everyone I can.

Is it ok I read it on my phone?.......jk

[Silly Moustache]

Thank you for this article.

I am very concerned about the phonezombie issue.
I could describe all the 2we used to..." stuff but it is irrelevant.

I am knocking on 71 (Monday week - go buy me presents!) and I spend a lot of time online, certainly more than with friends.

My wife uses her (non) smart type phone to text her friends and I have a "de-smarted" phone which lives no charge or in my car - for emergencies only. I prefer my landline if I need to call someone (and I have BT Call minder,so I don't get nuisance calls).

My grandchildren are, of course smartphone savvy, and rely on their phones but they are in their late teens now, with one raising her baby, and the other a hard working chef so hopefully not endangered or isolated from reality like the people I see wandering the streets - really like zombies.

The problems that I see are about dependency - i.e. the fear of not being "connected", the habit of excluding reality by focusing on their phone rather than traffic, children etc.

I cannot avoid mentioning the EM Forster shrt story ..."The Machine Stops". This was written in 1909, and foretells much of this issue.

Here is an article on BBC about the smartphone problem and linking it to Forster's story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36289890

Here is a pdf of the story: https://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vett...hine-Stops.pdf

[Silurian]

This is a single article in The Atlantic. If it was a peer reviewed paper in an academic journal I would give it more credence.

I'll need a lot more evidence than this before I take the kid's phones off them.

[seannx]

In short, if you have a smart phone, stop using it. If your grandkids or kids have them, take them away or admonish them to dump them. That is where this data set is going...

I don't think stopping my use of a smart phone, and taking them away from or admonishing my grown kids and grandkids is practical or will have any real chance of success.

Here's another method: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208982

It's what my oldest son uses to set strict limits on my 12 year old grandson's smartphone activity. I use it, too, and have cut way back on my smartphone time.

From what I've witnessed with my grandkids, and all ages of children in general at home, in the car, or out with their parents at restaurants, public activities, etc., using tablets to entertain/distract/babysit them is an equally serious problem.

The same time period referenced in the Atlantic also goes along with increasing time spent playing video games.

And IMO, the biggest problem of all is the way social media, especially Facebook, does everything possible to capture our time and attention. The use of likes/dislikes and artificial intelligence to determine what content provokes views, posts, and responses (most effective is what triggers fear and anger), and then feeding that while mining personal data for advertising and revenue is diabolical.

[Davis Webb]

Originally Posted by Silurian

This is a single article in The Atlantic. If it was a peer reviewed paper in an academic journal I would give it more credence.

I'll need a lot more evidence than this before I take the kid's phones off them.

The author is an expert in this field and is quoting dozens of peer reviewed journals.

[jpd]

" I call them iGen. Born between 1995 and 2012, members of this generation are growing up with smartphones, have an Instagram account before they start high school, and do not remember a time before the internet. "


Says it all. But there is a different trend beginning...minimalists! Smartphones are beginning to lose the dominant position they've held for years. Giving sway to doing instead of owning, traveling instead of setting down roots, owning what is necessary and needed. The lack of a job market for factory positions needing minimal skills, trades that are surging, blue collar bricks and mortar lifestyles....all of this is pushing the younger people of the entire world to reinvent the prosperity that the U.S. saw from 1946-1967. Change is all around us, let's hope these young people figure out a solution to mankinds gravest survival needs- soon.

[jpd]

Originally Posted by Silurian

This is a single article in The Atlantic. If it was a peer reviewed paper in an academic journal I would give it more credence.

I'll need a lot more evidence than this before I take the kid's phones off them.

+1 .....

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by Silurian

This is a single article in The Atlantic. If it was a peer reviewed paper in an academic journal I would give it more credence.

Right. Scientific papers do not contain so much anecdotal evidence - i.e., the problems that one select person is having.

But rokdog's got good points, too, in response to my previous post. The internet is rife with false information. This must be remedied by making sure kids don't take the first, unsubstantiated viewpoint as gospel. It must be considered who the author is, what is his or her potential agenda, and then seek confirmation from other reliable sources.