I even dislike the word they use to mean "playing with or being entertained by electronics" - it shows bias and ignorance. But it's probably here to stay. Last week Magellan had a psychologist come to school to talk to parents about their children's use of technology. He listed some of the areas of concern: too much gaming, texting and driving, multi-tasking ("there is no multi-tasking, just task switching"), cyber bullying, sexting, porn, sexual predators, and too much screen time. Nice.
The American Pediatric Association recently changed it's recommendation of zero screen time for two years and under to 2 hours a day because the APA was accused of having guidelines out of line with every day experiences of Americans. OK - you can smoke two packs a day because zero sounds too harsh.
Electronics clamor for our attention. The same instincts that made us turn around in the Savanna at the sound of a twig snapping enslaves us to the buzz of a phone. We now detect phantom buzzes - we imagine the phone buzzing when it doesn't. Electronics reward the same places in our brains that drugs to. Dopamine released when I play sudoku on my phone makes me want to go back and play more sudoku. Not just because I want to play more sudoku but because my brain wants me to do something again and again to get its hit of dopamine. We are now mice in our Skinner boxes. The psychologist who gave the talk at Magellan used an analogy - krispy kreme donuts with crack.
But that cat is out of the bag and there is probably no reasonable scenario in the foreseeable future that will reverse the process. Oculus Rift version 5 - we will forsake food, relationships, the outdoors, our jobs, families, and even real sex for the better imaginary world to the extent that we can. The same psychologist described an Apple watch as a krispy kreme donut worn on your wrist so you can take a quick nibble any time you want.
Welcome to your world, Vivian and Evan.
