Technology is making us dumb
We’ve gone so far yet managed to regress.
The world has experienced a tremendous transformation since the eighties. That generation had the TV as the media hub. You had to be tuned in at a specific time to see your favourite show. No on-demand streaming existed back then. No apps. No smartphones. No social media. Internet was still in its infancy. We used to write messages on paper and throw them at each other during our school lessons. All calculators were banned. You had to perform trigonometry operations in your head.
After school, you’d typically hang out with the gang and play together. Not behind a screen. We were proud to show off our scratched knees and elbows. A pat of dirt and off we’d be going into a new adventure. No biggie.
My tech journey
Before I became a techie, I experienced the changes with my own eyes. My dad bought our first 386 PC when I turned twelve. I was fascinated so much that I took it apart and reassembled it several times. I worked a whole summer to buy my first phone when I turned twenty, the famous Nokia 3310. Indestructible, with battery life lasting forever. So much it became a meme.
During my first job as an intern draughtsman, I was eager to use AutoCAD like everyone else. But I had to prove my worth for six months drawing everything by hand before even thinking to sit in front of a screen. One mistake, and I had to redo the whole house plan from scratch. There was no undo button there, nope! I eventually succeeded, and boy was I excited to have a computer to work on finally! This life lesson taught me to not take anything for granted.
Technology has become more accessible
When using anything digital, remember that entire teams have designed it to be user-friendly. Computers nowadays are much more manageable and accessible than three decades ago. It’s so intuitive that even a toddler can use an iPhone. — No, your child is not a genius for using a touch screen. Several engineers and designers put years and years of work into making it possible. They invested a fortune to deliver this technology in your palms. Nowadays, you have the knowledge of the entire humankind in your hands. And yet, for some reason, we seem to have become dumber.
The new generation
One day my ex-teacher asked me to help his son, who failed a uni exam several times. Of course, I helped him out. When I asked his son to write down a few notes, I could not believe my eyes. He was struggling to hold his pen right and express thoughts on a piece of paper. No wonder he couldn’t pass. I had to spend the summer teaching him how to write and think. While he seemed pretty good using a laptop and his smartphone, he was literally out of his depth when he had to doodle ideas and concepts — something that generally everyone has done as a kid. It took me a good while to figure out what was wrong with him. I suspect he had ADHD. He had to learn to walk before he could run. Eventually, he passed the exam after a lot of patience.
His dad should have done a better job as a parent rather than giving his son advanced gadgets from such a tender age. I see babies everywhere holding expensive touch screen devices. Your kid is getting irritable, so you give him your phone to keep him quiet. Easy, right? — Nope! You’re ruining them. Their minds are not ready to process high definition touch screens, especially during their cognitive development. Imagine their entire world exists only on that screen; that’s how they are growing up.
They rely so much on that gadget that they won’t play, eat, or sleep without it — pure dopamine addiction. Your kid’s eyes don’t even meet yours anymore; they’re mesmerised and constantly rewarded by colourful moving things inside a magic box.
Speech development in children has proven to be affected by excessive screen time. If they don’t interact with humans, why would they anyway? You’ll be having soon an emotional inept person that does not know what empathy is. What’s worse is that even the real world will become foreign. — Getting their hands dirty or seeing their own shadow will trigger anxiety and OCD. They will start crying for no apparent reason to you, and you’ll give them once again the very thing that caused the problem: your smartphone. Years will go by. While your kids might have become expect digital users, they will struggle in other areas in their lives. Please don’t do this to them.
If you love them, wait until they’ve become teenagers before introducing any of these devices — set boundaries and limit screen time. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and anyone working in the industry sensible enough will tell you the same.
If you love them, wait until they’ve become teenagers before introducing any of these devices — set boundaries and limit screen time.
When I was a little boy, I got half an hour of TV time per day only after finishing dinner and doing my homework. You see, that was positive reinforcement. You should do the same with your kids if you want them to become healthy adults. They will have enough time to develop and become much more rounded individuals with fewer chances to get mental health issues.
It’s no different for adults. We should also set an example. You don’t need apps to understand that staring for hours into those screens isn’t healthy. Don’t get me wrong. My smartphone is vital to organise my life. I find it to be effective when used with parsimony.
Technology is just a tool at the end of the day. Use it wisely. Before you pick it up next time, ask yourself: “Do I need it right now?”; I know scrolling through social media is tempting, but you should know better. Remember also that your kids mimic what you do. Start a good habit today and set your screen time to a limit. The benefits will be tremendous for you and your family.
