The parents of the smartphone generation are one of the factors here and it includes millennials as well. Everything turned to over protective, I used to hear about how they used to go anyway and do anything as kids and it was amazing. But my friends and myself were never allowed to do that it was too dangerous so obviously we turn to video games and electronics for fun.
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Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? The Atlantic
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Dreams-Visions
Member
It very much is.
TVs and computers stayed stationary and at home. The internet was cool, but less important socially then as well. Now you have the confluence of mega-important social media and its interaction coupled with the ability to take it literally everywhere. So people are engaged with it all the time, everywhere. People can't even watch a standard-length movie without checking text messages and alerts 10 times.
And I see many of these young folks living their lives through social media instead of just...going and hanging out with friends. Social media can become "sufficient" interaction with friends and further effort to spend time or hang out seems to be less important.
It's overly dismissive. It leans on traditional views that adults don't really understand younger generations, and that business will ultimately continue on as usual. But I don't know how you ignore the vastness and immediacy of social media and ignore the consequences that can stem from basically growing up in that 24/7. It will absolutely have an impact on the way people see the world and how they act.
IAmAnAgnostic
Member
Very well said! Weird how many people fail to realize this?
The author says he cannot say smartphones cause 100% of the problems, or that they are necessarily the primary cause. Nor is he saying that the world will end or something like that. Only that the trend is worrisome.
So you even agree with the author, as far as I can tell.
Muppet of a Man
Member
Smartphones as an instant access portal to the internet and social media haven't just destroyed the "iGen" generation. They've destroyed every generation.
Priorities for innovation and more generally what occupies our time have turned far too inward facing. The outside world has a lot of problems to fix, mostly centered around sustainable energy/industry/agriculture and climate change, dilapidated and outmoded infrastructure, lack of economic opportunity for younger generations and systemically disadvantaged groups, and hyper-polarization of wealth and power to a tiny ultra-elite.
Priorities for innovation and more generally what occupies our time have turned far too inward facing. The outside world has a lot of problems to fix, mostly centered around sustainable energy/industry/agriculture and climate change, dilapidated and outmoded infrastructure, lack of economic opportunity for younger generations and systemically disadvantaged groups, and hyper-polarization of wealth and power to a tiny ultra-elite.
I was building off of your thoughts. I think the "no, the kids are wrong" meme is completely worthless in this scenario.
There's already a lot of troubling (depending upon your viewpoint) social trends due to millennials struggles with the economy and early social media. I'm not sure how well things are going to for a generation soaked in that. A generation that is also probably going to deal with the crunch of automation, and it looks like the cost of education or housing isn't going to go down anytime soon.
IAmAnAgnostic
Member
Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding. Yes, I really think this will be looked at in detail in the future. Possibly some hard regulation, maybe even age restrictions on smart devices if the effects are found to be really bad.
AppleSeason
Member
I'm think I am on that "borderline millenial" or "that thing between gen X and millenial" that did not got a feature phone until teenage years, was free to roam the streets alone and communicated through landlines and beepers... And while I am nostalgic of the pre-smartphone era and I haven't been affected in the way those graphs show, the smartphone addiction and FOMO have truly wrecked my life. And I can't fucking quit.
Polioliolio
Member
There are some good TED talks on the subject of screen time and how it's making us unhappy. It's all true.
Enter The 36 Chambers
Member
I've no social media, I've a healthy relationship and a great circle of friends. A good job and a nice car and I'm in my mid twenties.
Does that mean im happy and have those things because I'm not addicted to my phone? Of course not. And that's not what this is saying, I think.
I think it's just looking at the data concerning teens smartphone obsessions. The level of mental health issues is definitely worrying though.
Less dating, sex and driving? Step it up igen
Does that mean im happy and have those things because I'm not addicted to my phone? Of course not. And that's not what this is saying, I think.
I think it's just looking at the data concerning teens smartphone obsessions. The level of mental health issues is definitely worrying though.
Less dating, sex and driving? Step it up igen
eso76
Member
the problem with internet at your fingertips isn't just in social media though.
It's the possibility and ease of continuous, instant micro-gratifications.
Listen to any song, watch snippets of your favorite show, go to the pics that make you laugh thread for the memes.
An endless stream of small rewards.
People look at their phones in bed, won't go to sleep until they pass out, phone in hand, because there's time to indulge in another little something to please your brain. But the addiction is real and you need to keep feeding your brain those good feelings, faster and faster or you'll feel anxious and unfulfilled. This definitely isn't healthy.
Then again, this is not something that can be stopped or limited; we'll just adapt as we always did.
Plus positives outweight negatives: having mankind's knowledge at your fingertips is incredible; shared knowledge across, basically, all humans is a game changer.
And while it may not look like it yet, being able to communicate and share thoughts with a potentially much, much higher number of people is helping broaden a lot of people's horizons and raise awareness on a number of issues.
It's the possibility and ease of continuous, instant micro-gratifications.
Listen to any song, watch snippets of your favorite show, go to the pics that make you laugh thread for the memes.
An endless stream of small rewards.
People look at their phones in bed, won't go to sleep until they pass out, phone in hand, because there's time to indulge in another little something to please your brain. But the addiction is real and you need to keep feeding your brain those good feelings, faster and faster or you'll feel anxious and unfulfilled. This definitely isn't healthy.
Then again, this is not something that can be stopped or limited; we'll just adapt as we always did.
Plus positives outweight negatives: having mankind's knowledge at your fingertips is incredible; shared knowledge across, basically, all humans is a game changer.
And while it may not look like it yet, being able to communicate and share thoughts with a potentially much, much higher number of people is helping broaden a lot of people's horizons and raise awareness on a number of issues.
Surprising number of people here who believe this is nothing to be concerned about and that this is just scaremongering over societal change. Although I guess everyone is posting this on a form of social media.
Anyway I won't deny that smartphones are incredibly useful, helpful tools in everyday life. But I honestly think it must be some state of denial to think that they haven't had a significant impact on social interaction and people's habits. Read the OP's quotes but haven't read the whole article so I'm not going to defend everything it's saying. But I don't know how you can pretend that nothing's changed when many people now look at their smartphones whenever they have a modicum of downtime, or act/do things differently due to the pressures of social media. We are being exposed to this huge network of information 24/7. Maybe the charts and stuff in this article aren't perfect but there has been research done and smartphones and how they are affecting society is something to be concerned, or at least aware, about.
Recently I uninstalled Facebook and Twitter from my phone and disabled Safari and while I've no doubt that eventually I'll crack and get them again, being without them for even a little while helps you realise how fucked your attention span truly gets if you're on your phone all the time.
Anyway I won't deny that smartphones are incredibly useful, helpful tools in everyday life. But I honestly think it must be some state of denial to think that they haven't had a significant impact on social interaction and people's habits. Read the OP's quotes but haven't read the whole article so I'm not going to defend everything it's saying. But I don't know how you can pretend that nothing's changed when many people now look at their smartphones whenever they have a modicum of downtime, or act/do things differently due to the pressures of social media. We are being exposed to this huge network of information 24/7. Maybe the charts and stuff in this article aren't perfect but there has been research done and smartphones and how they are affecting society is something to be concerned, or at least aware, about.
Recently I uninstalled Facebook and Twitter from my phone and disabled Safari and while I've no doubt that eventually I'll crack and get them again, being without them for even a little while helps you realise how fucked your attention span truly gets if you're on your phone all the time.
Phrozenflame500
Member
There's a lot of "old man yells at cloud" in this thread but honestly I'm going to go with yes. Smartphones have so drastically changed the way we interact I can totally buy many of the negative associations the article tries to make.
And I'm also a massive hypocrite because I'm either on a phone or my computer whenever I'm not sleeping nowadays.
And I'm also a massive hypocrite because I'm either on a phone or my computer whenever I'm not sleeping nowadays.
Yeah I was gonna say that most figures are just following the trendline (though accelerated in some cases) but the "More likely to feel lonely" graph definitely tells a story. Odd to include driving in there though as there's probably other more dominant determinants of it than smartphones
2012? I see babies/toddlers everywhere glued to their parents' cell phones. Parents are as much to blame since it's an easy way to shut up their kids, but starting at such an early age can't possibly be good for their development. My cousin's kid knew how to navigate youtube by age 2, throws a tantrum whenever they try to take it away.
I could definitely see how social media could negatively affect people (especially teenagers) with things like FOMO. I've largely stopped using facebook mostly because I was constantly comparing myself to others and it made me feel bad.
I read an interview with Aziz Ansari yesterday and he mentioned that he had pretty much completely unplugged from the internet. I wonder if I could do the same thing (at least for awhile). I wonder if it's really healthy or necessary to have access to so much instantaneous information?
I read an interview with Aziz Ansari yesterday and he mentioned that he had pretty much completely unplugged from the internet. I wonder if I could do the same thing (at least for awhile). I wonder if it's really healthy or necessary to have access to so much instantaneous information?
Man.. these kids my girlfriend babysits for all have iPads. They watch stupid YouTube videos of kids eating weird food combinations, kid covers of music videos that are terrible, and watching people play video games or dress as Disney characters. There's no educational, intellectual or moral value to any of it.
Worst of all, they bring their iPads everywhere. On walks, to the dinner table, to the couch to watch while they also watch movies, and even to bed to be left on all night while they sleep. They even have a cabinet in the house with extra tablets for all of them fully charged for them to swap out when their battery dies.
Nothing can hold the attention span of these kids. They cry when their iPads are taken away, they don't understand the point of playing with toys or using imagination, and the parents feed their kids nothing but Kool-Aid and Little Caesar's every day. They hate salad, fruits, juices, vegetables, and anything nutritious. They can't even visually identify most fruits and vegetables.
Additionally, the kids wear shoes all over the house, on the couch, and even walk on the kitchen tables with them. They're always sick, their poop is almost bright green, and their bodies are chock full of GMOs, artificial flavors and coloring, and it just blows my mind.
This turned into more of a rant, but man, if this is any indication of the norm nowadays, I'm worried about their generation.
Worst of all, they bring their iPads everywhere. On walks, to the dinner table, to the couch to watch while they also watch movies, and even to bed to be left on all night while they sleep. They even have a cabinet in the house with extra tablets for all of them fully charged for them to swap out when their battery dies.
Nothing can hold the attention span of these kids. They cry when their iPads are taken away, they don't understand the point of playing with toys or using imagination, and the parents feed their kids nothing but Kool-Aid and Little Caesar's every day. They hate salad, fruits, juices, vegetables, and anything nutritious. They can't even visually identify most fruits and vegetables.
Additionally, the kids wear shoes all over the house, on the couch, and even walk on the kitchen tables with them. They're always sick, their poop is almost bright green, and their bodies are chock full of GMOs, artificial flavors and coloring, and it just blows my mind.
This turned into more of a rant, but man, if this is any indication of the norm nowadays, I'm worried about their generation.
Conciliator
Banned
Yes, I think this is a big thing actually and I think/hope there will be more talk about in the coming years. all that obsessive personality cultivation and comparison is tying people into knots. And hardly just kids, social media is all ages now and pretty much any age can get wrapped up in this stuff.
They go hand in hand, since the internet is now in everyone's pockets or hands at all times.
Amibguous Cad
Member
Just because great grandpa was wrong about Judas Priest corrupting the youth doesn't mean that every new social innovation is unambiguously good. Smartphones need to be defended on their merits, not just dismissed because people thought new things were bad in the past and were wrong about it.
But people are going to have to pick which critique they want to advance. Is the problem that smartphones make us too socially connected, or less? Because I just finished playing Pyre while streaming it to my boyfriend and chatting along and it was great, and we wouldn't have been able to do that just five years ago.
I'm constantly connected to a group of people, yeah. So previously completely alone time becomes pseudo-social - instead of reading a magazine alone you post interesting articles to facebook or post them in the group chat or send them to someone you know will really like it.
All of that seems likely to foster social ties, not alienate them.
The article is a little sloppy in distinguishing smartphone use and social media use - but what's pretty clear is that there's a correlation between social media use and depression. Some of that is the arrow of causality pointing the other way (people without friends to hang out with in person are on social media more often). But part of that is that, yeah, there are pathological ways to use the technology. On facebook you only ever see people at their best, they're not posting about the bad times or the setbacks or their fears and worries, and since you're an upjumped simian who instinctively vies for status, that makes you feel shitty and alone, so you have to remind yourself that you're only seeing people at their best. Social media can become a competition to see who gets the most likes, or whatever, and that doesn't seem likely to promote well-being. And cyberbullying is of course always an issue.
And, of course, it's rude to use your cell phone while actually with someone else, but my social circle has a pretty strong social norm against this. You've got to have a pretty good reason for it. I don't think I've ever seen the archetypical person on their phone not paying attention, except for a few customers.
But there are ways to use the technology to help people, and give them deeper and more meaningful social connections. We should be focusing on those instead of categorically decrying it.
But people are going to have to pick which critique they want to advance. Is the problem that smartphones make us too socially connected, or less? Because I just finished playing Pyre while streaming it to my boyfriend and chatting along and it was great, and we wouldn't have been able to do that just five years ago.
I'm constantly connected to a group of people, yeah. So previously completely alone time becomes pseudo-social - instead of reading a magazine alone you post interesting articles to facebook or post them in the group chat or send them to someone you know will really like it.
All of that seems likely to foster social ties, not alienate them.
The article is a little sloppy in distinguishing smartphone use and social media use - but what's pretty clear is that there's a correlation between social media use and depression. Some of that is the arrow of causality pointing the other way (people without friends to hang out with in person are on social media more often). But part of that is that, yeah, there are pathological ways to use the technology. On facebook you only ever see people at their best, they're not posting about the bad times or the setbacks or their fears and worries, and since you're an upjumped simian who instinctively vies for status, that makes you feel shitty and alone, so you have to remind yourself that you're only seeing people at their best. Social media can become a competition to see who gets the most likes, or whatever, and that doesn't seem likely to promote well-being. And cyberbullying is of course always an issue.
And, of course, it's rude to use your cell phone while actually with someone else, but my social circle has a pretty strong social norm against this. You've got to have a pretty good reason for it. I don't think I've ever seen the archetypical person on their phone not paying attention, except for a few customers.
But there are ways to use the technology to help people, and give them deeper and more meaningful social connections. We should be focusing on those instead of categorically decrying it.
Raonak
Banned
Destroyed a generation lol.
Like everything, moderation is key. It has flaws and merits. Thanks to social media my group of highschool friends have kept being close friends for over 7 years after having ended.
Ive been able to reunite with and keep up with so much of my overseas family, who I wouldnt even think of. The ability to learn anything I want at a moments notice has greatly expanded my knowledge and philosophy of the world.
Frankly, Why is it that every cultural shift has the previous generations panicked about the fact that their kids won't grow up doing the things they enjoyed as kids. They're doing things they enjoy doing. It just doesn't happen to be something you can relate to.
I guess part of it is the realisation of growing up. And the inherent bias of nostalgia.
Can't wait to see the hot takes when Self driving cars and VR become mainstream.
Like everything, moderation is key. It has flaws and merits. Thanks to social media my group of highschool friends have kept being close friends for over 7 years after having ended.
Ive been able to reunite with and keep up with so much of my overseas family, who I wouldnt even think of. The ability to learn anything I want at a moments notice has greatly expanded my knowledge and philosophy of the world.
Frankly, Why is it that every cultural shift has the previous generations panicked about the fact that their kids won't grow up doing the things they enjoyed as kids. They're doing things they enjoy doing. It just doesn't happen to be something you can relate to.
I guess part of it is the realisation of growing up. And the inherent bias of nostalgia.
Can't wait to see the hot takes when Self driving cars and VR become mainstream.