Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Too much of a good thing?

I must be one of the very few people in the world, or anyway my small corner of the world, who does not have a smartphone.

I know that because when I look around me the people I see are NOT looking around themselves. They are rapt in the small world of their smartphones.  Either talking to their smartphone or otherwise immersed in it.

The 'Tech Revolution' -- epitomized by the smartphone-- promises connection to a larger universe. Maybe. I'm not so sure, and at what price?

Spend a lot of time in the virtual world and you run the risk of becoming virtual yourself. Lose physical  interpersonal contact and you can become anonymous. Disembodied.

We seniors might be less susceptible to the lure of tech. Me, for example. Often we have a great responsibility in bringing up our grandchildren. We might recognise some of the downsides of addiction to the rush of multiple 'Like's' on Facebook, and shake our gray heads in dismay when all we can see of our family members at the dinner table is the tops of the heads, the rest of the head bent over the smartphone. But what we might see in particular cases we might not recognize in the larger world.

Here are some sobering statistics  drawn from a larger world than our own that should make us say "Enough already!" the next time the smartphone appears at the dinner table--or anywhere else for that matter!

Eighth graders who spend more than ten hours per week on social media are 56 percent more likely to say they are unhappy than those who spend less time. Eighth graders who are heavy users of social media increase their risk of depression by 27 percent. Teens who spend more than three hours per day on electronic devices are 35 percent more likely to have a risk factor for suicide, like making a plan to do it. Girls, especially hard hit, have experienced a 50 percent rise in depressive symptoms.

(and if these statistics are not sad enough by themselves, remember that the greatest number of deaths attributed to guns in the USA each year are suicides. If your grandchild is depressed enough to plan a suicide, a loaded, readily available gun in the house greatly increases the likelihood that that plan will succeed. You might also want to consider  securing your guns as we enter the Christmas season, which is a notorously difficult time for those suffering from depression)

Social media, smartphones and all that are business schemes and they need to make money. To make money they require our participation. Addiction, even.

How bad can that be?

Think about it!

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