The Atlantic: Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

[Destino]

Quote

One day last summer, around noon, I called Athena, a 13-year-old who lives in Houston, Texas. She answered her phone—she’s had an iPhone since she was 11—sounding as if she’d just woken up. We chatted about her favorite songs and TV shows, and I asked her what she likes to do with her friends. “We go to the mall,” she said. “Do your parents drop you off?,” I asked, recalling my own middle-school days, in the 1980s, when I’d enjoy a few parent-free hours shopping with my friends. “No—I go with my family,” she replied. “We’ll go with my mom and brothers and walk a little behind them. I just have to tell my mom where we’re going. I have to check in every hour or every 30 minutes.”

 

Those mall trips are infrequent—about once a month. More often, Athena and her friends spend time together on their phones, unchaperoned. Unlike the teens of my generation, who might have spent an evening tying up the family landline with gossip, they talk on Snapchat, the smartphone app that allows users to send pictures and videos that quickly disappear. They make sure to keep up their Snapstreaks, which show how many days in a row they have Snapchatted with each other. Sometimes they save screenshots of particularly ridiculous pictures of friends. “It’s good blackmail,” Athena said. (Because she’s a minor, I’m not using her real name.) She told me she’d spent most of the summer hanging out alone in her room with her phone. That’s just the way her generation is, she said. “We didn’t have a choice to know any life without iPads or iPhones. I think we like our phones more than we like actual people.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/

 

Before you write this off as old people deciding the next generation is the worst as they have been since the ancient greeks (mcsluggo) read the article.  It's not about them being awful snowflakes, but about mental health possibly corresponding to a very rapid cultural shift brought about by technology. 

 

I thought it was interesting and troubling, especially since I have a young kid of my own. 

[PokerPacker]

With only reading the title, the answer is 'yes'.  Now get off my lawn, and take your darn smartphone with you.

[LD0506]

Interesting and troubling article indeed, especially to a parent. As with many topics like this the causation/correlation is murky at best but it still gives me one more big thing to worry about , thanks D.

[ClaytoAli]

They have destroyed multiple generations in the Congo and  Equatorial Guinea 

 

[Going Commando]

As far as the decline in driving goes, urbanization and the recession are ready explanations for that too.  I'd bet that kids who grow up in suburbs and cities have no expectations of having largely unfettered access to a car when they're 16.  You can't downplay the economic causes for these changed behaviors, and I don't really think the author spent enough time examining them.  To me they are the driver of the behaviors in question.  The Great Recession had massive consequences on American lives and culture to the point where it's the defining event of our lifetimes.  It's implications are going to be playing out in all kinds of negative ways for decades.

 

I can see the truth in the finding that the onset of adolescence has been delayed.  That's how it was in my own life.  I didn't start drinking, smoking, and dating until I was 18 and in a college environment.  When I was a freshman/sophomore in college, sometimes I felt like I was acting like a 16 year old.  It wasn't that I lacked freedom and independence to do those things in high school, it's that I wasn't emotionally mature enough to be interested in that stuff yet.  I think the author is right that childhood has been extended, but I think that might be a net positive for society.  Boomer parents were more present and nurturing than their own parents had been, and thus Millennials are much closer to their Boomer parents.  I'd imagine this is even more the case with generation Z and their Gen X parents.  It's necessary social glue.  This is a **** economy where the middle class is getting wrecked and a generation of young people face permanent underemployment and a massive loss of generational wealth while their parents face insecure retirements and ruinously increasing healthcare costs.  Strong intergenerational familial connections are a must for people to get by in an America that's being raped and pillaged by all kinds of super powerful and wealthy and ****ed up interests/institutions.

[Bozo the kKklown]

The generation is smarter than my generation (older millenials and those before me) by a lot. 

 

But at the same time, they are losing what in-person contact means. Also, at my job dealing with younger millenials and early generation Zers, there is a lot of mental health issues coming to the fore as well.

 

I said all of that before reading the article.

[Llevron]

Honestly I blame social media and not the technology that delivers it. Cell phone technology can be used for such amazing things but we waste it sending Dog pictures to our best friend form elementary school. And honestly thats not that bad. But when social media begins to replace everyday life for people its a serious ****ing issue and I dont think people realize it. This past presidential election was a perfect example. We have the technology to have limitless information in the palm of every hand on the planet but we use that to spread lies, hate and threats of violence. People are even targeting you based on what you do with the devices and where you go with such success that most times you dont even know its happening. 

 

So I guess to me its not the technology thats the issue but the application of it. Great power, great responsibility. My uncle said something like that once.

[Springfield]

This is the new normal, better or worse.

 

The kids will be ok.  We all grew up watching TV, which we were told would rot our brains.  We were slaves to video games.  Kids are a product of their parents in most cases.  If the parents are lazy, phone addicted, slobs then their kids will be as well.  If their parents are active and enjoy the outdoors, ultimately their kids will as well.

 

Tablets and phones are a great invention that save parents their own sanity at times.

[Bozo the kKklown]

5 minutes ago, Springfield said:

This is the new normal, better or worse.

 

The kids will be ok.  We all grew up watching TV, which we were told would rot our brains.  We were slaves to video games.  Kids are a product of their parents in most cases.  If the parents are lazy, phone addicted, slobs then their kids will be as well.  If their parents are active and enjoy the outdoors, ultimately their kids will as well.

 

Tablets and phones are a great invention that save parents their own sanity at times.

Its different tho.

 

There are real mental illness issues at hand now, that weren't there before. That is what the article is saying, and what I have seen.

[Springfield]

7 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

Its different tho.

 

There are real mental illness issues at hand now, that weren't there before. That is what the article is saying, and what I have seen.

 

Im no scientist, but I view any screen addiction, TV, video game, conputer, tablet, cell phone very similarly.  I think that there is a problem, but ultimately, I think the parents need to parent properly.  Give kids more responsibilities, allow them the tech that they desire.  It starts young.

 

This is merely the beginning.  Imagine when optical tech and voice tech becomes more evolved.  Augmented reality will be commonplace in our society within 10-15 years. Cell phone on all the time, accessible at a moments notice.

 

 

 

8 hours ago, PokerPacker said:

With only reading the title, the answer is 'yes'.  Now get off my lawn, and take your darn smartphone with you.

 

But your lawn is where all the good Pokémon are...

[Bozo the kKklown]

1 minute ago, Springfield said:

 

Im no scientist, but I view any screen addiction, TV, video game, conputer, tablet, cell phone very similarly.  I think that there is a problem, but ultimately, I think the parents need to parent properly.  Give kids more responsibilities, allow them the tech that they desire.  It starts young.

 

This is merely the beginning.  Imagine when optical tech and voice tech becomes more evolved.  Augmented reality will be commonplace in our society within 10-15 years. Cell phone on all the time, accessible at a moments notice.

the study says that a big problem is kids not wanting to leave their parents. NOt in the "I cannot move out because I am poor," but "my mom can drive me where I need to go." There is a lack of independence.

 

The other thing, is that this stuff is leading to suicides because of cyberbulling and such.

[Destino]

Video games and 24/7 social media access aren't the same thing.  The one criticism that immediately jumped out at me reading this was that it didn't dive deeper than screen time.  Previous generations played too many video games, they didn't see a massive upswing in depression or risk an anxiety attack every time they had to make a phone call.  When did saying that human interaction and leaving the damn house are important elements to human happiness become controversial?  

 

Parents have always chased their their kids out into the sun.  The difference now is that the little ****s just sit down and continue staring at their phones once you do.  

[Springfield]

14 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

the study says that a big problem is kids not wanting to leave their parents. NOt in the "I cannot move out because I am poor," but "my mom can drive me where I need to go." There is a lack of independence.

 

The other thing, is that this stuff is leading to suicides because of cyberbulling and such.

 

Again I think that comes back to the parents.  They have to teach their children independence.  Teach them work ethic, about winning AND losing, most importantly about persistence.  Kids stay with their parents because their parents allow them to.  I understand the financial struggles of a post high school person, but parents need to let them fly, and if they fail then nourish them.

 

I think that the parents aren't doing a great job, especially when it comes to regulating technology and how it affects their kid's lives.  As it pertains to technology, I'm afraid that often times the children understand it more than the kids do, that is a major issue.

[Mooka]

11 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

Its different tho.

 

There are real mental illness issues at hand now, that weren't there before. That is what the article is saying, and what I have seen.

 

Looks and sounds like typical teenager stuff to me. Not sure the device makes that big a difference.

Bullying wasn't invented by the internet or by social media devices. There will always be bullying. 

 

As for depression, suicides all that... I have a younger cousin who always went to affluent schools, grew up in an affluent area, and is now on track to be the first Dr. in the family. She also went to the HS where kids decided to jump in front of oncoming trains because they couldn't take the pressure from school. Obviously you have to take in the added stress and ridiculous pressure kids deal with these days as one of the causes for increased depression and suicide. 

 

[Bozo the kKklown]

8 minutes ago, Springfield said:

 

Again I think that comes back to the parents.  They have to teach their children independence.  Teach them work ethic, about winning AND losing, most importantly about persistence.  Kids stay with their parents because their parents allow them to.  I understand the financial struggles of a post high school person, but parents need to let them fly, and if they fail then nourish them.

 

I think that the parents aren't doing a great job, especially when it comes to regulating technology and how it affects their kid's lives.  As it pertains to technology, I'm afraid that often times the children understand it more than the kids do, that is a major issue.

I agree

 

4 minutes ago, Mooka said:

 

Looks and sounds like typical teenager stuff to me. Not sure the device makes that big a difference.

Bullying wasn't invented by the internet or by social media devices. There will always be bullying. 

 

As for depression, suicides all that... I have a younger cousin who always went to affluent schools, grew up in an affluent area, and is now on track to be the first Dr. in the family. She also went to the HS where kids decided to jump in front of oncoming trains because they couldn't take the pressure from school. Obviously you have to take in the added stress and ridiculous pressure kids deal with these days as one of the causes for increased depression and suicide. 

 

suicides rates are higher among this generation than prior. Did you read the article?

[mcsluggo]

 

this phenom can not be viewed in isolation.   Parents have also gotten MUCH more protective of kids (not LETTING them go outside alone), at the same time.   By the time i was 10 or 11... i just joined the meager pack of outdoor kids in my neighborhood.   i'd go out in the morning sometime, and either/or/some-combination of go into the woods, bike around, go to the pool, range through various neighborhood homes.   I might come for lunch, if i didn;t just eat at some neighbors or at the pool.... and i would PROBABLY come home for dinner, unless there was a totally rad game of kick-the-can going.   my mom knew the numbers of the houses i would most likely be visiting (and the pool) and she had a "school marm bell" and, if needed would just bellow my name  (soooo effing embarrassing!)  

 

my kids are much older than that, and being raised in the same neighborhood where i grew up (which is statistically safer now than it ever was in the 60s/70s/80s, like almost EVERY neighborhood, i should add...), but they almost never go out of our yard without an adult, have never been to the pool alone, never bike without adults...etc...  and frankly...somebody would've called child protective services had i let them.

 

phones/tablets/internet/TV is what they have left.

 

 

 

and on the cyber bullying point.... cyberbullying sucks ass.  it is terrible, and we need to stay vigilant in protecting our children from this menace.    

But.... as 90 pound 4-foot-something highschool freshman with a stupidly "smart mouth"..... i kinda wish i had gotten "cyber-wedgied", "cyber-punched" and "cyber-hung-from- the-barbwirefence-by-my-underwear" .... rather than the real thing.     Bullying always existed everywhere, and we as a society appear to be doing a BETTER job of not tolerating it, rather than a worse job.... but yes, we need to keep careful watch on the cyber world, where it might be better/more-easily hidden.  

[Bozo the kKklown]

6 minutes ago, mcsluggo said:

we need to keep careful watch on the cyber world, where it might be better/more-easily hidden

i think this is the issue.

[Mooka]

5 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

I agree

 

suicides rates are higher among this generation than prior. Did you read the article?

 

Kinda skimmed it. 

 

I'm attributing the higher suicide rates to added pressure teens face. The author doesn't talk about this subject, just says teens spend the same amount of time on homework. 

 

Long story short, staring at your cell phone all day feeling lonely doesn't cause depression, that's just what depressed people do all day.

[tshile]

I have a two year old.

 

I'm seriously concerned about the affects of an ipad and TV. There's a lot of different information out there about how it affects their mental health, from social issues to attention deficit, etc.

 

I've also watched kids be raised not allowed to have phones, use the internet, etc. I don't think that is the answer either.

 

Tricky situation.

 

Everything in moderation. Right?

 

[Llevron]

28 minutes ago, mcsluggo said:

 

this phenom can not be viewed in isolation.   Parents have also gotten MUCH more protective of kids (not LETTING them go outside alone), at the same time.   By the time i was 10 or 11... i just joined the meager pack of outdoor kids in my neighborhood.   i'd go out in the morning sometime, and either/or/some-combination of go into the woods, bike around, go to the pool, range through various neighborhood homes.   I might come for lunch, if i didn;t just eat at some neighbors or at the pool.... and i would PROBABLY come home for dinner, unless there was a totally rad game of kick-the-can going.   my mom knew the numbers of the houses i would most likely be visiting (and the pool) and she had a "school marm bell" and, if needed would just bellow my name  (soooo effing embarrassing!)  

 

This is a whole different thing, honestly. But it is super related. I could write for days on how the failing of the child is related to the failing of the community. We dont do that anymore. I assume im way younger than you (kick the can???) but even when I was growing up I pretty much ran with a biker gang. Though we were like 10-13 and just jumped off curbs on ninja turtle bikes, that gang protected me from.....feral cats? Im not sure, exactly. But the point is I dont see kids with that kind of stuff anymore. I too live in the neighborhood I grew up in and I know there are kids here. I just never see them. Its crazy and I think alot of hit has to do with the lack of community. I could be horribly wrong and the feral cats have taken over the streets. Also I always had a street light rule unless I came home (not called) to say that I was eating someplace else. 

 

14 minutes ago, tshile said:

I have a two year old.

 

I'm seriously concerned about the affects of an ipad and TV. There's a lot of different information out there about how it affects their mental health, from social issues to attention deficit, etc.

 

I've also watched kids be raised not allowed to have phones, use the internet, etc. I don't think that is the answer either.

 

Tricky situation.

 

 

Part of why Im afraid to have kids breh

[Rocky21]

There's no stopping technology but I have to say between the loss of social skills and the general rudeness of folks on phones in public, I don't like what the smartphone culture has done to society.

 

Unlike some of yous I actually read the article.  :-)   

Only 56% of high school seniors went on dates?  Holy **** balls!

Only 75% of kids have their license by the time they graduate high school!  Wow. 

 

[twa]

18 minutes ago, tshile said:

I have a two year old.

 

I'm seriously concerned about the affects of an ipad and TV. There's a lot of different information out there about how it affects their mental health, from social issues to attention deficit, etc.

 

I've also watched kids be raised not allowed to have phones, use the internet, etc. I don't think that is the answer either.

 

Tricky situation.

 

Everything in moderation. Right?

 

 

Moderation or diversity, expand the kids minds and experiences and you won't need to worry over screen times.

Put them little toads to work 

[Going Commando]

1 hour ago, mcsluggo said:

this phenom can not be viewed in isolation.   Parents have also gotten MUCH more protective of kids (not LETTING them go outside alone), at the same time.   By the time i was 10 or 11... i just joined the meager pack of outdoor kids in my neighborhood.   i'd go out in the morning sometime, and either/or/some-combination of go into the woods, bike around, go to the pool, range through various neighborhood homes.   I might come for lunch, if i didn;t just eat at some neighbors or at the pool.... and i would PROBABLY come home for dinner, unless there was a totally rad game of kick-the-can going.   my mom knew the numbers of the houses i would most likely be visiting (and the pool) and she had a "school marm bell" and, if needed would just bellow my name  (soooo effing embarrassing!)  

 

I had a rural childhood that was similar to yours, except that I didn't have neighbors or other children aside from my cousins and siblings to play with.  I lived in a massive tract of woodland and had the freedom to roam around on it all day since I was 9 or 10 years old.  I had little air rifles and my older cousin had a crossbow and we'd pretend we were hunting or soldiering.  I'd drag saw horses and wooden pallets and chicken wire and tools into the woods and make forts. 

 

You're right that parenting is very different now.  Thinking back about my childhood, I had an unheard of amount of independence by today's standards.  I have young nephews and they would never be allowed to do that, even though the only real danger I faced from roaming the woods was from me hurting myself, or getting lost and stuck out there in the dark.  Although I got lost all of the time and frequently hurt myself and it wasn't really a big deal.

 

Sometime I worry about my nephews lacking independence.  They're very young, but the youngest can't stand to be by himself at all.  He follows his brother or the adults around constantly, wanting to involve himself in whatever they're doing.  He won't even do stuff like play video games by himself.  He would rather go to the gas station with me to put air in the car's tires than play with the toys and games we get him.  I wonder if that's a cause for concern?  I don't remember adults ever playing with or entertaining us as kids.

[mcsluggo]

1 hour ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

Sometime I worry about my nephews lacking independence.  They're very young, but the youngest can't stand to be by himself at all.  He follows his brother or the adults around constantly, wanting to involve himself in whatever they're doing.  He won't even do stuff like play video games by himself.  He would rather go to the gas station with me to put air in the car's tires than play with the toys and games we get him.  I wonder if that's a cause for concern?  I don't remember adults ever playing with or entertaining us as kids.

 

i lived inside the beltway... but it was quite a bit more wooded/less fully packed back in the 70s/80s.    

    

Several times a year we (the small roaming pack of kids in my immediate vicinity) would get on our bikes, and purposely get lost.   We would point in a general direction, (and keep in that general direction by the sun) but take as many unfamiliar turns as possible... and then go up to a stranger's house after dusk, tell them we were lost, and ask if we could call our moms.   I loved that game.   I don't know why my mom didn't kill me.   

[Vilandil Tasardur]

2 hours ago, Llevron said:

 

This is a whole different thing, honestly. But it is super related. I could write for days on how the failing of the child is related to the failing of the community. We dont do that anymore. I assume im way younger than you (kick the can???) but even when I was growing up I pretty much ran with a biker gang. Though we were like 10-13 and just jumped off curbs on ninja turtle bikes, that gang protected me from.....feral cats? Im not sure, exactly. But the point is I dont see kids with that kind of stuff anymore. I too live in the neighborhood I grew up in and I know there are kids here. I just never see them. Its crazy and I think alot of hit has to do with the lack of community. I could be horribly wrong and the feral cats have taken over the streets. Also I always had a street light rule unless I came home (not called) to say that I was eating someplace else. 

 

These kinds of stories really resonate with me; I feel like I watched this cultural change over night.

 

I'm 27. When I was in about 5-9th grades, we just existed outside from sun up to sun down, at least during the summer. You came home for lunch, and for water on really hot days, and otherwise you were on a bike or playing basketball or football or wiffle ball or badminton or anything else we could compete at. The younger kids were all there too, if distinct from us.

 

But in tenth grade everything changed. The homeowners association banned basketball hoops. All of the last green spaces got built on and developed. Pretty soon we had nowhere to go. The younger kids stopped being allowed outside because of "dangerous" people. And even if they were allowed outside, they never had time, because they all played organized sports or did organized activities every night of the week (instead of just doing it in the neighborhood like us). 

 

I live around the corner from the house I grew up in. I know we have kinds in the neighborhood, but I never see them. A couple of weeks ago two teenagers were outside tossing a football in the road. I went out and played with them. We lasted 20 minutes before three different people opened their windows to yell at us not to hit their cars. What the hell else are these kids supposed to do?

 

We complain that the don't go outside, but realistically what the hell is there to do out there?

4 minutes ago, mcsluggo said:

 

i lived inside the beltway... but it was quite a bit more wooded/less fully packed back in the 70s/80s.    

    

Several times a year we (the small roaming pack of kids in my immediate vicinity) would get on our bikes, and purposely get lost.   We would point in a general direction, (and keep in that general direction by the sun) but take as many unfamiliar turns as possible... and then go up to a stranger's house after dusk, tell them we were lost, and ask if we could call our moms.   I loved that game.   I don't know why my mom didn't kill me.   

I still play that game to this day. My wife and I get in the car, start in a direction, and every first street I've never been down before, until we get tired or it gets close to dark. Then we try to find our way home without the GPS.

 

I've found so many shortcuts to get around traffic and countless restaurants I'd otherwise never have known existed.