Excessive Screen Time is Harming Our Lives
If you missed all the recent posts on the Aurora Borealis I encourage you to take a look. I am not sure about anyone else’s bucket list but seeing the ‘Northern Lights’ as they are also known is on mine.
I had a lot of FOMO from this recent Geomagnetic storm especially since I subscribe to alerts for Space weather Alerts (yes that really is a thing) as my feed went off the charts with alerts. We reached a K7/G3 alert (you can see the scale here). But you don’t need to understand the impact given the massive number of pictures posted by folks from latitudes as far south Alabama, Georgia, and Florida!
I was traveling and although hopeful to catch it in the air the stars, or more accurately, the sunspots did not align this time. But I caught another glow as I mixed in with a slew of travelers returning home after the weekend and was struck by a large number of people with heads firmly stuck in their phones. In some respects not new but what were the children.
I watched families sitting at the gates, no one looking up, around, or at each other. Toddlers were either placed in front of a screen or in some cases staring into space, or unsuccessfully trying to get their parents’ attention.
There is plenty of discussion about the excesses of screen time and the probelm of children with their heads buried in technology at the expense of social interactions. Much of the blame is laid at the feet of the technology giants and the technology itself but in my limited observation there is a behavior modeling component that is not helping
Back when I was learning to ski at the French Ecole du Ski I struck up a conversation with our instructor. I wondered what his favorite group was to ski and he did not hesitate – young children some as young as 4 or 5 were his favorite by far.
Why I asked.
In his experience they were easy to teach – all you had to do was ski well in front of them and have them mimic your good form and movements. And the same is true of general behavior and it would seem some of what we see with screen time excess and addiction is coming from parents who have their heads buried in technology
How Screens Are Changing Childhood
There is no removing this collection of technology and it is only going to increase but what we can do is influence the proportion of focus. Certainly easier for me to say and much harder to do.
If we must use our phones and technology perhaps limiting both the amount and perhaps more importantly when we access it might help.
Take a step back, look up, and like all the folks who caught the Aurora, take it all in. Yes, they all took photos but hopefully took more time to take it all in and appreciate the wonder of the world we live in sharing it with their family there in the moment.
