If you were to track the exact amount of time that you spend online, how many hours would you write down right now? I dare you to try next week to put on paper the exact amount of time you spend watching a screen. This includes work time, scrolling time, whatsapp time, Hive time, Instagram/TikTok/Facebook time, anything that implies your eyes staring at the dazzling piece of tech the humans invented: screens.
The book I am about to introduce to you today is not a pleasant reading. Maybe because it is such a direct straigtforward piece of well documented literature that shows how much he have distorted humanity because of our extended time in front of screens. The book “Ibrain. Surviving the technological alteration of the modern mind” written by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan raises a valid concern about the big chasm happening between generations now that they call the brain gap. We have the younger generation who is tech savvy since they are 2 years old and 60 years old people who have no idea what’s the thing with Facebook. The gap is huge. In the same time interpersonal skills are at their ultimate low. Without practice, teenagers and even adults lose the skills of having a conversation. A genuine one. Empathy, compassion, reading social cues and body language is vital. But spending almost 10 hours online each day makes it impossible for humans to hone their skills. Face to face communication cannot be replaced by video calls. We are social creatures and we thrive in tribes. But in 2024 we are more alone than ever and yet together.
Have you witnessed the sight of people who gather at lunch to talk yet everybody is on their phones? Have you seen a mother staying on her phone while she places another one in front of her baby? Have you seen couples that hold hands while both are on their phones? I witnessed all of the above and it’s scary. There is a direct correlation between TV time and ADHD and autism. The more you allow your child to sit in front of the screen the more the risk of him/her developing these conditions.
I have gone into the nitty gritty and did a very thorough presentation of this book that completely changed how I look at screens. Maybe some of you have noticed that my online activity on the plaform has declined. This is because I intentionally try to cut down on my screen time as much as I can as I have read about the really bad “side effects” of it. I think we need to reevaluate what is really harming us at our core as human beings and screens have pulled us apart more than anything else in the last years. We need to become aware of this serious matter. Count your screen time. Write it down. Evaluate and be amazed then do something about it. I doubt that anyone on their deathbed will say “I wish I had spent more time online”…
