Smartphones – Changing the Way of Life
They’re the free phone now, and with the family plan they can be pretty cheap for teens. Teens all over the world have smartphones. Once upon a time it was a rare experience for a teen to have a cell phone in high school, now it’s a common
These phones open the access doors to a Facebook account, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and all other apps. They often wake teens up in the middle of the night when a text comes in. They’re also serve as the alarm clock. They make it easier for parents to reach their kids. They also serve as a distraction, as sadly most most kids develop a listening dis-functionality. These devices help teens find themselves with their gps and built in mapping apps. They also sadly help teens lose themselves, as they can bring on addictions, and other problems like depression.
Television and Video Games
One of the oldest forms of digital addiction is gaming and television. Our whole lives, since childhood most have had a TV in the home. This TV at times would babysit us during those boring days. Americas first serious digital addiction was the TV. It’s easy to live through what’s on the box when our own lives weren’t filled with excitement or activity.
With video games, they seem to get stronger and more addicting every year since their beginning. Now online gaming athletes are spending 13 to 16 hours a day on their games. The excitement and thrill of the college days are being missed because of online gaming. The once exciting Christmas gift is now consuming hundreds and even thousands of hours of the lives of many.
Video games are fun when used with balance. There’s nothing wrong with video games when they’re played for a couple hours a week. The difficulty really is the fact that teens are using them for over thirty hours a week.
What’s the Problem?
You might be saying to yourself ‘big deal’, everyone is addicted to their phone, we’ve all been guilty of long hours in front of the computer and television. It’s easy to fall into this trap of thinking, many adults see the advantages that smart phones offer and they think there’s really nothing wrong. The honest truth is there is something wrong.
We’re Not Thinking More – We’re Thinking Less
The Other Problems
Depression is a big thing with those who are addicted digitally. Neurochemicals in the limbic region of the brain release and are all apart of a limbic resonance when we have a face to face caring and personal relationship with someone. The human to human relationship in real life releases and stimulates the chemicals in the limbic region of the brain. Humans are able to experience full emotion and true happiness with the constant stimulation of these chemicals. When our brains experience less and less limbic resonance our body’s feel a lack of wholeness. Our emotional health literally needs more real relationships that are safe and reliable without the distractions of digital media.
How to Help Teens
Teens frequently need breaks from digital technology. Going one day out of the week with nothing digital will help, that’s more of a digital fast. Camp is the perfect digital detox for digital technology. What we do is we don’t allow for any digital technology at all, no smartphones, no labtops, no tv. The other great part about our camp is the very fact that we’re in the middle of the forest in the Adirondacks. We have an awesome lake that we utilize everyday.
