Note: The following article was published in the Buffalo Gap News Roundup (https://buffalogapnews.com). I highly encourage you to go online and subscribe to this brilliant monthly newspaper, dedicated to “serve the conservative (once silent) majority in America.”
I recently drove by a well-manicured city park on a lovely day and saw a dozen young
teenagers sitting adjacent one another indicating they were friends. However, each of those kids
may as well have been inside a dingy storage shed. All were oblivious to one another, glued to
their phones with empty stares and mouths agape. 15-years ago these same kids would have
worn smiles while talking, teasing, joking, laughing and ready to take on the nearby swings and
jungle gym.
But unlike past younger generations, the kids today are consumed with their social media
apps. We’ve gone from a witnessing a play-based childhood to one that is phone-based. These
apps are purposely habit-forming and are dumbing down the next generation.First some history.
Apple launched their app store in July 2008, making 500 apps available. Google followed several months later. Within five years each store offered over 1 million apps. By the 2010s our phones had transformed from Swiss Army utility knives to slick
platforms where app companies competed to see who could hold on to users the longest, thus
feeding them more and more ads. The new smartphones even came with front facing cameras so
one could take photos and videos of themselves to quickly post on social media apps in order to
gain “friends” and “likes.” By 2015, 70% of teens owned a smartphone; that number is over 80%
today.
But all this came with a steep price. According to Common Sense Media, half the kids 11
to 17 receive at least 237 notifications from their apps every day. A study by the journal
Pediatrics, determined that children who have smartphones by age 12 are at increased risk for
depression, obesity and sleep deprivation.
I know some of you are thinking: “I don’t have to worry about my little Jimmy and Jane.
They’re goods kids, plus those really bad apps have age limits.”
I’m sure they are great kids, but the game these tech firms are playing are infecting the
great kids too. Oh, and as for the age limits on the nasty sites? They are easily defied simply by
lying about your age.
Here’s what’s happening to Jimmy and Jane. Their favorite apps are likely YouTube,
TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. According to Pew Research most kids admit they’re
on these sites almost constantly, including at school (only 25 states have enacted complete bans
on smartphones during school hours). These apps purposely lure users in with an external trigger,
like a notification that someone commented on one of their posts. Their attention is quickly
drawn from whatever they were doing (for example homework) as they eagerly go to their post
hoping they will be rewarded with a good feeling. However, the pleasurable reward they crave is,
by design, only received about fraction of the time. This is known in the app industry as a
“variable reward,” and it keeps users coming back for more. Later, when Jimmy or Jane finally
get the response they hoped for, their brain is hit with a rush of dopamine, they feel fantastic and
want more.
This is classic psychological behaviorism.
That’s why these apps want more comments, photos and friends. These elements provide
additional ways to entice users and keep them on the app. Eventually, it gets to the point where
Jimmy and Jane no longer need notifications to check their social media accounts because the
apps are always open and they’re thinking, “I wonder who has liked my post from ten minutes
ago?” They soon turn away from homework—or any task or responsibility—to see how people
are responding. Before too long they’ve spent an hour looking at their feed, their homework is
far from being finished, and its bedtime.
But there is a bigger problem. What happens when no one cares about that post or when
people dislike or make fun of it? For many there is disappointment, offense, and even anger.
Some find themselves dangerously depressed.
But the social media outlets don’t care, because they know Jimmy and Jane will be
coming back for more and that means further opportunities to force feed commercial brands and
ads into their minds.
Recently I saw a TV ad depicting a young woman who was moving into a new residence.
She happily shared her priority list: “Internet, then water and power.”
Internet first?
The world is turning upside down. The next generation of adults is addicted to social
media.
For more information, I highly recommend an excellent book: The Anxious Generation by
Jonathan Haidt. In next month’s edition of The Buffalo Gap, I will share recommendations for
establishing healthy social media guidelines for Jimmy and Jane.
