‘The anxious generation: how the great restructuring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illnesses” It is a book that the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt He published a year ago, with great sales success (he spent 23 weeks in a row on the list of the New York Times) and that has generated A great debate in which he has also participated Bill Gates.
The founder of Microsoftfather of three children who passed adolescence during the past decade, has manifested himself on several occasions about The dangers of technology in childhood and adolescenceand recently he commented on his impressions about Haidt’s work in his blog Gates Notes.
The tycoon is worried about the impact of mobile phones and social networks on youth and comments The differences between childhood and adolescence based on game and explorationas was common in its generation (Gates was born in 1955), Facing the mobile -basedthe usual today.
The main problem of mobiles and social networks with children and adolescents
‘I am especially concerned with the impact on critical thinking and concentration’says Gates, who remembers how in his youth ‘I hid in my room and lost myself in books or ideas, Often for hours without interruption. This ability to turn free time into deep reflection and learning became a fundamental part of my personality. ‘
Today, things are quite different. ‘Would you have developed this habit if I had grown up with current technology? If every time I was alone in my child’s room, there was an application that distracted me and allowed me to navigate? If every time I sat down to solve a adolescent programming problem, four new messages appeared? ‘
‘Our attention capacity is like a muscle, and constant interruptions and the addictive nature of social networks make it incredibly difficult to develop‘, says Gates.
Have caused the restructuring of social and intellectual development of an entire generation
It is shown in accordance with the approach of the book that ‘at the beginning of the 2010, There was a “great restructuring” of social and intellectual development of an entire generation‘, because ‘I’ve seen it in my own home’.
Gates criticizes that adolescents are currently passing an average 6 to 8 hours a day in front of the mobile performing leisure activitiesno duties or other work, only entertainment. What has led to ‘acute peaks of anxiety and depression, greater rates of eating disorders and self -collons, plummeting self -esteem and greater feelings of isolation despite a more continuous connection already demands than ever’. Also denounces what teenagers lose, ‘Less (and worse) sleep, less reading, less socialization in person, less time outdoors and less independence’.
Haidt’s thesis stands out that The crisis is doubleon the side of the children and also of the parents. On the one hand, of ‘Digital Subcanza’allowing children and adolescents unlimited and without supervision of devices and social networks, and on the other of ‘Parental overprotection in the real world’protecting children from all possible damage in the real world and making them weaker and less capable.
Bill Gates solutions
Comparing it with their own experience (‘my parents did not know where it was half the time, which was normal then’), affirms that ‘although I hurt myself in some of these adventures and got into trouble in many others, These experiences were more beneficial than harmful. They taught me resilience, independence and criterion of ways that no supervised and structured activity could replicate. ‘
Gates believes that it is necessary Improve age verification in social media and delay access to smartphone until children are older. But it is not only a task of parents, but it requires coordination between parents, schools, technology companies and legislators. It also requires more research on the effects of these technologies and the political will to act accordingly. ‘