Smartphone zombie kid apocalypse is coming!
Are you prepared?
Our kids don’t have smartphones. They’re 12 and 14 yr old boys.
And you know what, they really don’t seem to mind, even though all their mates have smartphones, I think they’re about the only kids at their school without smartphones.
A few months ago they asked if they could have a smartphone, we thought about it, and said ‘probably not’. Rather than simply telling them ‘NO’ without backing it up, We asked them to tell us why they felt they NEEDED a smartphone, The eldest, who is rather special, thought about it for a few seconds, and said.. ‘Nah, I can’t think of a reason’ well, that was easy, but expected of Max. Our youngest however had a bit of a moment, rolling on the floor screaming ‘I need apps.. APPS!.. Music! Emails! APPS!’ I calmly explained that he has music and emails on his Nokia, and actually has more storage than I do on my i-phone. We were very honest and open, we discussed it with them in detail and explained why we thought it wasn’t a good idea.
The next day he was fine, and has never mentioned it since
We have carried on discussing this topic with them, I have showed them some articles and videos. Notably this article, and this video of Sean Parker Ex Facebook president and Chamath Palihapitiya telling how Facebook is ‘Ripping Apart Society’. They get it. Children are smarter than we think, and they’re smarter than smartphones. Our kids have a decent macbook between them, which they use for graphics, music, homework, and of course, fairly well policed Youtube etc, they can use mums tablet sometimes (for Instagram, the only social app they are allowed to use) and they’ve got an Xbox (which they hardly use, but, incidentally was the reason why my youngest started skateboarding, so there’s an argument for video games there, but that’s a separate story I may write about)
Don’t get me wrong, I love tech, I’m a designer, I spend countless hours on my mac, designing stuff, and I love it.
But, it’s about balance. These things are tools, for us to use, and if used they can be the best things ever.
As Keanu Reeves once said in one of my favourite films ‘We control these machines, they don’t control us’
Although I see the balance tipping the wrong way, fast, and maybe Keanu’s statement is not as correct as we’d like to think.
Our kids make stuff, they draw, play music, go outside, ride skateboards and BMX, they get dirty, they’re hardcore and creative, they THINK! They don’t get much time to glue their face to a phone. Do yours?
I explained to them that it’s not just bad for children, that adults are just as effected, I see it on a daily basis, I myself have to conjure up all my willpower to not take my phone out of my pocket whenever I have nothing to do after a few seconds while sitting on the tube or the bus, and I’m a pretty strong willed grown up, so I assume it would be far more difficult for a child to be able to tame the same urges.
I decided to run an experiment on myself, in solidarity with the kids :)
Now, I’m not a ‘Facebook scroller’ by any means, I deleted that silly app years ago ( I do use it on my laptop, mainly for sharing current affairs and contacting people) I do use Twitter, as one of my main news sources and medium, of course.
Anyway, I started resisting the urges to get my phone out while on the bus, or tube, or whenever I had a free moment. I left me phone in my pocket, and looked out of the window instead. And it started feeling GREAT! I would get off the said transport and do a mini air punch, feeling a great sense of achievement.. How sad is that? Now, sidetracking for a moment, It’s well documented that ‘daydreaming’ is where innovation and ideas come from, when we allow our mind to wander, it provokes thoughts and ideas, however, when our minds are constantly ‘occupied’ just enough, with scrolling through endless crap on Facebook for example, our brains are not really in use, and we all know what happens if you don’t do those press ups. You’re muscles wither away, our brain is a muscle. Same same.
Anyway, I decided to take my new found freedom a step further, I started engaging with other people, in the real world, if I see someone without their face pinned to their phone, I’ll sit next to them, I’ll say hello, they always say hello back (so far). I will then start a conversation, just small talk at first, then usually get onto this very topic. I’ve had amazing things happen, I had 4 people talking on the train the other day, I was speaking, loudly, on purpose, to a lovely lady about the perils of smartphone usage, we were agreeing and getting quite exited about my ‘self experiment’ the nice lady gave me her email address and promised to do the same, to start engaging with people, in real life, as we ranted on, the two people the other side of the carriage, who had their faces firmly planted in their phones at the beginning of our conversation, slowly started to put their phones on the table. So, I engaged with them, joking with one of them that ‘she had two phones!’ We all laughed, they listened, the chap didn’t say anything, but was transfixed to our conversation. When the train arrived at my stop, I stood up and shook the peoples hands, everyone was smiling, the little quiet chap stood up, grasped my hand in both of his firmly, looked me in the eyes and said in a very sincere way ‘Thank you so much, that was so interesting’
I left that train feeling amazing, feeling that I’d made some difference, I felt a real, tangible sense of wellbeing and happiness, and I could only assume that the other three people were feeling the same. Rather than the fake, dopamine drip fed stupor that is phone addiction. We had ‘actually’ connected, and it felt great. The nice lady has since emailed me, telling me how wonderful that meeting was, and that she has taken up the challenge of engaging with at least one unknown person a day. Fantastic!
There is now plenty of evidence that this tech epidemic is causing all kinds of problems for children as they grow up, from mental disorders to learning and social problems.
Not to mention the 5G grid matrix, RFID and transhumanism that is rapidly becoming an actual ‘thing’, apparently.
We’re living in crazy, exciting and dangerous times, and personally, I would put up with all the tantrums and tears and shit my kids could throw at me to do my best to save them from as many of the evils that are being steamrolled into our society at quite an alarming rate, that’s my job as a parent. I tell them, I’m doing this BECAUSE I love them, if I didn’t care, I would simply allow them to slip into the smartphone zombie apocalypse along with countless others.
I urge all parents to do the same, think of it as doing our bit to save not only our children, but humanity and future generations.
Do some research, discuss the issue with them, they’ll get it, you’ll all feel better for it. Use your device, don’t let it use you. Go outside, do some stuff, try the ‘engage and get off your phone’ challenge, I dare you!
Peace out
Some further info:
The more time teens spend looking at screens, the more likely they are to report symptoms of depression.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/
The Facebook Experiment: Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher Levels of Well-Being:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309895983_The_Facebook_Experiment_Quitting_Facebook_Leads_to_Higher_Levels_of_Well-Being
