Digital Poison
I was walking through a mall in Oxford to grab a coffee when I saw a crowd of mums with buggies all drinking the same brand of coffee I was pursuing. All the babies were around nine to eighteen months, and their little hands each clutched a screen. Research has confirmed our gut instinct that [1] “excessive screen usage has detrimental effects on social and emotional growth, including a rise in the likelihood of obesity, sleep disorders, and mental health conditions including depression and anxiety. It can obstruct the ability to interpret emotions, fuel aggressive conduct, and harm one’s psychological health in general.”
Jonathan Haidt points out the cultural changes that led to the intrusion of smartphones. He explains that childhoods began to be robbed in the 1980s, [2]“when we started systematically depriving children and adolescents of freedom, unsupervised play, responsibility, and opportunities for risk-taking, all of which promote competence, maturity, and mental health.” I find that my work with families in our Trauma Recovery Centres has caused me to reflect on those behaviours that have become normalised in society, such as a common deep-rooted terror about their children playing outside in case of disaster. Haidt argues that the fear is partly due to the introduction of cable TV and news describing these events even though they [3] ”have always been extremely rare.” However, many parents have expressed that they would rather their child or teenager was on a screen than be injured through risky play or them being hurt by a stranger. When they learn the basics of neuroscience that explore the development of the child’s brain, nervous system and sense of self, they usually have visible revelations about what children need to become healthy. They quickly learn that the continual stimulation found on screens leads to the amygdala, the emotional and fear centre in the brain, increasing in neural energy. This can lead to a cycle of addiction to familiar games that can either cause the child to feel alive due to adrenaline and then feel numb, which reduces the feelings of fear. We teach them about the centrality of attachment relationships that build emotional safety and the development of the prefrontal cortex, which is negatively impacted by the stress of the adrenaline and heightened stimulation. This basic knowledge has facilitated behavioural changes within families with speed. It’s because of witnessing such change that it sometimes feels cruel that we only know what we know and don’t know what we don’t know. What don’t I know that could bring about such a sudden positive change in the culture of my home or workplace?
Another cultural disaster in the UK is that the government has dramatically cut funds to support youth groups, seeing them as unnecessary in our modern world. Youth groups should be a place for young people to feel safe enough to take risks, experiment with social groupings and be courageous enough to try out new activities. With the loss of many of these, we have now, over a decade, witnessed that the [4]”young people who are deprived of opportunities for risk-taking… will, on average, develop into more anxious and risk-averse adults.” Adolescents can find life challenging as they adjust to the new chapter of their lives, and those who navigate the journey into adulthood with less stress are those who have a sense of belonging. Connectivity is vital for all humans to thrive. Brene Brown says that [5]”connection is why we’re here. We are hardwired to connect with others; it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it, there is suffering.” The feeling of being seen, heard, known and wanted is far more transformative than merely being physically present with another, and sometimes these spaces need facilitating carefully. Ironically, according to Pernice, [6]“Facebook’s early mission was to make the world more open and connected.” However, he speaks of how social media has made communication into a public performance, with it being a [7]”powerful accelerant for anyone who wants to start a fire.”
Sadly, whilst we wrestle with the impact of screens on early child development and the lack of emotional connectivity and safe adolescent peer spaces, the worst of all seems to have recently arrived in the online world. In my work, teenage girls are now asking for help, totally distraught because they have been photoshopped into sexually explicit photos that are known as ‘deepfake’. Though the girls know that they were not in that situation, now whole peer groups and the wider audience believe the images to be true and them to be liars. According to Haidt and Schmidt, [8]“the flow of high-quality deepfakes into social media is likely to get much heavier very soon.” I have already seen the devastation this causes, and we need to act urgently to stop this current trend. I plan to use the action points Haidt and Schmidt suggested, to write to our government to ask for action now. I’m also going to ask others to do the same.
- Authenticate all users, including bots.
- Mark AI-generated audio and visual content.
- Require data transparency with users, government officials, and Researchers.
- Clarify that platforms can sometimes be liable for the choices they make and the content they promote.
- Raise the age of “internet adulthood” to 16 and enforce it.
God must trust us to have us born into this era, so I passionately believe He wants to work with us as we seek to facilitate urgent cultural transformation. It’s not too late!
#DLGP04 #Postman #socialmedia
[1] Muppalla, S. K., S. Vuppalapati, A. Reddy Pulliahgaru, and H. Sreenivasulu. “Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development: An Updated Review and Strategies for Management.” Cureus, June 18, 2023. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.40608.
[2] Jonathan Haidt. End The Phone Based Childhood Now. The Atlantic.3
[3] Ibid. 3
[4] Ibid. 3
[5] Brene Brown. Daring Greatly. Penguin Books. 2016. 447
[6] Mark Pernice. Why It Feels Like Everything Is Going Haywire. 2019.3
[7] Ibid. 10
[8] Jonathan Haidt, Eric Schmidt. AI is About to Make Social Media Much More Toxic. The Atlantic. May 2023. 4
About the Author
Betsy
10 responses to “Digital Poison”
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Betsy,
It’s cool to see your reading and post driving you to action to take some steps in response.
I’m curious about your comments on government funding for youth programs. I remember being a lad in the UK, and weekends involving riding my bike around the neighbourhood, or sometimes further afield throughout the town we lived in–to the park, the corner shops, or the local indoor swimming pool. We didn’t have government-funded programs. We just had parents who let us wander on Saturdays (within some limits).
It seems to me that the ‘helicopter’ parents would not send their children to available programs, and the parents who are allowing their children unsupervised play would have other channels for them anyway. What gap do you see government (taxpayer)-funded programs filling?
Thanks Joff. I am really angry about the latest Ai inventions and how they are causing such extreme devastation to young people. I don’t think writing to local or central government particularly works, but this list helped me see some relatively simple ideas that could quite easily be implemented, which would change lives dramatically- so I felt inspired to use them!
Your childhood sounds relaxed, which is great! A lot of youth groups were able to access grants for equipment and buildings until around 2011. If you drive through most cities, there are empty buildings that used to be youth centres and are now little used due to lack of staff funding or in a bad state of repair.
Here is a quote from Youth UK:
‘However, funding for youth work has fallen by more than 60 per cent in a decade. The studies reveal that from 2011-21, local authority youth provision funding in England fell in real terms from £1,058.2 million to £408.5m, while the number of youth clubs operated by local authorities nearly halved in number.’
The government-funded youth groups offer mentoring and supporting adolescents, especially when their home lives were marked by poverty, cold homes, no healthy food and little interactions with parents. Often sex education and opportunities to learn useful skills were facilitated that enabled young people to have some hope for their future. Essentially, the groups enabled the young people to have parent-like figures when the parents were not able to fill that role or needed support in it. Many still exist, but they have to fight for funding. Of course, church youth groups also hold that role- ours certainly does- and our safeguarding systems are complex and strong because of our young people’s frequent negative online experiences.
https://www.ukyouth.org/2024/02/youth-work-sets-people-up-for-life-but-funding-has-been-slashed-over-last-decade/#:~:text=However%2C%20funding%20for%20youth%20work,authorities%20nearly%20halved%20in%20number.
Betsy,
Thank you for reminding me that this situation is not relegated to the US. Sometimes, I forget that the problem is global.
You mentioned that some parents would rather that their children be on screens than get hurt. This, combined with the repetitive theme in the articles about the importance of getting kids outside playing, leaves me perplexed. Is this a point of ignorance, or maybe selfishness, on the part of parents? What would you attribute this to?
Hi Darren!
Firstly, it was a generalised comment and is not applicable to everyone. Thanks for pointing that out!
I do train a lot of schools, and the staff there tell me that it is a growing problem and far worse than ten years ago and significantly worse than twenty years ago.
I think it’s actually a combination of reasons.
Firstly, we have a significant cost of living crisis at the moment with ‘normal working people’ struggling to manage the basic costs of living and feeling hopeless about owning a home. This generalised sense of hopelessness and often unarticulated distress leads to a lack of hunger for knowledge and is instead about surviving. I think many of our families cannot think, reflect and consider deeply. Other families in more affluent areas or with more supported extended families are most definitely displaying thoughtful, intentional parenting, which would lead to screen limits and outside play.
Many of the non-profits over here like ours are working hard to educate in a shame-reducing context with kindness, empathy and practical help.
Betsy,
Thanks for sharing your personal experience and commitment to taking action. The devastation wielded from a deepfake episode likely would be life-altering, and I realize that you have likely worked with others through these situations. How do you see the government being able to create and exercise the necessary controls and limitations to extinguish these rogue efforts? And how would you anticipate measuring success?
Out of all the articles we read this weekend, the topic of the truth being honest and not fabricated or deepfake stood out most significantly.
Thanks Mike. I would like to see the updated bill passed through our parliament, recognised and understood by those in positions of power such as police and teachers. Most of them don’t get trained in updated policy or law for some time after changes are introduced due to the nature of the ever-changing guidelines and laws. The Online Safety Act was passed into law on 26 October 2023. The criminal offences introduced by the Act came into effect on 31 January 2024. These offences cover:
*encouraging or assisting serious self-harm
*cyberflashing
*sending false information intended to cause non-*trivial harm
*threatening communications
*intimate image abuse
*epilepsy trolling
These new offences apply directly to the individuals sending them, and convictions have already been made under the cyber flashing and threatening communications offences.
This is what it says online, but the reality is that many children will not be ‘telling on their friends’ for fear of isolation and rejection. And many will feel such shame that they may be far too scared to let an adult know. So the issue needs to be tackled in schools and youth groups to help the young people explore the impact of these experiences in a way that enables them to speak about it and ask for help and stop some young people hurting each other for because they think it’s funny.
My measure of success will be when it is rare for a child to experience such violation and it doesn’t fill our intake forms when children speak about needing help.
Thanks Betsy. I’m really encourage by your action in making the cyberspace safer not only for this generation but those to come. This statement is still on my mind, “ God must trust us to have us born into this era”. Great perspective and call to action on this important issue of our time.
Thanks Alex! That’s why i think theology is a solid foundation to all we are and do. The knowledge that God is all-knowing is vital, or we feel powerless and defeated!
Betsy, thank you for ending your post with hope! This week’s reading was discouraging, so I appreciate your action plan and statement that it isn’t too late. There is much work to be done. But you are correct: God had us living in this moment for a reason. His Spirit equips us to do the work.
I get that, Mika and I agree that it can feel so overwhelming. I find that I have to find that hope and faith space in my spirit when I hear people’s stories because there is so much evil in the world. But I believe we can do much more than we think! Especially when we support each other! Look what so many of these research projects in our cohort will do to bring change to the world! How exciting to be a part of that!