{"id":38875,"date":"2024-10-15T20:31:24","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T03:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38875"},"modified":"2024-10-15T20:31:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T03:31:24","slug":"youre-killin-me-smalls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/youre-killin-me-smalls\/","title":{"rendered":"You&#8217;re killin&#8217; me Smalls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"You&#039;re Killing Me Smalls - The Sandlot\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hxJPJ6JY0Pk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;You&#8217;re killin&#8217; me, Smalls&#8221; is a playful way of telling someone they&#8217;re being annoying or frustrating. It&#8217;s often used in a lighthearted way among friends or family members. The phrase is taken from the movie Sandlot and is uttered by the character &#8220;Ham&#8221; Porter to Scotty Smalls. The scene occurs when Ham offers Smalls a s&#8217;more, and Smalls asks him what a s&#8217;more is. After several attempts to explain, Ham finally exclaims, &#8220;You&#8217;re killin&#8217; me, Smalls!&#8221; in frustration. Spouses have seriously said to one another, &#8220;You&#8217;re killing me,&#8221; in their frustration. Employees have said to one another of their supervisors, &#8220;They&#8217;re killing me.&#8221; I am sure the students have said in OTHER cohorts, &#8220;All this work is killing me.&#8221; Most of us have probably heard this phrase a few times in our lives. But did you know there is some truth to this? Allow me to explain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ends of our chromosomes are protected by a special structure called a telomere. Think of telomeres as the protective tips at the end of your shoelaces, preventing them from fraying and keeping everything together. When we are born, our telomeres are a certain length, but as we age, they gradually shorten. This natural shortening process is like the wear and tear on your shoelaces. However, chronic stress can accelerate this shortening, making it happen faster. As our telomeres get shorter, our risk of experiencing various health issues increases. It&#8217;s like the fraying of shoelaces &#8211; the shorter they get, the more likely they are to cause problems. Chronic stress can cause microscopic cracks in the telomere, which naturally lead to serious health problems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">I thought of the cracked, shortened telomeres as I read <em>The Anxious Generation<\/em> by Jonathan Haidt. The author delves into the growing concerns about the mental well-being of young people, with a specific emphasis on the influence of social media, parenting approaches, and cultural changes. Haidt contends that these elements have played a role in the notable rise in anxiety and depression among teenagers. One of the remarkable merits of the book is its comprehensive analysis of the mental health data, which forms a solid basis to Haidt&#8217;s arguments. Because of the mental health data in this book, I am reminded of Daniel Z Lieberman&#8217;s work, <em>Spellbound. <\/em>In this masterpiece, he writes, &#8220;Most people don&#8217;t think about their unconscious mind very much. In fact, the biggest mistake people make is underestimating its importance.&#8221; <sup>2 <\/sup>Therefore, could we be where we are with the influence of technology because most did not or have not thought about the impact of all that online scrolling on the brain or young people&#8217;s mental health? Since we have failed or struggled to think about this, our young people have suffered more than we realize. So that makes me wonder: could the anxious generation become a wicked problem? But wicked problems have innumerable causes, are tough to describe, and do not have a correct answer. As I read Haidt&#8217;s book, I realized the causes have not been as numerous. &#8220;Mental illness went up in so many countries between 2010 and 2015.&#8221; <sup>3 <\/sup>&#8220;There was a rapid increase in the paired technologies of social media and the smartphone, which reached a majority of homes by 2012 or 2013.&#8221; <sup>4 <\/sup>It appears the problem is not tough to describe, and finally, Haidt believes there is an answer. He lays out specific plans the government, schools, and parents can take to help get rid of this problem. This means it is not a wicked problem&#8230;yet. But it is a problem that is causing serious damage to the mental health of our young people.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jenny Dooley recommended an amazing book to me, and it gives me insight into this technology problem and what it does to young people. <em>&#8220;Your Body Speaks Your Mind&#8221;<\/em> is a fascinating exploration of how our emotional and mental states can directly affect our physical health. The author, Deb Shapiro, delves into the intricate connection between the mind and the body, presenting a compelling argument that our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs can lead to physical manifestations of health or illness.<sup>5<\/sup> Haidt adds to this by writing, &#8220;Anxiety affects the mind and body in multiple ways.&#8221; 6 <sup>\u00a0<\/sup>Social media and the pressure to look like so many others are actually inwardly damaging our younger generation. Haidt is well aware of this and provides a foundation for a healthier childhood in the digital age:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>No smartphones before high school.<\/li>\n<li>No social media before 16.<\/li>\n<li>Phone-free schools.<\/li>\n<li>Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence.<sup>7 <\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">My kids are all grown up, but I wish I had applied the guideline: no social media before 16, because it may have caused less anxiety for our girls.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">In conclusion, I have counseled many teenage girls who have been victims of social media. This has led to self-harm, depression, and anxiety. When faced with these three devastating challenges, it&#8217;s partly due to chronic stress, which leads to the shortening of telomeres and severe mental health issues. Therefore, the anxious generation might say about social media, &#8220;You&#8217;re killin&#8217; me Smalls.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">https\/\/youtu.be\/hxJPJ6JY0Pk?si=0cE3iVI4E-_SO1CM<\/li>\n<li>Spellbound. Daniel Lieberman. 2.<\/li>\n<li>The Anxious Generation. Jonathan Haidt. 23.<\/li>\n<li>Ibid. 33.<\/li>\n<li>Your Body Speaks Your Mind.<\/li>\n<li>The Anxious Generation. 28.<\/li>\n<li>Ibid. 13.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re killin&#8217; me, Smalls&#8221; is a playful way of telling someone they&#8217;re being annoying or frustrating. It&#8217;s often used in a lighthearted way among friends or family members. The phrase is taken from the movie Sandlot and is uttered by the character &#8220;Ham&#8221; Porter to Scotty Smalls. The scene occurs when Ham offers Smalls a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[3306],"class_list":["post-38875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02-haidt","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38876,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38875\/revisions\/38876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}