{"id":40609,"date":"2025-02-13T12:58:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T20:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=40609"},"modified":"2025-04-06T11:58:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T18:58:05","slug":"digital-poison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/digital-poison\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Poison"},"content":{"rendered":"

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]<\/a> \u201cexcessive 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.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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]<\/a>\u201cwhen 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.\u201d 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] <\/a>\u201dhave always been extremely rare.<\/em>\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u2019s because of witnessing such change that it sometimes feels cruel that we only know what we know and don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know. What don\u2019t I know that could bring about such a sudden positive change in the culture of my home or workplace?<\/p>\n

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]<\/a>\u201dyoung people who are deprived of opportunities for risk-taking… will, on average, develop into more anxious and risk-averse adults.\u201d 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]<\/a>\u201dconnection is why we\u2019re here. We are hardwired to connect with others; it\u2019s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it, there is suffering.\u201d 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]<\/a>\u201cFacebook\u2019s early mission was to make the world more open and connected.\u201d However, he speaks of how social media has made communication into a public performance, with it being a [7]<\/a>\u201dpowerful accelerant for anyone who wants to start a fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2018deepfake\u2019. 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]<\/a>\u201cthe flow of high-quality deepfakes into social media is likely to get much heavier very soon.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Authenticate all users, including bots.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Mark AI-generated audio and visual content.<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Require data transparency with users, government officials, and Researchers.<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. Clarify that platforms can sometimes be liable for the choices they make and the content they promote.<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. Raise the age of \u201cinternet adulthood\u201d to 16 and enforce it.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    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\u2019s not too late!<\/p>\n

    #DLGP04 #Postman #socialmedia<\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> 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<\/em>, June 18, 2023. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7759\/cureus.40608.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Jonathan Haidt. End The Phone Based Childhood Now. The Atlantic.3<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Ibid. 3<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Ibid. 3<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> Brene Brown. Daring Greatly. Penguin Books. 2016. 447<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> Mark Pernice. Why It Feels Like Everything Is Going Haywire. 2019.3<\/p>\n

    [7]<\/a> Ibid. 10<\/p>\n

    [8]<\/a> Jonathan Haidt, Eric Schmidt. AI is About to Make Social Media Much More Toxic. The Atlantic. May 2023. 4<\/p>\n

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