The Dangerous World Of The Social Metaverse
In 2015, Pew Research found that 25% of US teenagers reported being online ‘almost constantly’. By 2022, that number had increased to 46%. As with other social trends, the same can be observed in Australia. Who has not observed a group of young people ostensibly out for a meal together sitting at the same table, each intent on their own screen?
Psychologists, including Jonathon Haidt of the US, have described this development as nothing less than a rewiring of childhood’. For a substantial part of the time, he suggests, children like this are not ‘fully present’ in the real world at all. Sherry Turkle, another psychologist, describes this development as a profound transformation of human consciousness and relationships.
Social Deprivation
Haidt has identified what he calls the ‘four fundamental harms of a smartphone-based childhood’. These are social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. Social deprivation is perhaps the least well-understood. What he means is that to the extent kids substitute the online world—the social metaverse—for everyday life, they will struggle to successfully relate to and interact with those around them, including their own families.
Screens train kids to succeed in the virtual world of social media, not the one, for better or worse, they must inhabit as teenagers and adults. They become adept at building online relationships, but not the real thing; in fact, the requirement to relate with others—adults and peers—at school and elsewhere becomes a genuine source of stress. However, a solid social network of family and friends is a fundamental requirement for mental health. It is not surprising then that there are rapidly rising rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm in the smartphone generation.
Attention Fragmentation
Attention fragmentation means exactly that. The online child absorbs small bites of information—comments, posts, and images—before rapidly moving on to others, which are often unrelated but packaged in the same way. As they are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of these in a single session on their screen, their attention span—their capacity to focus on a single subject—becomes increasingly shorter.
Schoolwork, however, demands a quite different type of cognitive processing. Students, particularly as they move into high school, are required to process large amounts of material devoted to the same topic. To do this effectively requires sustained concentration for lengthy periods as well as the capacity to integrate, or bring together, different ideas to create their conclusions. Kids struggle to concentrate anyway. Fragmentation of attention encouraged by excessive scrolling of social media posts is probably the worst possible preparation they could get for success in high school and further learning.
Conformity Bias
Conformity bias—the desire to be like and emulate others—which is very strong in teenagers—is magnified alarmingly by social media. It encourages teens to adopt particular ways of thinking, talking, and behaving (created by thousands of posts and comments and exploited by the tech giants), which may be admired (in the form of ‘likes’) online but not elsewhere. For example, what constitutes success and status, and what behaviours should be appreciated and rewarded? Parents are losing the battle as they try to influence their kids to adopt patterns of behaviour more likely to bring them success and happiness in the more challenging world of everyday reality, the world they must grow up in.
The Good News
As Jonothon Haidt notes, almost nobody—parents, educators, and sometimes even kids themselves—is arguing anymore about the risks associated with excessive screen time for children. This is good news because it introduces the possibility of change. But what is missing at the moment is action. We have arrived at a society-wide acceptance that it is normal for kids to have almost 24/7 access to a screen simply because ‘they all have one’ without being aware of the dangers to their healthy psychological development.
Like everything else to do with children, change must begin at home. Governments and experts can raise warnings and implement policies, but it is up to parents to make any proposed changes stick. Even if your child’s school has banned phones altogether (as is beginning to happen), if they have unlimited access at home, the threats referred to above remain real.
So What To Do?
In a later blog, we will go into this in more detail if readers request it, but the basics are pretty simple:
No smartphones, at least until late high school. And even then, the sites kids are accessing should be strictly monitored and blocked if necessary. Phones equipped only for calls and texting can be provided earlier.
No screens of any kind in their bedrooms so that they get the 8 to 10 uninterrupted hours of sleep per day recommended by the Australian Department of Health as necessary for healthy physical and psychological development. This avoids the risk of sleep deprivation.
More unsupervised play alone and with others (‘free’ play, as it is called) to promote independence, self-confidence, and a strong sense of personal identity. Free play should occur within boundaries to protect children from hazards they are not yet able to handle. Boundaries should be widened as they grow in strength and wisdom.
Increased autonomy as they get older, particularly in the form of time away from home and adult supervision, is matched to their age and capacity for mature decision-making.
More time is spent on screen-free activities such as individual and team sports, hobbies, part-time work, and volunteering.
And, most importantly, spending time with peers, without screens, so that they make real friends and become confident interacting with all kinds of people, including those they do not particularly like.
Ready to learn more about positive parenting strategies in the digital age?
Book: Check out " Positive Parenting: A Guide to Raising Psychologically Healthy Children" or visit www.positiveparenting.au for practical guidance on raising happy, well-adjusted children in today's world.
Podcast: Tune into our podcast, “ Positive Parenting - Resilient Kids with Dr Terence Sheppard and Milly Albers “ for insightful discussions and expert advice on navigating parenthood's challenges.
