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Overstimulated, over stressed,
Anxiety heightened but not addressed.
Faces lit in a constant glow,
From a device, in hands, below.
Palms cup, thumbs type,
Or click, or ‘Like’, or swipe.
Acceptance measured by affirmation,
But never enough for self-appreciation.
Pressure builds to levels previously unknown,
From always being connected, yet always feeling alone.
Your chance to share:
Sharing the comment conversation I had with Shaun Pepper on LinkedIn.
Shaun Pepper:
“This is wonderful Dave. Nothing like the power of poetry to force reflection and shift one’s perspectives.
This resonates with me as an educator and a father. The uncertainty of future and the reward ( both dopamine and professionally) for being both hyper connected to our devices and disconnected by not being present with those whose are physically present.
How might we change the always on narrative and shut out our dependance on it? I don’t have a simple answer. I like that you used consumption here because not all device time is created equal. I recently have been using the phrases “intentional use of our devices toolkit” and “mindful device practice” to create awareness of why someone would be on their device in the first place. but I’ll keep exploring!
I am fearful that we are loosing our time to deeply explore our identity, individuality and meaning as we A/B test our digital personalities and see what produces the most likes, views etc…
Our children and teens are being increasingly raised by always on and connected parents. This lack of home and work boundaries and societal expectations through digital communications needs to shift.
Thanks for the provocation!
#peptalkon #digitaldevelopment”
David Truss:
Thanks for your insightful comment Shaun,
You bring up a few points I’d love to address: First is that all screen time is not created equally. Our conversation now is a learning one, and very different than the consumption of the next video Facebook or TikTok pushes in front of us or our kids. The issue isn’t just screen time, but the quality of that screen time.
The second point is about that appeal of ‘Likes’ and I never really thought of the A/B testing that our kids constantly do. I saw it with my youngest daughter a couple years back, who would post on Instagram and would delete the post if it didn’t have sufficient Likes in a set time period. She actually agreed that it was smart of Instagram to stop showing people how much a post was Liked, it eased the pressure she felt for every share to be well received.
And finally with respect to the ‘always on and connected parents’, these parents are also always watching! I wrote about this here: https://daily-ink.davidtruss.com/when-the-street-lights-came-on/
“I think we need to find ways to give kids some of the freedom we had as kids, when we could stay out, unsupervised, until the street lights came on.”
Our kids use their digital time to create freedoms we took for granted.
Shaun Pepper:
“Dave Truss thanks for the thoughtful response. It’s always been fascinating to me that there is societal perception that somehow kids are “safer”now. As a physical and health educator I worry about the decrease in the child’s experience of free play. This coupled with a guilt parenting culture that kids should be protected leaves them not exploring environments physically but instead digitally. The perception is we are keeping them safe in our sight, yet we are not really helping them navigate their behaviour. The unfiltered world of the internet is a much more vulnerable place for them to be spending their time especially as we figure out what is the “right” amount of time to dedicate to our personal development, social life and work on screens. Will continue to navigate through the gems on your website. Maybe we could carve out some time and discuss as a podcast episode and then share our thoughts. DM me if interested.”