Читать книгу Overcoming Internet Addiction For Dummies - David N. Greenfield - Страница 65

Screens connected to the Internet (especially smartphones) are the norm for how youth socialize, interact, and spend significant amounts of their discretionary time. On average, teenagers spend five to six hours a day using social media, Snapchatting, Instagramming, texting, and scrolling on their smartphones — frequently sacrificing sleep, academics, and physical activity to do so. Smartphones and other screens have risen from being tools of productivity and utility to being a peer-based requirement for living. They are no longer simply devices, but have become a required, stimulating, and addictive possession. Indeed, you would be hard-pressed to find a teen (or tween) without a smartphone in the United States.

According to Statistica in 2020, about 100 million children and younger adults have smartphones, with nearly 6 million under age 11 having one. Another important point, according to the Pew Research Center, is that about 56 percent of parents feel that they themselves are using their smartphone too much, and about 36 percent feel they are on social media too much. These are adults we are talking about who have fully developed brains, and they feel they are not able to control their smartphone or social media use. This gives you some perspective on how potent these technologies really are; considering this data, it makes sense that our children, tweens, teens, and young adults have a guarded prognosis in being able to manage these technologies effectively.

Smartphones have become more like clothing accessories than communication devices, and it’s only a matter of time before people are literally wearing them as opposed to holding them. Because a smartphone is seen as more than a device, it’s important to have the newest and best options (even though they essentially do the same things). There is often excitement around apps and phone capabilities offered on new models that are quite expensive, and the smartphone and cellular industry spends millions on marketing, promoting the need to have the latest and greatest device.

As I mention earlier in this chapter, the good news is that your kids may be less likely to want you to buy them a car, because data show that, on average, teens are obtaining their driver’s licenses much later than previous generations. Why go anywhere when anywhere comes to them?