Mind Control
A New World
My last column was on addiction and as we all know there are many forms besides drugs and alcohol; gambling, hoarding, eating, smoking, to name a few. But in this modern age of electronics, a new addiction has taken over most of the world, and that of course are our cell phones.
We can all deny, and there are exceptions, that our lives are now controlled by an inanimate piece of plastic and metal that can talk to us. Just wait when A.I. steps up its game.
What sparked to write this column was I recently learned about Cell Phone Addiction Treatment Centers. I may be late to this party but there are places for teenagers to stay in residence for digital detox. As well as adults. The times are a changing.
What really surprised me more was watching a news report about an outdoor digital cleansing camp. One of the teen boys were surprised how they learned to talk with each other. Communicate. Talking face to face. One girl said she noticed insects. Another young boy referenced seeing trees and a creek. His hope upon his return home was to remove himself entirely from Instagram. He said it didn’t make him feel good. That’s where we are, where an app can make you ill.
Another female teen admitted she cried when she had to give up her phone. While another said she was always reaching in her pocket looking for it.
For these kids it was probably the first time they heard birds. Or at the very least paid attention to them in a very long time.
Gone are the days when our parents made us stay outside and play in the park, neighbor's homes, climb trees, make funky skates and skateboards. We wanted to stay outside and play. Play, a term kids these days can’t even relate with unless it’s a video game.
The kids at the camp road bikes and went on hikes. Not plopped down in some corner staring at a machine and never looking up for hours.
Addicted to drugs and alcohol messes with your body but cell phones alter how the mind works. The world is what’s on that screen and not what’s around you. It’s so easy to run down the cyber rabbit hole and get lost.
The young mind is being trained to have the attention span of a gnat. And it’s not just kids, adults are equally as bad. We’re all bad. It’s so crazy to be in a restaurant, grocery line, gas station, airplane, riding a horse or bicycle, anywhere where all the people around you are looking at their phones.
I don’t see it getting any better.
Apple is already incorporating A.I., Apple Intelligence in your phones whether you like it or not. If we’re addicted now, that advanced technology can only make things worse. Earth is becoming a real-life Schwarzenegger movie.
The machines may not be walking and hunting us down, yet. But they will be controlling us with even more power. The bond with the phones needs to be better manages. Even as I’m writing this my computer “thinks” the correct words before I can even type them.
Digital Detox. Who knew? I used to get flak for watching too many cartoons.
Not unlike using the TV as a babysitter, the phones have become the modern-day babysitters. There’s a good chance parents could leave the house all day and when they return their children didn’t even know they left.
How do we fix this one? The digital detox camps and centers are a start but it’s that’s crazy we even need those. Like those dealing with substance abuse, you can’t force someone to attend. That’s where the parents must step up. I’m certain there are and will be some big fights if it comes to that. Money could be an issue some as well. These days, though they whine about it, the government seems to be wallowing in it like a pile of fall leaves because they waste it like crazy. It’s too bad they couldn’t start a detox campaign or programs that aren’t filled with corruption and fluff.
Built-in timer on phones, regulated by parents, limiting the amount of use per day is a simple way to manage. But you know the big tech boys don’t like that idea at all. And as smart as these kids are these days when it comes to technology, they’ll figure out how to bypass.
I certainly don’t have the answers but there needs to be one. These up-and-coming generations cannot continue to survive with blinders on.
Like all addictions, there’s that point when you surpass moderation and launch into excess. We’re up to our eyeballs in excess.
Of course there’s an upside. The power of the phone is phenomenal. As a kid thinking this kind of technology would be available in my lifetime, I would have considered it a science fiction dream. We still don’t have flying cars, but we have toys that can make us feel like we’re flying.
What we can do with these minicomputers is still mind-blowing. I don’t need to list it all because you know, but suffice to say, even though they’re a plague on society they’re also a wonderful tool to conduct business, stay in touch, plan trips and on and on.
What we humans seem to have difficult time with is managing that time. Just because we get a text, we don’t have to respond in two seconds. We don’t have to take pictures of ourselves or what we’re eating and sending them off like anyone cares.
Moderation. It applies to everything. Drink, food, even exercise and how much time we put in playing with our electronic toys.
When a teenager suddenly becomes aware of trees and bugs, that’s scary. Or crying because you can’t use your phone but have no clue the world around them is collapsing.
What’s worse, they don’t even care.