Every generation complains that the children of today can't entertain themselves are anti-social, etc.

When I was a kid (in my 30s now) I remember people saying it about me reading/watching tv/playing videogames.

Now it is smartphones/computers/internet.

When my mum was a kid apparently it was listening to records.

I am sure if you go back 1000 years you will find some record of an "old" person complaining about how the young ones have no respect for their elders and can't keep themselves entertained.

I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words.

When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.

- Hesiod, 8 B.C.

>I am sure if you go back 1000 years you will find some record of an "old" person complaining about how the young ones have no respect for their elders and can't keep themselves entertained.

Try 1000 years and some chage earlier:

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” - Socrates

Sadly, that one is apparently apocryphal.

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehaving-children...

Thanks for the information, I had heard this one long ago and took it for granted.

"The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13497021 is a recent, excellent, balanced, well-researched and -written book on this topic from Nick Harkaway -- a first-rate, under-read author of literary sci-fi. It's his first and only work of non-fiction. In my experience, it's common for "us" (speaking to the HN core demographic constituency here, i.e. the educated, privileged, connected and technology-empowered) to be too hasty in dismissing potentially valid criticism or objections from "them", presuming (and reinforcing) a binary choice between polar worldviews. IOW, "progressives vs luddites". IMHO reality will always be subtler than that. Harkaway -- though obviously writing as one of "us" -- examines a broad spectrum of perspectives and maintains a rare degree of objectivity in his analysis of the cultural impact of what are undeniably profound changes in humanity's interconnectedness and technology-driven capabilities. I offer no particular "TLDR" summary of the work, other than to say it reminded me there is more insight to be gleaned when we resist the temptation to divide the world into simplistic categories.

Current generation of kids are hypersocial instead.

What matters is channeling entertainment more into active forms. That has always been done with varying success.

> Talking to an imaginary friend can't replace real human interaction, especially for 8 hours.

"It was forbidden to communicate with others according to the rules of the experiment" So no imaginary friends either ;)

In all seriousness, I wouldn't be surprised if the outcomes had little to do with removal of technology, but were rather due to the removal of the ability to communicate with _anyone_.

Even more so: they were forced to be 'alone'.

edit: parent comment has been editing and ammending post multiple times.