It's practically never about time, but rather about energy. People need some downtime from work and chores and "improving themselves", and BS arguments on Slack or Twitter is a way to unwind for some.
Like food, hyper-distraction affects different people differently, I've watched really bad habits affect real peoples lives in bad ways, and many people who grow up in a culture where that's normal may never break those habits.
Also like food, I'm spending way more time in front of screens in order to cope with the pandemic. Is it okay? Eh, not really, but I think it's okay to accept the necessity of overindulgence given the circumstances.
Yes and no. To be honest I am not very happy with all the articles/folks advocating that people should en masse self-medicate during covid with gaming/hours on internet. Its like unless you sit in front of computer/phone there is literally nothing to do at home, just slowly go crazy. I wish governments did recognize this since early pandemics and actually encouraged people to do individual sports outdoors, not effectively banning like in France. That's much better way to keep one fit mentally, and as a bonus physically too which helps not only with covid.
The reason for my opinion is this behavior creates patterns that will be very hard to shed off for many people, once things go +-back to as they were (although I don't think we ever get there 100%). Unfortunately, humans are creatures of habits and wired to create many dependencies, ie on substances, but also activities that produce dopamine rush.
I hope I am wrong in this. Maybe it won't be as bad and the same people would end up with these 'addictions' regardless of covid, maybe a bit less pronounced.
(But agreed on the "don't take a walk" style lockdowns. And I'm honestly surprised the backlash to them isn't stronger.)
It's not about telling kids to unplug completely.
It's about balance.
There are so many endless digital distractions available today that people need to know how and where to draw the line on their consumption. Or they don't recognize that the short-term value they derive from scrolling Twitter or making a $100 gain on their Robinhood app comes at the expense of setting back their desired career goals, or personal fitness goals, or even their social goals.
It's exhausting to listen to mentees complain that they don't have enough time in the day to work out, or read a book they want to read, or cook the healthy meals they want to eat, but then they go on to discuss things like Bitcoin and Dogecoin for 4 hours straight in Slack or recruit their friends into another Twitter argument.
> Accept that today's child is a highly connected, distracted, techno-proficient being and let that be that.
Part of our role as mentors and/or parents is to guide young people in healthier directions.
There's nothing wrong with being connected and techno-proficient, and there's nothing wrong with having some fun on Twitter or Tik Tok. However, that doesn't mean we should go full laissez-faire and tell young people there's nothing wrong with being distracted all day every day.
There are a lot of parallels to diet: There's nothing wrong with eating donuts or cookies or bacon in moderation. However, if you overindulge in sweets, eat 3000 calories a day, and never moderate your intake of anything you're going to accumulate major health problems over the course of your life.