Even if you weren’t dazzled by the interactive nature of the Internet when it first exploded, the majority of people were. Almost everybody devoured the efficiency of e-mail; marvelling at the demise of ‘snail mail’ as messages bounced worldwide reconnecting us with long lost ‘friends’. It was mentally intoxicating and we were fed this delicious unhealthy meal without caution or a second thought.
Could the same be said for children exposed to this ‘digital fast food’? In 1995, worldwide Internet use was just 16 million, by 2005 it was over 1 billion. Today, it’s almost 3.9. There’s been no worldwide change of this magnitude in recorded history. In just nineteen years, we have digitally rewired the minds of half the world’s population, and there are no signs of it slowing or going back. The storage of personal data and social history online is normalised. Looking at ‘the cloud’ has nothing to do with the weather. Social media sites haven’t even reached teen age, yet hold more of our secrets than a government intelligence agency.
Despite rewiring our minds, one constant remains. The human desire for loving connections and the natural consequences of this; children! The scariest impact of our Internet usage is what it’s brought to the children growing up today.
The children today are inevitably hooked on this ‘digital fast food’. Infants who still in pushchairs manipulate an iPad with more expertise than you ever did; Kids have grown up with digital cameras shoved in their faces. Overzealous parents revelled in documenting every moment of their child’s development to share on social media. However, the hypocrisy is rampant as parents now chastise their offspring for indulging in the ‘selfie’ craze.
Parents, institutions and teachers no longer possess the clout they once did. Do you have to accept the world you cling to is long gone? Children don’t learn the same way they used to. In the classroom, we deprive students of their digital addiction. Confiscating their mobile phones, yet teasing them with iPads for ‘educational’ purposes. Then we wonder why they binge on Snapchat and Instagram when they should be doing homework. They know they aren’t posting anything worthwhile too, but they need their ‘fix’.
Children have questions, but parent’s teachings are often outdated. The — birds and the bee’s — talk is more redundant than a used prophylactic; especially as your pre-teen probably knows more risqué tricks than you do. -Turning a blind eye only increases your distress when that awkward call from school comes to address your child’s ‘extracurricular’ behaviour. Access to information on the internet far surpasses what they learn in classrooms. There is too much exposure too early; yet the topics concern their new and rapidly changing worlds. It could be argued that we no longer possess the communication skills to garner their total respect or shortened attention. What are you going to say when your child’s anxiety comes from their bad day ‘going viral’? You don’t even know what a ‘meme’ is! As we struggle to cope with their demands and their tantrums, people debate how best to re-establish their equilibrium so they can engage their children again.
Do we give in to their digital demands (which shut them up) or deprive them as a deterrent? Either way, we cannot win; we either numb their senses through exposure or agitate them until they crave a ‘hit’. In their tautological world of manufactured connection and communication, they become further immersed; engaging in behaviour you wish they’d avoid. You are only permitted to enter if you play nicely by their fast-food addicted rules.
This is everybody’s discussion and everybody’s legacy. I’m not a parent, but I can imagine what the direction of action needs to be. As parents, educators and members of society, we constantly have to take responsibility. It might not be your problem today, however, it’s only a matter of time before somebody else’s ‘problem’ introduces your ‘angel’ to an absurd Internet video or worse. While fast food has destroyed multiple lives, healthy living has protected many. However, this time there is no protection. The children already have the unhealthy option in the palm of their hand. If they haven’t been given it already, they’re just waiting to try. Now the real question is, what are ‘we’ going to do about it?
The author can be contacted on Instagram @sincerelysanah
Sanah Thakur
