Bonum Certa Men Certa

Death of Human Interaction

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 28, 2024

Fall colors for Thanksgiving Background

Stereotypical 'face-to-face' (to screen) interaction in the past decade or so:

Watch my skinnerbox. Like!

LAST week a relative told me that it had become abundantly apparent - and it's now backed by solid research - gadgets and "modern" social control media ruin the minds of kids, especially toddlers. What does "ruin" mean? Well, it prepares them to have no human skills or the fundamental ability to properly interact with other people because they're too slow, not rich in stimulation, and there's no gratification associated with talking to another human (like fake metrics, e.g. "likes"). That explanation was interesting because it helped put in perspective why many young people dread having to speak to another person and sometimes turn to self-harming "self-service" instead of relying on stores for actual service/s. To them, shopping is an "app" and even dating is "apps".

How much are future generations being "damaged" by premature introduction of skinnerboxes and, perhaps more importantly, is there any "safe" age? Does age matter all that much? Do those things not also ruin the minds of adults and prop up bigots? There's growing evidence of the harm, yet politicians only rush to "protect the children" (under the false assumption this problem is confined to some age group whose judgment skills are poorer, less developed).

Sitting around the large tables these days, I see grown-ups (adults) showing each other their skinnerboxes (which they call "smartphones") and some people who wear headphones at the dinner table because apparently other people don't interest them enough and they don't want to talk, even at the table. To most people, or to those who value bonding and socialising, such behaviour is deemed deeply antisocial. Is this becoming the "norm" though?

For sure everyone who is reading these views of mine once upon a time sat at a shop or went past a shop where not only single individuals stared at some phone or laptop (at a dining table) but 2 or even 3 people sat around the table, all of them just staring at their skinnerboxes instead of talking to one another. Maybe future coffee shops will start rearranging their furnishing stuff more like inside airplanes.

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