Are there evidence of harm in children due to overuse or misuse of screen-based technology?

How do we use the internet and cellphone technology in our lives?

Do adults and kids use the cellphone for the same purpose? What are they seeking? Can they get is another way?

Writing, farming, transportation, clothing’s are all forms of technology. Can we live in a world without technology?

Can Technology teach how to master technology, or do children need external help?

A kid’s relationships with their parents, teachers and peers (teenagers) are known to be essential to children's growth and learning when they provide emotional, physical safety and scaffolding to higher learning.

When does technology (our and their use) meet these criteria? When is it a hindrance that prevents natural relationships?

Observe how children use their phones and the internet and compare to adult usage. Adults tend to use phones for utilitarian reasons first and then entertainment. Children are overwhelmingly using their phones for entertainment. They also use the phone to communicate (texting) to each other. Often adults think the phone is where children are. This is where they play and socialize. To reach them we text them. Can we compare socialization through the phone and in-person?

During COVID many parents thought in-person school was finished. Zoom would make schooling better. The phone and the internet would make it tolerable for teens to stay home. They found out that it didn’t work so well. When kids had been out of in-person socialization for too long, they suffered. When they came back, teachers could measure how much the stay-at-home students had regressed on the socialization and academic fronts. What percentage of the socialization has to happen online, rather than in person before these effects take hold?

Land cultivation techniques, writing, mechanizations, cars, technology have been adopted by humans as far as we can see in the past. They allow us to become more efficient at something. It takes multiple generations to adopt technology. Foor hundred years to adopt writing and three generations to adopt the car. How many generations did it take to adopt the cellphone and the mass market internet?

Each wave of technology requires us to find ways to adapt ourselves to it. When we adopted cars, we walked less, biked less and spent less time riding horses. We became more sedentary, and we learn we must exercise our bodies to keep their natural balance.

As we have rapidly adopted cell phones and the internet, what do we need to be more intentional about doing to keep our bodies and minds in balance? Do our developing kids have additional needs?

 Who is responsible?

What is the responsibility of the state? Companies that make tools? Parents? Schools?

If a child is 5, 12, 16 today, how long can they wait?

What actions can be taken individually vs collectively?