4 ms·

Have smartphones destroyed a generation?

24 points by eadmund 9y ago

danboarder 9y ago
Its a safe bet to say No... Betteridge's law of headlines is one name for an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." * from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headli...
- majewsky 9y ago
  And you just invoked tome's law: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9077549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9077549
sushid 9y ago
Only as much as TVs, newspapers, radios, and hell, the Greek theater have destroyed generations.
- rhcom2 9y ago
  Avoiding the silly title, a better question is the smartphone fundamentally different then those other mediums? The ability for addiction seems to indicate, to me at least, that the smartphone might be different.
  - webkike 9y ago
    You can become addicted to TV and this is widely portrayed in arts and entertainment
  - wybiral 9y ago
    I think television and video games can be just as addictive. Edit: And video games don't enable me to call my parents, look up a recipe, or check a map.
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    > The ability for addiction seems to indicate, to me at least, that the smartphone might be different. Why is it different? Don't you remember folks sitting in front of TVs the whole day or night about 20 years back?
    - LacertineForest 9y ago
      I think the difference is that you can't take a TV everywhere you go. Smartphones are ever-present. I agree with the comments that video games and TV can be just as addictive, it's just that, as the article points out, phones are often the first and last thing kids see each day. I generally dislike framing entire generations as "doomed", but the data presented do at least suggest reason for concern. I actually read the article thinking that it is already/will get better over time with awareness, at least as it pertains to smartphone usage.
    - mping 9y ago
      And back in the day TV was mostly passive. smartphone lets you choose what and when you want to do things. If one looks at mental illness evolution, one might guess how different generations are across time; not necessarily caused by smartphones but surely and indicator of a generation's mental health.
      - ekianjo 9y ago
        > smartphone lets you choose That's not really the case when apps are designed to make you come back to them the whole time like Facebook and Twitter.
  - ellius 9y ago
    Yeah I actually read the whole thing, the title is a terrible reflection of the actual content, which is thoughtful and makes no grand implications about a “ruined generation.”
- EZ-E 9y ago
  It seems almost silly that 20 years ago, TV addiction was a huge thing. Nowadays who would get addicted to TV when you have tablets and smartphone who do TV plus one thousand other things
crooked-v 9y ago
First it was Generation Me in 2006 [1], then The Narcissism Epidemic in 2010 [2], and now iGen in 2017 [3]. All three books follow exactly the same pattern: stick a vapid and insulting nickname onto the latest generation, call that generation lonely and narcissistic, and blame it all on the latest technological innovations while completely ignoring the broader economic and social context. Each book directly contradicts the previous one and directly contracts her own previous studies [4], while simply reusing the same arguments and switching the target from generation to generation. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Americans-Confident-Assertive-Entitled/dp/0743276973 https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Americans-Confident-Assert... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Epidemic-Living-Age-Entitlement/dp/1416575995 https://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Epidemic-Living-Age-Entitl... [3]: https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy-Adulthood/dp/1501151983 https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy... [4] https://www.livescience.com/52771-why-teens-are-happy-adults-miserable.html https://www.livescience.com/52771-why-teens-are-happy-adults... "Very quickly, Twenge said, a pattern emerged: The eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders of today are happier than the eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders of previous decades."
- ryandrake 9y ago
  Also, the whole "article" is an obvious advertisement for the author's book, your link #3.
- olewhalehunter 9y ago
  I don't have the luxury to pay attention to most media or opinions administered by anyone older than 45, neuroplasticity loss can be really blatant when paired with decades of alcohol use, and they're all going to be dead or vegetative by the time a crisis comes, where in the past wiser and less pampered elders could have led us.
- coffee9 9y ago
  Certainly the parents are completely blameless.
xkr 9y ago
No, they haven't.
shubhamjain 9y ago
I would like to think that at some point we would be able to look at the thousands of such claims made over hundreds of generation and admit that "this-generation-is-doomed" is a dumb rhetoric. If end-goal is human prosperity, how does it matter if some fad is getting popular among teenagers. What we should be looking at is trends. Are smartphones inhibiting innovation by being addictive? I don't think so. Although, an argument to be made against them is that they can induce FOMO-related stress than it was possible before. However, it seems to be double-edged sword. Exposure to more success is a simple result of people getting more connected. The plus-side of which is the wealth of information and experiences we have access to today.
xxxdarrenxxx 9y ago
It's not the words that matter, but the body language, the look in the person eyes, when the person says something. If he nervously ticks with his fingers, or get red in the face at something shameful. The smile at your joke accompanied with that one guy who laughs with a funny sound, but is accepted anyway. The disbelief in someone's eyes, or a subtle wink to compliment you. I do not like a text only world. Me and my friend are both big geek late 80's kids who got both worlds. We love computers and spend a lot off time with them, but we spend once a week physically together to hang out, even though we have our own private chat server. This body language/physical presence and in context lack there-off with phone convo's might be a big part in it all.. Another example I have; When I had to work abroad for a few months, I texted my girlfriend almost daily, but it was not until I came back, the very first sight and hug at the airport, that I felt first contact again, even though we technically had contact all the same through chat. It mattered none with one hug. I think this is not just because we are romantically engaged, and I believe this factor is relevant in every type of relationship to certain degrees. tldr; body-language is where the magic lies
vorotato 9y ago
Uh I'm sitting right here.

24 points by eadmund 9y ago

Its a safe bet to say No... Betteridge's law of headlines is one name for an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." * from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headli...

majewsky 9y ago
And you just invoked tome's law: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9077549 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9077549

sushid 9y ago

Only as much as TVs, newspapers, radios, and hell, the Greek theater have destroyed generations.

rhcom2 9y ago
Avoiding the silly title, a better question is the smartphone fundamentally different then those other mediums? The ability for addiction seems to indicate, to me at least, that the smartphone might be different.
- webkike 9y ago
  You can become addicted to TV and this is widely portrayed in arts and entertainment
- wybiral 9y ago
  I think television and video games can be just as addictive. Edit: And video games don't enable me to call my parents, look up a recipe, or check a map.
- ekianjo 9y ago
  > The ability for addiction seems to indicate, to me at least, that the smartphone might be different. Why is it different? Don't you remember folks sitting in front of TVs the whole day or night about 20 years back?
  - LacertineForest 9y ago
    I think the difference is that you can't take a TV everywhere you go. Smartphones are ever-present. I agree with the comments that video games and TV can be just as addictive, it's just that, as the article points out, phones are often the first and last thing kids see each day. I generally dislike framing entire generations as "doomed", but the data presented do at least suggest reason for concern. I actually read the article thinking that it is already/will get better over time with awareness, at least as it pertains to smartphone usage.
  - mping 9y ago
    And back in the day TV was mostly passive. smartphone lets you choose what and when you want to do things. If one looks at mental illness evolution, one might guess how different generations are across time; not necessarily caused by smartphones but surely and indicator of a generation's mental health.
    - ekianjo 9y ago
      > smartphone lets you choose That's not really the case when apps are designed to make you come back to them the whole time like Facebook and Twitter.
- ellius 9y ago
  Yeah I actually read the whole thing, the title is a terrible reflection of the actual content, which is thoughtful and makes no grand implications about a “ruined generation.”
EZ-E 9y ago
It seems almost silly that 20 years ago, TV addiction was a huge thing. Nowadays who would get addicted to TV when you have tablets and smartphone who do TV plus one thousand other things

crooked-v 9y ago

First it was Generation Me in 2006 [1], then The Narcissism Epidemic in 2010 [2], and now iGen in 2017 [3]. All three books follow exactly the same pattern: stick a vapid and insulting nickname onto the latest generation, call that generation lonely and narcissistic, and blame it all on the latest technological innovations while completely ignoring the broader economic and social context. Each book directly contradicts the previous one and directly contracts her own previous studies [4], while simply reusing the same arguments and switching the target from generation to generation. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Americans-Confident-Assertive-Entitled/dp/0743276973 https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Americans-Confident-Assert... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Epidemic-Living-Age-Entitlement/dp/1416575995 https://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Epidemic-Living-Age-Entitl... [3]: https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy-Adulthood/dp/1501151983 https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy... [4] https://www.livescience.com/52771-why-teens-are-happy-adults-miserable.html https://www.livescience.com/52771-why-teens-are-happy-adults... "Very quickly, Twenge said, a pattern emerged: The eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders of today are happier than the eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders of previous decades."

ryandrake 9y ago
Also, the whole "article" is an obvious advertisement for the author's book, your link #3.
olewhalehunter 9y ago
I don't have the luxury to pay attention to most media or opinions administered by anyone older than 45, neuroplasticity loss can be really blatant when paired with decades of alcohol use, and they're all going to be dead or vegetative by the time a crisis comes, where in the past wiser and less pampered elders could have led us.
coffee9 9y ago
Certainly the parents are completely blameless.

xkr 9y ago

No, they haven't.

shubhamjain 9y ago

I would like to think that at some point we would be able to look at the thousands of such claims made over hundreds of generation and admit that "this-generation-is-doomed" is a dumb rhetoric. If end-goal is human prosperity, how does it matter if some fad is getting popular among teenagers. What we should be looking at is trends. Are smartphones inhibiting innovation by being addictive? I don't think so. Although, an argument to be made against them is that they can induce FOMO-related stress than it was possible before. However, it seems to be double-edged sword. Exposure to more success is a simple result of people getting more connected. The plus-side of which is the wealth of information and experiences we have access to today.

xxxdarrenxxx 9y ago

It's not the words that matter, but the body language, the look in the person eyes, when the person says something. If he nervously ticks with his fingers, or get red in the face at something shameful. The smile at your joke accompanied with that one guy who laughs with a funny sound, but is accepted anyway. The disbelief in someone's eyes, or a subtle wink to compliment you. I do not like a text only world. Me and my friend are both big geek late 80's kids who got both worlds. We love computers and spend a lot off time with them, but we spend once a week physically together to hang out, even though we have our own private chat server. This body language/physical presence and in context lack there-off with phone convo's might be a big part in it all.. Another example I have; When I had to work abroad for a few months, I texted my girlfriend almost daily, but it was not until I came back, the very first sight and hug at the airport, that I felt first contact again, even though we technically had contact all the same through chat. It mattered none with one hug. I think this is not just because we are romantically engaged, and I believe this factor is relevant in every type of relationship to certain degrees. tldr; body-language is where the magic lies

vorotato 9y ago

Uh I'm sitting right here.