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I was talking with a friend who is a camp counselor for a small summer camp the other day and they said that 4 of the 35 or so kids at the camp left because the

I was talking with a friend who is a camp counselor for a small summer camp the other day and they said that 4 of the 35 or so kids at the camp left because they couldn’t be away from their devices. This power intermittent reinforcement in the on-ramp of addiction is scary powerful. Do we have any ways to innoculate ourselves and the future generations against it? The author poses changing the game which is support. I guess the trendy “dopamine fast” is a tool against this or weekly screen free time. Maybe more education on intermittent reinforcement or a D.A.R.E-like program for apps (a this one is a little tongue-in-cheek, but not really).

absolute_unit22 1y ago
> said that 4 of the 35 or so kids at the camp left because they couldn’t be away from their devices. Wow that’s scary. Such powerful addiction at such a young age
- fn-mote 1y ago
  Parents let them.
  - account42 1y ago
    Individual parents don't have that much of a choice unless they want to turn their kids into social pariahs.
    - yesfitz 1y ago
      Can you provide any sources on that? I've only been able to find articles that counter it[1][2][3][4], and nothing more rigorous than a Pew survey. It feels right, and I recall feeling similarly about certain items/events as a teen, but teens aren't known for having the most measured interpretations of reality. 1: https://medium.com/@helmisantosa/teens-without-smartphones-how-is-their-social-life-81214ba3047d https://medium.com/@helmisantosa/teens-without-smartphones-h... 2: https://screenstrong.substack.com/p/can-you-raise-a-teen-today-without https://screenstrong.substack.com/p/can-you-raise-a-teen-tod... 3: https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/parenting/article/teenage-sons-friends-without-smartphones-experiment-vpcnbj58d?region=global https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/parenting/article/teenag... 4: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/smartphones-flip-phones-screen-time-teens-social-media/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/smartphones-flip-phones-screen-...
    - ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 1y ago
      ...so some parents feel peer pressure from kids too?

absolute_unit22 1y ago

> said that 4 of the 35 or so kids at the camp left because they couldn’t be away from their devices. Wow that’s scary. Such powerful addiction at such a young age

fn-mote 1y ago
Parents let them.
- account42 1y ago
  Individual parents don't have that much of a choice unless they want to turn their kids into social pariahs.
  - yesfitz 1y ago
    Can you provide any sources on that? I've only been able to find articles that counter it[1][2][3][4], and nothing more rigorous than a Pew survey. It feels right, and I recall feeling similarly about certain items/events as a teen, but teens aren't known for having the most measured interpretations of reality. 1: https://medium.com/@helmisantosa/teens-without-smartphones-how-is-their-social-life-81214ba3047d https://medium.com/@helmisantosa/teens-without-smartphones-h... 2: https://screenstrong.substack.com/p/can-you-raise-a-teen-today-without https://screenstrong.substack.com/p/can-you-raise-a-teen-tod... 3: https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/parenting/article/teenage-sons-friends-without-smartphones-experiment-vpcnbj58d?region=global https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/parenting/article/teenag... 4: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/smartphones-flip-phones-screen-time-teens-social-media/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/smartphones-flip-phones-screen-...
  - ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 1y ago
    ...so some parents feel peer pressure from kids too?