I saw it the other day. A baby under one year old, sitting on the floor, picked up a spare TV remote control. Without blinking, he started pressing the buttons and watching the images change on the screen, as if he already knew how to use it. Later, at an airport, I caught a boy playing games on a smartphone—okay, but on a stroller pushed by his mother. And I’ve heard of another boy who, when given a teddy bear, kept looking for the keys. Maybe these skills are already ingrained in children at birth. Maybe they learn them in the womb, since their mothers, out there, don’t spend a minute without their devices. Could that be it?
Before anyone accuses me of being an anti-technology primate, I would like to point out that this concern is not mine. It is that of the American psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of the book “The Anxious Generation”, recently released by Companhia das Letras, supported by the Brazilian pediatrician Daniel Becker, author of the text on the back cover. For Becker, “hyperconnectivity is causing an epidemic of disorders in children and adolescents.” And he explained.
Indiscriminate use of cell phones by children under 14 can lead to internet addiction and cause brain changes, such as mental, physical and socio-emotional health problems. Examples include delayed cognitive development, loss of learning, attention deficit, behavioral changes, extreme aggression and social isolation. Physical development problems include myopia, sedentary lifestyle, muscle weakness, poor motor coordination and sleep cycle disruption. More common than one might think is loss of sphincter control — children can relieve themselves while sitting wherever they are, so as not to have to get up and interrupt the connection, even when carrying the device.
And there is access to pornography and fake news, the use of artificial intelligence to produce cyberbullying and alter videos to harm colleagues and the induction of fatal diets, impossible physical feats and playing at suicide.
How can this be reversed? In the hands of a child, a revolver with six bullets in the chamber is not so dangerous.
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