Planet on Drugs (eBook)

4.4 WHAT GROUPS DISPLAY SYMPTOMS OF ONLINE ADDICTION?

4.4.1 CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Motor and cognitive skills deteriorate. Motor impairments occur especially in young children (under three years of age) when they no longer play with objects, but instead merely brush their fingers across a screen that is smooth and featureless.29 For children of primary school age, it has been shown that cognitive abilities are positively influenced by sport, very positively by sleep and very negatively by spending a lot of time on screens.

Myopia among young people is increasing massively due to extensive smartphone use.30 Already today, the proportion of short-sighted people under the age of twenty is 30% in Europe and 80-90% in South Korea / China. In comparison, only 5% of all pensioners worldwide are shortsighted.

Ability to concentrate, attention span and the ability to go into depth of content decline as a result of the intensive use of digital media and digital communication.31, 32, 33 On average, children and young people use social media for three to four hours a day, spend two to three hours playing online games, receive and write more than 100 messages and use social networks to cope with emotions34 (boredom, worries, stress, flight from reality, anger).

Online learning media (using smartphone, tablet, computer) have been shown to lead to worse results than offline learning media (printed articles, newspapers, books, the classic blackboard), because online devices constantly invite distraction.35 When using an online learning medium, schoolchildren spend 30-40% of the time on e-mails, social networks and similar activities. In addition, videos, banners, advertisements and colours are constantly distracting and tempt them to engage in traditional web surfing. The ability to go into depth on a topic erodes because a lot of quick and brief information makes it difficult to focus on the essentials. Comparisons between school classes show that learning success is 20 to 30% lower when using online learning media.36 This disadvantage particularly affects weaker pupils. The widespread use of tablets and computers in schools, as promoted by policy-makers, therefore leads to poorer learning performance. This correlation is confirmed by the PISA study from 2015, which shows that academic performance in countries that used online learning media at an early stage (e.g. Australia, the Czech Republic) declined.37

Mental abnormalities and problems increase when an existing predisposition comes together with the use of social networks (e.g. depression,38, 39 anxiety disorder, eating disorder, suicidal thoughts). This has been shown by publicly available scientific studies as well as confidential research by big tech companies such as Meta.

Between 2010 and 2017, suicide rates increased by 30% among young men and 100% among young women in the US. In Facebook’s internal user surveys, 13% of teenage girls said Instagram increases their suicidal thoughts. 17% of the girls surveyed think their eating disorders are worsened by Instagram (see also documents by the whistleblower Frances Haugen).

In this context, let us remember that many girls and young women edit their photos with the help of filters before uploading them to Instagram. In addition, young female users often compare themselves with well-known influencers who are supposedly more beautiful, richer and happier than they suppose themselves to be. Furthermore, let us imagine what image of sexuality young people get on the internet if their parents have not installed website restrictions.

Against this background, the question arises: Should free access to the internet and social networks be allowed for children and young people? Does it promote their mental health? The answer, out of care for the children and young people, in both cases has to be No.

Empathy declines. In the course of the first years of life, children learn to walk upright and to speak. The ability to empathise must also be learned.40 This happens mainly in personal communication with other people. 70 to 80% of the information exchanged in a face-to-face conversation is non-verbal. However, this is lost in digital communication. In social networks, users enjoy the protection of anonymity and the use of fantasy names tempts them to make uninhibited statements. The consequences are online bullying and the increased posting of extreme content online.

The effect on children and young people is lasting. The shaping of the brain and psyche takes place to a large extent in the first twenty years of life. Although our brains are very adaptable thanks to neuroplasticity, abilities that were not learned or developed in the first twenty years are difficult to catch up on. For this reason, young adults for example do not find it easy to reverse the acquired principle of ‘speed before substance’.

4.4.2 PARENTS

Quality time with children decreases when parents give too much space to their private and professional online activities. Children frequently hear the response, ‘Leave me alone, I’m busy.’

Online media become effective baby and child sitters. In order to have time and peace for themselves, many parents ‘park’ their children in front of the tablet. In doing so, they overlook the far-reaching effects. Not only is the time spent together as a family reduced, at the same time online media have a negative influence on cognitive abilities. Neither offline nor online skills are promoted by this.

Parents feel increasingly helpless because they can no longer adequately control the duration and nature of their children’s offline / online activities. They feel left alone with this problem. The principle of positive reinforcement, instead of prohibitions, can be helpful here.

4.4.3 ADULTS

The acceleration of private and working life through the online world leads to stress and dissatisfaction, because the head is constantly ‘seething’ in the face of the immense flood of information (websites, e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok etc.). Both at work and in private life, a quick response is expected nowadays (‘speed before substance’). Response times of one hour and more are the exception. Even adults rarely know how long they use their smartphone every day (usually several hours) and how often they pick it up (usually 50 to 150 times). A life of constant distraction (every five to fifteen minutes) has become the norm.

The complexity of the world seems ever greater and more unmanageable. Many adults are increasingly helpless or frustrated in the face of the ever-increasing flood of information on the internet and the complex problems of our time (e.g. climate change, digitalisation and artificial intelligence, military confrontations, refugee flows, political radicalisation).

Low attention spans and simple answers are becoming accepted. By now, even quality media indicate the reading time for each article (mostly a number of minutes in single figures).

Psychological problems are on the rise. One of our core social competencies is the ability to balance emotional life and motivation in order to prevent burn-out. However, as a result of stress and constant availability, our physical and mental exhaustion is constantly increasing. The number of people who become incapacitated due to mental illness almost doubled in Germany between 2000 and 2020. Mental problems are now the most common reason (40%) why people retire early from working life.41

4.4.4 TEACHERS (SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY)

Teachers are exposed to high pressure of expectations from several sides. Pupils, parents, students and politicians expect them to design lessons that are technically modern, excellent in terms of content, educationally appropriate and with the right offline-online mix.

Teachers feel increasingly helpless because there are no consistent plans for the offline-online mix. They hardly have the necessary skills in this regard, and schools lack adequate technical equipment. This deficiency was particularly evident in Germany during the corona pandemic.

Frustration makes itself felt. The online world is significantly influencing the brains and psyches of students. Teachers (e.g. mathematics professors) increasingly complain about a lack of knowledge and in some cases feel forced to lower assessment standards in order not to drop their grade point average (e.g. grammar school teachers).

4.4.5 SCIENTISTS AND JOURNALISTS

The classic gatekeeper function of scientists and journalists is increasingly being eroded. Based on the principles of the Enlightenment, fact-based science plays a central role in the assessment of complex topics (e.g. climate change, vaccinations, tobacco consumption, use of social networks). The role of journalists in a democracy with freedom of the press is to sift through the multitude of available information, to check it for truthfulness and to classify it. They offer the result of their work to their readers as a contribution of information or opinion. Furthermore, journalists exercise an important control function with regard to the system of separation of powers (executive, legislative,...