How do you feel after a fewer hours on the Internet? Do you have more energy and your day becomes more productive? During the global conference “Warning! Smartphone” many akin questions were answered, and even more were asked. The subject of developmental disorders, pornography available in 1 click, technostress, or scrolling were besides addressed.
The Institute of civilian Affairs, as an organization that has long warned loudly and openly about the damaging effects of smartphones on the improvement of children and young people, joined the group of participants of this year's 3rd edition of the conference "Warning! Smartphone". The event took place in Krakow on 4 April 2024.
The conference was attended by experts, organisations and associations and over a 1000 guests! specified a advanced turnout means an increase in awareness of the dangers of digitalisation. That's good!
In the discussion panel "How do fresh Technologies make money from our attention?“ Rafal Górski, president of the Institute of civilian Affairs and editor-in-chief of the civilian Affairs Week, spoke.
The representatives of the Institute could besides be met at a peculiar stand of the organization. There was besides time for an interview with a speaker, Dr. Catherine L’Ecuyer, during which she spoke, among another things, about her parents' protest against allowing telephone calls in schools at students under sixteen in Spain.
(from the left) Ilona Sobul, Pola Chabierska, Ilona Pietrzak in conversation with the visitors of the stand of the Institute of civilian Affairs. Conference Attention! Smartphone 2024, photograph by Rafał GórskiChildren online – what do experts say?
A kid utilizing mobile devices in public is simply a regular sight. It does not make social controversy, but alternatively causes inactivity through the large “B”.
This is due to the consent of adults to fill out children's free surfing time on the phone. Is this irrelevant to the improvement of young organisms?
A peculiar guest, Dr. Catherine L’Ecuyer, a pedagogue working in the Montessori method, talked during her lecture about the impact of utilizing mobile devices on the functioning of children's brain. She explained that
An excessive number of stimuli that adapt the developing head to advanced stimulation disturbs the natural curiosity of the planet in children.
She besides mentioned the essential skills a kid should get in order to be able to usage digitalisation responsibly: awareness of the difference between private and public content, educated concentration, or ability to control impulses.
Dr Catherine L’Ecuyer during the conference discussion, photo: task PL FoundationInstead of allowing children to make unhealthy habits, L’Ecuyer encourages the usage of a valuable sensory tool. Lessons utilizing sensory, whose main goal is to focus on the senses and their functions, let a thorough cognition of the outside world.
Pornography is another area of networking that has destructive effects among children and young people. A dedicated discussion panel ‘Pornography — Just amusement or civilizational addiction?” allowed us to research a subject that was overlooked all day.
Statistics show that pornography affects almost 25% of net search results, and the average age of the recipient erstwhile first contact with these content comes to 11 years.
According to Livia Halkman, author of the book Love Lives Offline, adult silence is 1 of the main reasons for the compulsive usage of pornography by juveniles. Halkman believes that sex is now seen by young people as a meaningless exchange of pleasure. It encourages dialog without taboos and awareness of the value of sexuality.
How do corporations make us want more?
Global telecommunications companies depend on their products. By encouraging further purchases, they offer solutions in the form of releasing fresh lines of smartphones, different from their predecessors with details, specified as "parent control" or a fresh interface. The civilian Affairs Institute so called on the government to take measures to Digital Cork Fund, thus taking work for generating a social problem.
We buy, we depend on ourselves and our children, the telephone battery refuses to obey, and we invest in another promising model – this is how the vicious ellipse arises. Due to the unsensitive commercial approach to production and sales, young people know no another reality than the 1 with the smartphone in their hands. Corporate greed makes people work on more before the latest version of software.
Why ban, not limit smartphones?
Answering 1 of the main questions asked at the conference, Rafał Górski, president of the civilian Affairs Institute, explained: “As the home burns, it is no time to educate on how to put it out. In specified a situation, it is time to simply put it out.” The metaphor refers to contemporary children who are home and parents with the power to become a fire extinguisher.
Conference Attention! Smartphone 2024. As fresh technologies gain on our attention, discussion with Rafał Górski, photograph by task PL FoundationHe pointed out that only extremist steps can work effectively in the current digital pandemic. This does not exclude, of course, being close to education.
Rafał Górski argued that an integrated approach, where radicalism meets liberalism, creates a space for real changes.
As it turns out, adults are besides a burning home. During the lecture "Digital Hygiene", conducted by the educator Magdalena Bigaj, the concept of technostress was introduced. It means nothing more than digital stress, which results, among others, in difficulty with concentration and memory.
Continuing the subject of memory, the talker exposed the influence of social media on short-term memory. Abuse can origin problems with remembering, specified as what happened last week. Bigaj besides pointed out the common activity of scrolling. It involves unthinking the contents of the screen while losing interest in content.
Rather than gaining fresh knowledge, people experience a diversion, leading to a deficiency of energy and a state of boredom surrounding reality. If adults can face difficulties in the area of digitalisation, why is there a passive attitude toward children who depend on the future?
The “Warning! Smartphone” conference is simply a space for discussion, exchange of different viewpoints, and for cooperation between organisations with the same objectives. The large scale of the event was accompanied by many talks, lectures and workshops with a variety of topics.
However, the main subject remained focused on education and support for young people in the conscious usage of ubiquitous digitalisation.
The Institute of civilian Affairs seeks to make the essential changes to the Polish education system. He hopes for affirmative results in the form of both top-down government and corporate responses and increasing civic courage, which involves local ventures. Encourages Signing petition “Save the children from telephones!It’s okay. ”
