Ladies and gentlemen,
A fewer months ago I wrote you about a word that was nominated for the Youth Word of the Year competition by the leading publishing home of the University of Oxford.
Recently, I have encountered them again and found that this subject needs to be reminded and deepened.
"Brain rot".
It is not a pleasant word virtually means "brain decay" and in fact... That's what it is.
This word usually describes short, meaningless content, with no value, but incredibly consuming our attention, which we can find on the Internet, usually in the form of short films or alleged social media rolls.
The effects of excessive consumption of specified worthless content are unfortunately lamented: shorter focus time, difficulty concentrating or alleged brain fog. In time, the “brain rotes” lead to the fact that we are incapable to focus on anything that requires even minimal effort – we cannot read books, conduct conversations with interest or even watch films lasting longer than a fewer twelve seconds.
Our brain is bored immediately. And all he wants to do is decision on to another activity that will give him a fast stroke of dopamine.
And for a reason, that word is in competition for the word of the year. due to the fact that brain rot, "brain rot" digests at an unprecedented rate the young generation.
How do we change that?
I have a mystery for you.
The studies I quote below concern schools, and they were carried out 1 year after the introduction some crucial change. I wonder if you can guess what kind of change this is.
- 81% School principals stated that this change affected improving learning outcomes,
- 86% noted an improvement socialisation of pupils,
- 87% considers that students are little distracted and better focused on lessons.
What's the change?
I say many of you have already come up with the right solution.
The schools surveyed were banned from utilizing smartphones.
Taking distant the students for a fewer hours of 1 tiny device, which each 1 had in his pocket or backpack, changed so much!
The bad news is that the survey was not conducted in Polish schools.
The Ministry of Education led by Barbara Nowacka – although it spares us no further revolutionary ideas for reforming Polish education – does not rush to ban smartphones in schools.
Meanwhile, the full young generation day by day is absorbed by digital addiction. These are children who no longer know the planet without ubiquitous screens, and their minds, frequently accustomed to utilizing electronics almost from birth, are incapable to function as they should to enable them to grow decently and to have a happy childhood.
Thanks to our smartphones we are connected to the net all the time.
This is simply a large comfort: we can always keep up with the latest news, check the email box at any time, rapidly communicate with friends, and hundreds of applications offer benefits and facilitation in virtually all sphere of life. Boring is no longer a problem – wherever we are, we can perceive to your favourite music, watch a movie, play 1 of the thousands of games available, or just scroll through the social media endlessly, checking on friends and strangers.
What's the problem? What may seem to be benefits actually has a destructive effect on our psyche, tense strategy and frequently health.
And I'm inactive talking about adults. About people who have tools and skills to make it easier to announcement problems and effort to fight them.
Things are much worse erstwhile it comes to children.
Specialists have been beating the alarm for years: children usage screen devices much longer than they should. all day about 5 hours.
They besides kill boredom by watching movies or playing games. They communicate with friends. They're scrolling social media.
Sounds innocent?
40% Teen agrees with the message that Their lives would become empty without their smartphone..
Since 2012, the time children spend with their peers has nearly halved. Without direct contact with others, young people are incapable to find themselves in society and are increasingly lonely.
Within a decade tripled Number of children declaring thoughts of suicide and trying to take a life. It is at the same time the same decade in which the planet has won smartphones.
Social scientist Jonathan Haidt, 1 of the leading researchers of social media influence on youth believes that the spread of smartphones has taken the full generation distant from childhood. In his opinion There is simply a direct link between the intense usage of social media and the increased incidence of intellectual problems.
Haidt has shown that since platforms specified as Facebook and Twitter introduced changes in their algorithms around 2010, there has been an increase in misinformation, social polarization and, most worryingly, a intellectual wellness crisis among teenagers.
These tiny devices, which our children carry in their pockets and backpacks, turn their planet into a very dark and empty place.
So dark that they can't get themselves out of there – although they would like to.
Because investigation conducted by social psychologists shows something else: more than half of young adults (meaning those aged 18-27) would want social media to never be invented.
They spent their childhood there. Or possibly a more actual message would beThey lost their childhood there.
It is for us adults to be liable for getting children and youth out of the virtual matt.
That is why present I would like to ask you to be active in the activities that we have been conducting as the Centre of Life and household for respective years now.
Unfortunately, politicians are very reluctant to make real changes. Another education ministers are key to introducing restrictions on the usage of smartphones in schools.
Recent specified changes, proposed in the erstwhile school year, were effectively blocked, among others, by... the Ombudsman of Children's Rights.
I find it hard to tell whether specified political runs are a substance of ignorance about the harmful impact of digital devices on children and young people, or of bias based on ideology.
I know 1 thing – we have frequently seen that force on politicians can be effective.
Therefore, I would like to ask you to join the Smartphone Free School campaign. Page schoolbezsmartfonow.czir.org You will find our appeal to the Minister of National Education, where we point out the request to take decisive action to defend children from the harmful effects of smartphones. This is peculiarly crucial in school, which should be an area of education and focus.
At our appeal, we have already gathered over 18,000 signatures. However, I hope that we will shortly be able to scope 20,000 – then we intend to make our appeal to the Minister. Therefore, if you have not yet done so, delight sign the appeal now!
| I'm signing the appeal! |
Restrictions on the usage of smartphones and another mobile devices in schools have already been introduced by many countries, including France, Portugal, Norway, China, any regions of Germany, Sweden or Denmark, as well as Australia, from which I cited you above.
The planet begins to see that technology, although helpful in many aspects of everyday life, utilized improperly and without reasonable limitations, becomes a destructive tool.
However, Poland inactive cannot wake up from digital lethargy. At least our decision-makers don't want to do it.
Because besides in Poland, the proposals to ban the usage of smartphones in schools are met with large public support. According to CBOS data from March 2025, as many as 73 percent of Poles advocate this solution. The respondents’ declarations indicate that it would be better to introduce general, uniform rules on the usage of telephones by students than that each institution should set rules on its own, as is the case today.
And in this social support I see large hope!
I see its scale all day, during my travels to Poland and meetings with my parents, grandparents, teachers.
For many months now, the Center for Life and household has been conducting educational activities focusing on informing parents and people who encounter children about how harmful smartphones are. In this way, we make a space for talking, sharing experiences, but above all, we sensitize to threats and teach how to aid our own kid function better in the digital world.
These meetings are very popular among parents and teachers. Thousands of kilometers travelled in Poland, hours of lectures and conversations, many stories heard – this is simply a real scale of public support to limit the usage of smartphones in schools.
And above all, it's a real scale of needs. We inactive get more invitations to schools where parents and pedagogues want to meet us.
This, of course, entails the circumstantial financial expenditure that we incur each month. We request your aid to meet these requirements. Each amount increases our opportunities in promoting petitions on social media, allows you to cover the costs of gasoline and preparing information material for meetings – in effect it gives you a chance to prevent further young people from slipping distant from digital addiction.
Each of your aid allows us to scope further parents, grandparents, teachers and all those who want to aid young people find themselves better in the digital world.
| Supporting the fight against digital addiction |
Polish schools are on their heads. Homework, spiritual lessons and key content from the software base may disappear, but smartphones cannot disappear.
Real and effective restrictions on the usage of smartphones in schools are not the taste of the Minister. It inactive wants to regulate these issues only at the level of the statutes of individual institutions, although it is clear that this is simply a completely ineffective solution.
Meanwhile, experts from all over the planet are alerting: smartphones take distant our children's childhood. They prevent them from developing decently and acquiring the social skills needed to build a happy life. They condemn loneliness in a planet full of only virtual friends.
We request to do everything we can to give Polish children the chance that their peers from another countries are increasingly given. A chance to awaken from digital lethargy. To get out of the matrices of dependence on notifications, dopamine strokes and fast consumption of further worthless content.
To build a real life that happens here – but the smartphone screen.
I believe this can work with your help!
Greetings.
Marcin Perłowski
Director of the Life and household Centre
