Excellent ringing of the alarm bell Alison! 👏 We have a tech pandemic here. Jonathan Haidt's new book "The Anxious Generation" collates all the research about the toxic effects of excessive screen time on kids.
Back in the 1980's I had a colleague who was studying "internet addiction". None of us could understand what that even meant. Now we do.
I agree 100% Alison - it's really bad. It's as though the worst possible people are promoted in the worst possible ways, all for cash. I saw kids who could *not* put their phones down while in my college classrooms. We had to use peer pressure to get these kids to stop staring at their phones and work with others in class. It wasn't the majority. Most of my students knew this stuff was bad and didn't want to live that way - but we were in South Orange County (Southern California) where the weather is great and the culture is surfing, outdoor sports - physical fitness for the majority. Those kids aren't victims to this and do not worship all the terrible things you've outlined. But pornos are really a big problem - not only my own daughter, but many of her friends, would date boys that were into porn. It destroys normal relationships. It caused MANY breakups - fortunately - not every young guy is a phone porn addict, but an awful lot of them are.
I lived in Orange County for 4.5 years in the late 90s :) My son was born in Mission Viejo hospital near the freeway at the bottom of Crown Valley Parkway. We moved to Aus in 1999, as my ex husband was Australian.
I don't know if you went to the link "Men's violent delights" but that specifically addresses the issues with violence and misogyny that porn has caused. If I could shut the internet down today, I would.
Thanks David, I tweaked it a little, altered some of the paragraphs slightly and added a bunch of images to make it more interesting. I also found you on Quora btw :)
What it's doing to their mental health is a horror. I'm so glad that I grew up without an internet.
Trivial by comparison and I'm almost ashamed to write this, but I feel sadness for them having the most magical of life's experiences stolen from them by porn. Awkwardly learning about sex on their own without unrealistic expectation. Learning from each other.
I don't think that's trivial, it's so true. When I think back on my first love, it was actually kind of magical, both of us young and learning as we went. The porn being forced on young people these days would have ruined all of that.
Excellent Alison 👌
No…unfortunately not
Thank you, it's not a fun read.
Excellent ringing of the alarm bell Alison! 👏 We have a tech pandemic here. Jonathan Haidt's new book "The Anxious Generation" collates all the research about the toxic effects of excessive screen time on kids.
Back in the 1980's I had a colleague who was studying "internet addiction". None of us could understand what that even meant. Now we do.
Parents don't want to hear it. Nobody wants to hear it. At least I tried.
I agree 100% Alison - it's really bad. It's as though the worst possible people are promoted in the worst possible ways, all for cash. I saw kids who could *not* put their phones down while in my college classrooms. We had to use peer pressure to get these kids to stop staring at their phones and work with others in class. It wasn't the majority. Most of my students knew this stuff was bad and didn't want to live that way - but we were in South Orange County (Southern California) where the weather is great and the culture is surfing, outdoor sports - physical fitness for the majority. Those kids aren't victims to this and do not worship all the terrible things you've outlined. But pornos are really a big problem - not only my own daughter, but many of her friends, would date boys that were into porn. It destroys normal relationships. It caused MANY breakups - fortunately - not every young guy is a phone porn addict, but an awful lot of them are.
I lived in Orange County for 4.5 years in the late 90s :) My son was born in Mission Viejo hospital near the freeway at the bottom of Crown Valley Parkway. We moved to Aus in 1999, as my ex husband was Australian.
I don't know if you went to the link "Men's violent delights" but that specifically addresses the issues with violence and misogyny that porn has caused. If I could shut the internet down today, I would.
Wow, neighbor! And, it was pretty nice there at that time, too - we lived in Aliso Viejo. Are you still in Australia? I'll visit the link -
Yes I'm in Queensland, took Aus citizenship in 2002:)
I read it the first time on Medium, but it's still very relevant.
Thanks David, I tweaked it a little, altered some of the paragraphs slightly and added a bunch of images to make it more interesting. I also found you on Quora btw :)
What it's doing to their mental health is a horror. I'm so glad that I grew up without an internet.
Trivial by comparison and I'm almost ashamed to write this, but I feel sadness for them having the most magical of life's experiences stolen from them by porn. Awkwardly learning about sex on their own without unrealistic expectation. Learning from each other.
I don't think that's trivial, it's so true. When I think back on my first love, it was actually kind of magical, both of us young and learning as we went. The porn being forced on young people these days would have ruined all of that.