There is probably no parent in Croatia who is not familiar with the work of Serbian pedagogue, master of neurophysiology, and specialist in internal medicine Dr. Ranko Rajović, who has been warning parents for years about the dangers of children coexisting with modern technology, which has de facto taken on an educational role. In his lectures and media appearances, he urges parents and guardians to keep kids away from screens, let them run, jump, and move, because otherwise, they will not fully develop their biological potentials and will likely face mental health issues later in life.
Similarly, American psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt, in his new book ‘The Anxious Generation’, writes about how the penetration of smartphones and protective parenting negatively affects the development of children’s cognitive abilities, alters their childhood (he calls it the great rewiring), and increases the rate of mental illnesses. Together with American psychologist Jean Marie Twenge, who studies generational differences, he attempts to change the narrative around the use of digital technology, warning the American public, as well as the global community, that when it comes to children’s mental health, it is high time to implement some serious changes, starting with parents, institutions, and technology brands.
Save the youngest at least
In recent years, as Haidt addresses in his new book, the world has witnessed a troubling rise in anxiety, depression, and suicide rates among Generation Z. Yes, its members are mostly intelligent, progressive, and networked, valuing diversity and authenticity, but they are also sensitive, fragile, or, as this psychologist writes, the first generation in history to go through puberty while holding a portal to an alternative reality in their pocket that is exciting, addictive, but also unstable and inappropriate for children and adolescents. Their world is a toxic combination of ‘excessive protection in the real world (which parents provide) and insufficient protection in the virtual one, which makes them extra anxious.’ Although it is debatable whether this digital childhood is the cause of their mental instability and vulnerability or a consequence of other sociological and cultural factors that they escape from and which manifest in the virtual world, the fact is that it is five to twelve for a serious revolution. Members of Generation Z have become guinea pigs by force of circumstance, and although the consequences are yet to be seen (by the way, the youngest among them are only twelve years old), there is still time to correct the situation so that the same fate does not befall the younger ones, Generation Alpha.
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Indeed, as Jean Twenge told reporters from The New York Post last year, she is already using Generation Alpha as a lesson in the story of how digital technology ‘ruins’ children. Their happiness, life satisfaction, and expectations have begun to decline, while depression and pessimism are on the rise.
– I hope we can do something to prevent the mental health crisis from affecting the Alphas in the same way it has affected Generation Z – Twenge told The Post, referring to members of Generation Alpha, born after 2012, as polar because they will face two major challenges in their lives: political polarization and the melting of polar ice caps due to climate change.
Change is not brought by events
Although she named them due to the events in the environment that will mark their lives, she believes that events, despite the prevailing theory, do not define a particular generation. Unlike those who think that Generation X in America was defined by the catastrophic Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Millennials by the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, and the pandemic by Generation Z, Twenge believes that technological changes have actually influenced specific age groups and have been the primary drivers of generational differences. Technology has thus affected not only the practical aspects of life but also attitudes, behaviors, feelings, culture, progress, relationships… According to this psychologist, the lives of the Silent Generation were marked by the arrival of the washing machine, television was important to Boomers, computer technology to Generation X, the internet and Facebook to Millennials, and TikTok to Generation Z.
