Lounging With Leean( plus Sydney & Chris

Technology has significantly advanced in the past decade, with more people relying on devices like smartphones and tablets. The guests on the podcast discuss their personal experiences with technology, including the limited access they had as children compared to the younger generation today. They also explore the negative impacts of technology, such as reduced social skills and difficulty disconnecting from screens for better sleep. Studies and surveys are mentioned to support these points. From the first computer weighing 30 tons to our entire lives being on a device that fits in our pocket, whether we like it or not, technology has significantly advanced from what it used to be 10 or even 5 years ago, being one of the fastest growing industries no one is immune to its effects. Hello and welcome to this week's episode on Lounging with Leanne. My name is Leanne Barassi and today I'm here with my two special guests, Demi Beard and Christopher Fire. Hello. Thanks for having us on. On today's episode, we are going over the ever-growing, ever-lasting growth technology has on us as a species. In our personal week growing up, my parents raised me in a quiet, little suburban neighborhood in the outskirts of Atlanta, and them being immigrants, they were heavy believers in growing up outdoors, full-on exposure to nature, whether I was watching my dad cut the grass or garden, I was outside. Oh, that's kind of cool. I remember being outdoors was some of the best times I had as a kid, so it's really cool that your parents valued that. I wasn't much outside all that much, except for backyard and family outings, but whenever we did, it was really fun. Yeah, I mean, outdoors time is outdoors time. Fun and games, right? For the days we got raided, my sister and I were forced to make up games to cure our boredom. We didn't have a tremendous amount of television time or anything like an iPod until I was about 10. My first ever iPhone, I mean, it was a flip phone in 2013, and it was only good for emergency calls and Tetris. Sadly. I know. Now, my nephew, who's 8, he's about to get his first iPhone when he got his first iPad and Switch console when he was about 5. Isn't that crazy? That is kind of crazy. I remember being so jealous of my sister's flip phone. Flip phone? Flip phones are pretty cool, if you really think about it. If you think so. I don't know. Okay, I remember watching it, but this is like, I remember seeing a YouTube video of like, a YouTuber being like, flip phones were cool, because then you could just, oh, really? I'm sorry, I went off track so bad. Yeah, I also didn't have a ton of television time as a kid. My parents didn't like me and my siblings watching too much TV, and cable TV was kind of expensive anyways. But yeah, I didn't get my first phone until I was 13, but I definitely made up for the time I spent on the internet. Yeah, I don't know. It was the same. I didn't get my phone until I was around 13, and my brother was the same way, and my younger brother is going to be the same way as well, hopefully, because that would be really weird. When it came to like, TV stuff, mostly I just watched TV at like, my grandparents' house, because we didn't have cable until like, I was in middle school. But whenever it was like, home time, I was, video games were the main thing that I didn't. Yeah, because today's cable is Netflix, right? Yeah. No one really uses cable anymore that I know of. I mean, I know my grandparents do, but that's about it. I don't use it. But yeah, I was homeschooled, so my parents gave me access to the internet through a computer pretty early on. Yeah, for me, it wasn't just form of entertainment. It was like, how I kept up with the outside world, and that's how we did our learning as well. Oh, wow. So you had to learn how to use a computer pretty early, huh? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, I grew up with technology, as I said earlier, so I wasn't, I mean, I didn't really get a computer or anything until I was like, 13 around that time, but I had access to it via, like, my grandparents' computer. I had, like, four, which was pretty young, but it's not all that crazy, I think. I just had a lot of access to it through, like, different means. Mostly TVs, tablets, and game consoles. Those were, like, my main forms of entertainment, and I never really got to go outside much, because we didn't live in neighborhoods that had a lot of kids that were outside. Most of the times outside, I spent with family, and I was about it. I feel like I lost a bit of chances, because we didn't live in many, because we didn't get, because we didn't live in very many, like, quote-unquote populated neighborhoods, I kind of lost the chance to socialize with kids my age more often outside of school, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time outside. I guess that kind of, like, it kind of changed me. Like, I used to be a very talkative and social kid, and then I just kind of secluded myself more, because I didn't really have a reason to go outside other than to, like, hang out with my brothers, but, like, I do that all the time. I just didn't really have... Sorry. No, actually, I think I get that. It wasn't the same exact situation, but I moved about 11 times before I turned 12, and it felt like the friends that I made weren't worth making almost, since I knew I would just move away in a year, and I definitely fell back on a lot of time on the Internet and using technology instead. I totally see that. It's definitely easy as a kid, especially as a kid, to distract yourself with YouTube or simple online games when you don't want or are not able to socialize with other people your age. Yeah, that's kind of how it feels. I mean, I didn't really get into the hanging out with friends outside of school thing until, like, high school, which is kind of a bad thing, I think, but it's better than never. I mean, I've always kind of been a late bloomer to things socially. Like, there's a lot of things that people find easy to do I found a bit difficult to get into, like, socializing. Speaking of which, I've actually found a few studies, one being from Charles Nighttime Associates, where they've conducted a study showing the negative impact technology has had on children beginning at the age of 3. One of the impacts being social skills. Sorry, I couldn't call you out. It's okay. To quote them, with the increased use of technology, children might not be adequately developing their social skills. This can lead to more children being socially awkward, withdrawn, shy, or intimidated by social situations. That's very true. Sorry to hear that. It's okay. I'm working on it. I'm working on it too, Chris. It's all right. I think you're doing a better job than me. Depends on the day. Yes, it really does. With more kids being so young, getting new iPads and phones nowadays, there is definitely a danger of browsing, whereas with so much information and just raw news being out there on the Internet, it's obviously easily accessible for a kid to learn what's going on in Iran or Iraq, which may not be the best topic to explain to your 5-year-old, is it? Yes. It can be kind of difficult to explain hard topics to different children, because there are some children with higher amounts of maturity, but even then, they're still children. You've got to let them be kids. In fact, another article I found written by Danielle Cohen from the Child Mind Institute, it speaks on the benefits of children spending more time outside when being, I thought was a really good point, is that being outside definitely would teach your kids to be more responsible, as in understand consequences. Like, you pull that flower out, it is going to die. Maybe teach them or go gardening with them to understand the basics of nature and how life works. To quote from the Child Mind Institute, entrusting a child to take care of the living parts of their environment means they'll learn what happens when they forget to water a plant Which is quite literally how I learned when I used to go out gardening with my dad. Maybe I needed a little bit more of that as a kid, instead of relying on the internet so much. I tried to get a fern for my first semester in college. It was dead before exams came around. I know. Rest in peace, fern. Yeah. Poor little guy. And from a survey I found by Chris Mellor, apparently more than half of Americans' parents believe that their kids aren't spending enough time outside. From a survey of 5,000 parents, which is quite a lot. And of that group, nearly 4 in 5 agreed that their favorite childhood memories were playing outside. Now, with most of these parents being millennials and boomers, I hate to say that I agree, but seeing my nephew play on his iPad for 5 hours straight does hurt me a lot. Now, Sydney here has done her fair share of research on technology's effect on adolescents ages 13 to 19. Yeah. The effect it has on kids doesn't stop during their early developmental stages. Talking about today's teens and their tech habits, the Pew Research Center has some interesting research concerning that. It's kind of crazy to think that 45% of teenagers claim they're pretty much online all the time and most of them have a smartphone. Well, at least 45% of teens are being honest to themselves. True. So real, so true. Yeah. The amount of screen time that I have is a little concerning. I think it kind of stems from a technology addiction, I guess. Because as a kid, between Sydney and I, we spent a lot more time online and I guess that kind of rewired our brains to want to crave that entertainment that it gives a lot more and that kind of evolved into sort of an addiction. Because of the fact that there's just so much going on there. Yeah. Actually, according to Fusion Academy, it's been found that screen time can actually raise cortisol and it messes with our melatonin, which is pretty crucial for good sleep. And happiness. Yep. That explains so much. Wow. Yeah, I don't think I've had a good eight to ten hours of sleep regularly since before middle school. Seriously? No way. Yeah. I also found that according to Dr. Kare Goldschmidt, 80% of teens keep their phones within arm's reach while they sleep. And screen time, especially before bed, like as we've said, can really mess with your sleep, so probably not the greatest idea. No way. You guys can relate to this. Please tell me you guys don't keep your arm's length reach. No. I'm definitely going to get some type of cancer from having my phone around that much. I plead the fifth. Yeah. It kind of also relates to how a lot of adults were after COVID and even during COVID. Because, like, you know how COVID was like, oh, everyone stay inside. Don't go outside, please. Even though some people did go outside. We're not talking about that. We had to use a lot of technology to get things, like, onto our feet and stay within jobs. And, like, that kind of can rewire some people's brains, especially, like, elderly people. Because those people that didn't use a lot of technology ended up using it more and more and more. And eventually they got to where we are as teenagers. Because since technically we are kind of teenagers still, I think, except for you. We're in that weird state of being sort of an adult, but also a teen. You know, being 19 and 20. Yeah. Like, 20's almost an adult. But, like, you're more recognized as an adult, I think, kind of, sort of. I agree. 18 is definitely not an adult. Yeah. And 19's kind of that middle ground where it's just, like, I'm here. That's it. That's all. Yeah. With that, I don't, like, even then, it also kind of ties in with how a lot of, well, it kind of ties in with how some adults also have, like, ADHD. And ADHD kind of makes the whole technology addiction thing worse. Because with ADHD and how it works, you kind of have, you have lower dopamine levels or whatever. No, is it melatonin? You have less happy levels. You have less happy chemicals. And then you kind of, your brain is focused on getting the happy chemicals. And your happy brain is like, oh, technology's fun. So then you kind of just go with what your brain is, like, doing. And you're like, oh, this is fun. I'm going to do this more. I'm going to do this more. Because doing this less is going to make me sadder. And it just hiccups into a loop. A vicious cycle, you mean. A vicious cycle. Repeating the same thing over and over. And then eventually you end up secluded in your house for days on end. And you're like, where did I go from here? What? How did I get here? That's kind of just how things go. COVID-19 is almost done, I think. So, like, and people are going outside more often. And people also have friends that force people to go outside. So that's good. I definitely started using more social media apps, like TikTok, once COVID started. And, yeah, speaking of somebody with ADHD, that definitely did not help my already short attention span. So we can reach a pretty general consensus. COVID was a dark time. Yeah. Now, this brings us to the big question. Should this really be regulated, or should we start embracing the hold technology has on us as a society? I don't know. I think it's not necessarily a bad thing. But I can definitely see the need to regulate it a lot more. Because eventually we might end up like everybody in WALL-E. You know how, like, all the humans ended up going into space, and they were all, like, fat and didn't do anything? That's kind of how we're going to end up if we end up just... I said end up twice. Whatever. We're just going to end up... Just completely dependent on technology. Yeah, we're going to lose ourselves if we just let technology run our... Well, no, okay. That sounds too, like... That sounds too robots are going to take over the world. It's more so just letting ourselves go and not doing anything about the whole technology addiction. Yeah, I agree. With now, like, CAT, TBT, AI, we're losing artists. Like, their motivation is dwindling. Nowadays, even medical students, which is the scary part, are no longer writing their papers. I just think we're getting way too dependent on technology. There's got to be a way we can regulate this for ourselves, right? There used to be more things that are, like, hey, we need more, like... We need more, like, restricting things. You know how, like, there's some apps that are, like... You know how Instagram and TikTok have, like, time limit things? I think a lot of people nowadays need that more to have more of, like, a time limit to force themselves to get off and do something else. Help them be more off the Internet. Yeah, I agree with both of you. As much as I complain about it, to some degree, I'm glad that I had technology and had it as an option. But it definitely needs to be used in balance. And just talking with the three of us, seeing as how Leah had somewhat less of a technology upbringing than me and Chris, you can definitely see some effects. Yeah, as far as personal beliefs go, I definitely don't approve of how soon technology is given to kids. It would make more sense if they're given technology more around, like, teenager age when they're having more responsibilities and they have to go to middle school. I think it makes sense to start introducing technology then. Then I think around the time that you become an adult, that's pretty much just your decision. So I don't think that adults should have any regulation as far as that goes. Yeah, because at that point, it's, like, free will and self-discipline, right? They all have to learn at some point. Yeah, for sure. Definitely, it's, like, nowadays that instead of books, in elementary school, children are given tablets, Chromebooks to take home, learn on for, what, five more hours of their day and do whatever they have left, like, the little time they have left, right? At least from what I see with my nephew, it hurts me so bad that they have to carry this little briefcase, this Chromebook that has replaced all books. I can't imagine, even being in high school, being on it for eight hours a day straight was so straining, but as a little kid, as an eight-year-old in third grade, that cannot be healthy. Yeah, it would be pretty funny to bring a suitcase to school and just be like, this is my suitcase. You ever have those little Chromebooks? No, I didn't. No, really? The closest thing I had to that was, like, you know those zip-up binders? Oh, those, like, the binders. Like, you used high school districts and then, like, distribute them your last, like, year there? No. Wow. I just always had a computer, because that's how I did the homeschooling thing, but... The only laptop I really had for a long time was a Chromebook, and that was horrible. That's crazy. My entire county, well, being Atlanta, is the way it is, I guess. I mean, I've been in Florida my entire life, so I don't really know how other states do it. Well, I guess that's crazy. My district invested so much money into getting rid of every single textbook that the school had. Our schools, being, like, grade school, preschool even, to high school, we were each assigned a Chromebook that we had to take care of, charge, clean, and learn from eight hours every single day. It was awful. Those sound pretty awful. And now all of my nephew's assignments are on a silly little Chromebook. Yeah. And even though I do think it's just up to the adult how much time, you know, free time they should spend with technology, it's kind of weird how you're just expected to either have a laptop or sit at one all day for a lot of jobs now. Yeah, right? Like, even, like, most jobs being, like, in an office job, you know? Yeah. It can be remote now. And while, like, it does have advantages, especially with, like, young families, I can only imagine the ice cream that you feel. Yeah. My dad has been doing remote work for a while now as an accountant, and even though it's been great, it's been flexible, he can spend all day, like, up to three in the morning working on his work, while if he had, like, you know, an in-person job, it would only be nine to five. Great. At least the benefits of nine to five being, like, you were able to move around, walk around, and not 100% be at a screen all day, every day, right? Mm-hmm. It's more regulated, right? Yeah, more regulated, more regulated. Sadly, this is all the time we have left to talk today. Thank you to everyone and our supporters for tuning in and helping us out. Thank you, lastly, to Sydney and Chris for joining me on this episode today. Yeah, no problem. It's been fun. Definitely interesting. And wherever you are in the world, whether it's the afternoon, morning, or night, I hope you guys tune in next time. Thank you, and see you next time.