Hi [redacted],
I was thinking about our conversation about addictive behaviors and phone usage. Here's a short talk that might change the way you think about certain things and/or which might help you communicate your concerns about social media to your kids. I will summarize it to save you some time but it is worth watching:
One of the most interesting things about it is the story he tells about where our ideas on addiction came from: rats in a cage that would basically take heroin until they died. But that's only because the cages were boring. When you put rats in a cage with lots of other rats and a rat amusement park and lots of other fun rat things to do, they basically ignore the heroin.
The insight: at its core, addiction is how people escape from their cage (life) when they don't have anything to feel connected to. They connect to their addiction.
One application: social media can be helpful to the extent that it facilitates real connections to your friends, family, etc. and harmful to the extent that it functions as a cheap substitute for connection which prevents you from developing real connections. Spending lots of time on Instagram trying to generate likes = fake connection. Using Instagram or Facebook to arrange a weekend rendezvous with friends and share a few photos of the event afterwards = real connection.
Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong?language=en
Hope you like it,
Max
--
I could not love thee dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.
I was thinking about our conversation about addictive behaviors and phone usage. Here's a short talk that might change the way you think about certain things and/or which might help you communicate your concerns about social media to your kids. I will summarize it to save you some time but it is worth watching:
One of the most interesting things about it is the story he tells about where our ideas on addiction came from: rats in a cage that would basically take heroin until they died. But that's only because the cages were boring. When you put rats in a cage with lots of other rats and a rat amusement park and lots of other fun rat things to do, they basically ignore the heroin.
The insight: at its core, addiction is how people escape from their cage (life) when they don't have anything to feel connected to. They connect to their addiction.
One application: social media can be helpful to the extent that it facilitates real connections to your friends, family, etc. and harmful to the extent that it functions as a cheap substitute for connection which prevents you from developing real connections. Spending lots of time on Instagram trying to generate likes = fake connection. Using Instagram or Facebook to arrange a weekend rendezvous with friends and share a few photos of the event afterwards = real connection.
Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong?language=en
Hope you like it,
Max
--
I could not love thee dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.
