The Human Condition: Digital connection

By Daniel Schnee on April 20, 2022.

Recently there has been a significant rise in depression among all strata in society, most notably teens. Being curious about why that may be, I decided to go to the best source of information on young people: the actual teenagers themselves.

Two in particular stood out, as they not only did not suffer from depression but rather revealed some fascinating insights into their peer group. Having discussed depression in their peers (13-15 years olds) one of them remarked that parents don’t understand their relationship with their phones, and are always trying to get teens to live in “their” reality; a more tech-free, less digitally connected way of living. According to my interviewees, phones help many teens “numb” themselves from the aspects of life they are bothered by.

That they could already sense that phone usage was a method of self-medicating is disturbing. When they and their parents’ realities are at odds, using a smartphone provides succor as much as assistance. But even though my interviewees could see such things occurring, they themselves do not suffer in such a manner. This is because they share with their parents what matters most in human affairs: the same values. These values transcend phone usage and regulate the skills a teen (or indeed anyone) needs to resist becoming a depressive digital addict.

First of all, both their father and mother are involved in occupations that require regulated, focused thought. They know smartphones are conduits for irregulated informational flow which, in any untrained mind, creates the same neurological conditions that occur in disorders such as ADD. Their parents go to great efforts to involve them in more non-digital reality: soccer, music, reading, and other activities that regulate and build focus. This not only eliminates the possibility of digitally-induced disorder, but also the self-medicating behaviours teens engage in when life seems painful. Thus, a teen learns to enjoy being rather than seeing, and this behaviour is deeply biological.

Human brains release a chemical called dopamine when we do or think certain things, which gives us a little rush of excitement. We then seek those rushes as often as possible. In my own life, jazz music is deeply profound and uplifting, as it has provided the opportunity to become fully and deeply myself; someone who can express his own unique essence through the blessings of a grand tradition. Smartphones’ core “value” is to reward humans with as much dopamine as possible for being nothing at all: mindless consumers of anything and everything, living advertisements for existence without significance. Who would want to remain alive in that condition?

All my interviewees made it abundantly clear, in context: getting rid of their phone does nothing if it is not replaced with taking pleasure in healthy, self-esteem building activities instead. Productive, focused individuals don’t dislike themselves. They also lack the need to self-medicate; the biggest threat to every negative digital behaviour possible.

Teens, for all their positive and negative traits, are such wonderful and insightful people when they feel good about themselves, on their own merits. Let’s not let phones make them otherwise.

Dr. Daniel Schnee is a cultural anthropologist and jazz drummer

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