Understanding the seduction of screens: developing safe & savvy … · 2019. 8. 26. · Impact:...

Jocelyn Brewer - Digital Nutrition 17/08/2019

For personal use only - please do not reproduce. Contact [email protected] for more information. 1

Understanding the seduction of screens: developing safe & savvy technology habits

Jocelyn BrewerPsychologist

Digital Nutrition

Nepean Blue Mountains PHN // Rethinking Mental Health // August 2019

Screenagers, the iGen,

Smartphone gen

• Post millennials, aka Generation Z• Born connected and with a digital ‘footprint’• Start swiping at 9 months• 1000 photos shared by the time they turn 5• Safer, more risk averse, more MH issues• Selfie culture, self obsession, narcissism.

Polemicising & pathologising Would you like moral panic with that?

The ‘truth’ about teens + screens

The research around screen impacts are: • Very emotionally charged• Statistically complex and confusing!• Dependent on the way the research is

designed.• Hard to get ethics approval to look at

kids’ brain functions• Difficult to to ‘dose’ people with the

same levels/kinds of tech• Overblown negatively by media and

clickbait!

Key concepts of good science: quick refresher

• Correlation ≠ causation: consider wider context and factors • The plural of anecdote ≠ data: beware of confirmation bias• No cherry-picking results: view the whole tree and orchard• Sample size is important: N = small, interpret with caution



• UNICEF Innocenti discussion paper by Daniel Kardefelt-Winther (2017) and Orben & Przybylski (2019) in Nature: Human Behaviour.

• TL;DR – It’s complicated, but effect size is minimal, we need to proceed with excellence in research methodology (pre-registration) and multidisciplinary approaches.

What does the evidence say? The challenge =Separating work from the fun stuff

Are we setting unfair

expectations of young people

to sort the candy from

the kale?

We are wired to connect & share

THEN: We shared food & resources in our community

NOW: We share our social status, political ideas or cat videos, photos of our food!

Belonging is key to our (social) survival

Do we really need to understand all this modern youth culture stuff?

Allen, O’Connor, Ryan and Freeman (2014): Do Psychologists need to know about Twerking? Why staying current with Adolescent Culture is critical to effective research and practice.

HELLS YE$$$!

- The hyper-mediacy of youth culture poses challenges to ‘keeping up with the iPhoneses’

- Difficulties in the translating research into interventions in a timely, meaningful way.

- Social media (immediately, dynamically shared) vs scholarly research (glacially slow)

- Perception that counsellors are ‘out of touch’ = barrier to help seeking (Christensen, 2010)

- Increased role that online information has on help seeking behaviours – we can influence what gets shared (eg, school FB pages)

- But this doesn’t mean you have to be an expert on it!



Digital & Gaming culture

• It’s not just a ‘thing’ they do, it’s their world and its as real as ‘real life’– in fact the boundary between on & offline is blurred, overlapping.

• Invalidating it says they’re not important à risk of disconnection (went parents to be safe, trusted adults)

• The hardcore console gamer stereotype is not the average gamer – a huge number of people are now gaming daily.

• Remember your own childhood/adolescence and your experience of learning! Every generation has different tastes and pop-culture trends.

Be curious, value their digital practices

The gaming mindset = growth

1999 VS

2019

Snap streaks = modern friendship bracelet?

Two parts to technology use

1. The actual Device(s) and tech skills 2. The social and emotional skills that go with using the device

responsibly and in a healthy manner.

What do healthy tech habits look like?

• We don’t have a solid/single playbook for this yet…• Hard to retrain into people once the ‘bad habits’ are laid down.• Little evidence of teaching social-emotional learning, EQ (explicitly)• Varied between households based on range of factors



Where’s the opportunity to learn these skills?

The 3D’s

Impact: Digital Distraction “Technoference”

• The interference of technology in relationships (parenting, intimate, friendships), sometimes called ‘phubbing’ (phone snubbing).

• Impact on parenting relationship and attachment is a key concern, especially around language acquisition and interruption of interactions with primary carer.

• What happens when a child has to compete with a phone for eye gaze and biofeedback? We know what the still face experiment shows…

• ‘Attention seeking’ behaviours are then seen as being a negative, dysregulated pattern. We need to ask why some young people need to go to such lengths to receive attention (and have their needs met).

Impact: Digital Dependency Digital Dependency• Habituation via ubiquity, low/no immediate cost, connectivity &

constant stream of social snacks and dopamine treats.• Mixed messages:

• unlimited data vs limited screentime• Parents want to ban phones in schools, small number of actively monitor use• Kids need to limit tech use, parents are free to binge.

• ‘Addiction’ narrative: how about calling it high engagement, passion, motivation? Where is the duty of care in the development & progression of the ‘addiction’?

• Problems relating to BYOD and transition to high school. • Plays into so many of the adolescent brains’ vulnerabilities: identity,

agency and control, connection



But are devices ‘addictive’? What about the new ‘gaming disorder’ diagnosis?

“For diagnosis, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning and would normally have been evident for at least 12 months.”

- WHO, ICD11

Is it Gaming Disorder?

• Triggering issue or event? Separation, grief/loss, bullying, transition to high school, between schools?

• How was this managed, addressed? Was that effective?• What technology and other rules/limits exist?• What mental health and personality vulnerabilities exist?• What are the parents’ capacity to manage, address the issue?• Regularly starts with a triggering event, leads to some school

refusal, aggression might flare and parents retreat, school refusal becomes more chronic, child sets own rules (without ability to self regulate beyond need to play), systems cant cope/understand the context/situation.

Impact: Digital Dementia

Impact: Digital Dementia

• Coined by neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer to describe an overuse of digital technology resulting in the breakdown of cognitive abilities.

• Break down of short term memory, outsourcing memory to google?

• Again lots of competing evidence around impacts – VG’s are known to capture the attention for long periods, but the ‘neurons that fire together wire together’ also applies in reverse – what are you not using, not practicing?

• Concerns over skim reading and not reading in depth, loss of meaning & nuance (back to the continuous partial attention issue)

Ancient brain + information overload



What is Digital Nutrition?

• A positive way of talking about technology use.• Its about using your brains cognitive (thinking) skills to stay in control of how you use technology in a safe, savvy way.

• It uses the comparison with food to help us think about how technology use impacts us physically and mentally.

• Understanding the mechanisms used by developers to keep us scrolling & swiping and what ethical tech design looks & feels like.

Why Digital ’Nutrition’ (not digital detoxing)?

It’s part of Digital Citizenship 21st century intelligence?

If we ‘are what we eat’ then

• How might we consider more effectively the cognitive, social, emotional impacts of technology?

• How do we develop healthy technology habitsthat negate the need for digital detoxes?

• How do we feed our mind the ‘best’ information and ideas?

• Imagine if apps and games came with nutritional labels.

Thinking beyond ‘screen time’

Consider that some activities are superfoods, others are empty calories.



Consider these Q’s instead

• Content à What is being consumed online (developmentally appropriate?)

• Context à the situation the tech use is occurring in (bedroom, classroom?)

• Cognitionsà what thoughts, motivations, intentions accompany the activities (adaptive, maladaptive?)

• Connections à who you’re communicating with (safety, known/strangers, age)

• Function à the reason for the tech use (to avoid social interaction, to study?)

Context & content are vital considerations

Context & content are vital considerations

Is yours a diverse digital diet

How is your relationship with your digital world?

Working with young people & families over technology conflict



Can we get the bolted horse back in the stable?

How do you take control back?

It’s complicated

• Set limits, early and consistently, update regularly, individualisefor developmental levels – See AAP ‘Kids & Media’ communication.

• Technology use in common rooms, insist up on tech-free time.• Don’t create screentime as currency – sets up extrinsic motivations.

• Focus on general wellbeing, the whole child & family values, not just ‘screentime’ and devices.

• Use emotion coaching and practice having tough conversations, lean into conflict, explore problems/conflict with curiosity, beware of invalidating YP’s choices/preferences.

• Lots of parenting systems/courses to refer to: Engaging Adolescents, Tuning into Teens (Resourcing Parents website).

Setting limits & guidelines

• I run this as a 4 week workshop – takes lots of prep and clarification.• Do this before the device is purchased (or a developmental

transition point)! If the horse has bolted it’s a process to get it back in!• Consistency is key to its success. Avoid empty threats!• Require the young person’s input à empower them to be involved,

have their say.• Be clear and detailed, have room for flexibility (bowling lane

analogy), plan for extraordinary events (assignments etc).

The bowling lane analogy for target behvaiours

Devise a digital agreement

1. Involve kids in the process of creating and reviewing the ‘rules’, individualise it (different for siblings + whole family rules too)

2. Beware of creating screentime as a currency (extrinsic motivation trap).

3. Include offline activities as well as encouraging target activities.

Great online resources – check out Janell Burley Hoffman’s iRules + Amercian Academy Paedshave new online tool.

Consider wholistic wellbeing



When technology use becomes problematic

• Many of the usual counselling modalities apply to working with it.• An understanding of the digital space helps! Bring curiosity, leave

out judgement, explore their thoughts, communities and how these can be positive.

• Working with the family is key – understanding the parenting style, family dynamics, values and strengths. Family Based Therapy as applied in ED’s could be explored. It is rarely just about the young person and their online choices…

• Akin to ‘sleep training’ babies – many methods, personal choice (and strengths/wherewithal) will reign over what is enacted/tried.

// Tech Taming Tactics \\

How do we become Indistractable

Indistractible: How to control your attention and choose your life by Nir Eyal –published by Bloomsbury Sept 2019

Consume ‘digital superfoods’, regularly!

• Use science-backed mindfulness, productivity tools and apps• Try Games for Change & indie games, diversified digital diet = key.• Get resourced: GameAware and CheckPoint.org.au

Use trusted resources

• Office of the e-Safety Commissioner –resources on the digital world, Australian content: iParent, wellbeing hub, reporting IBA

• Common Sense Media – huge number of fantastic resources, and 30K reviews. US based.

• PsyberGuide – Helps consumers choose effective and accessible mobile health technologies, evidence backed apps & reviews.

Co-play, co-watch, conversations



Forget unplugging, just don’t over-plug!

• Unplugging might not be realistic.

• Being offline is a luxury• Few can fully disconnect

and still function!

Kill your notifications already!

Grey scale, folders, delete!

YOU’D RATHER BE READING

Apply the 20-20-20-20 principle

Every 20 minutes of looking at screens, look at something 20 feet away from your screen, for 20 seconds.Do 20 reps of an exercise!

Apply the 3M’s of Digital Nutrition Finally, set a digital sunset/curfew



Reading list

• iRules – Janell Burley-Hoffman• The Game Believes in You – Greg Toppo• Mindsight – Dr Daniel Siegal• Engaging Adolescents – Michael Hawton• The Art of Screentime – Anya Kamenetz• The Distracted Mind – Adam Gazzaley & Larry Rosen• Deep Work – Cal Newport• The Shallows – Nicholas Carr

Keep learning & stay in touch!

• Watch my TEDx talk• Book a seminar for parents• Engage your students in a ‘playshop’• Provide staff professional development• Subscribe to my monthly newsletter• Follow me across most social media channels

• Twitter for news articles• Insta for memes and LOLs

• Read articles and blogs• get tech/life balance hacks• read new research in simple language

Understanding the seduction of screens: developing safe & savvy … · 2019. 8. 26. · Impact:...

Documents

Transcript of Understanding the seduction of screens: developing safe & savvy … · 2019. 8. 26. · Impact:...