All this excess of information, games, shows and everything else is ruining our boredom, which is usually what leads us to think more creatively
Title.
We're kinda spoiled with "all the X we could want, whenever we want".
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People said that about newspapers, too.
The issue isn't the device, it's the lack of restraint the kids were never taught. Of course they want that Dopamine hit. It's free. Same reason very few people seek the satisfaction of building your table yourself, when you can buy one.
Not to say kids aren't worse, they are, and it's awful, but it's a symptom, not the problem, in my opinion. The problem is they have no goals. Where do they wanna end up? The world is fucked, and most of them talk about the future as if there isn't one. They won't own a house, they won't get enough to live off of with a job, a good job is locked behind ungodly amounts of debt, and the world is literally on fire. Then, the people who should fix it, the people who get elected, are selling them out for money instead of fixing it. There's no point in doing hard things if there's nothing to gain from it.
Kids won't improve until the world does, because they have no reason to put down the devices. The devices offer a hollow life, and that's more than real life is willing to give them.
Sorry about the rant, I just think it's important to keep the focus on the problem. Kids engage wherever they get the most reward. It's our job, not teachers, to make real life better, and it can be. Until then, sorry about the kids. I'm trying to raise mine to value what there is to value, but they definitely suck right now, even if it's not their fault.
But the device makes it easier to lack self-control
If you only have self-control because you have no outlet for boredom, you don't have self-control.
My dad used to get bored and go out in the woods and stick firecrackers into frogs. A lot of people in his generation died doing stupid things because they were bored. They didn't have phones, so they must have had self-control? Nah.
The kid won't be better without the device. They're not bad kids now. They're reacting, really badly, to an awful situation. It just so happens (not a coincidence, though, they're linked) that this particular technological innovation was at a similar time as all the shit above.
^
You can upvote instead of making an entire comment, FYI
Gee thanks, I didn’t know that