In the house of the future
One of the most beautiful texts for parents is Kahlil Gibran's poem «On Children». «Your children are not your children (...), their souls live in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams», it says. So I will never know in which room my children will live in the house of the future. But I have a pretty good idea of what will characterise their generation: the smartphone.
My children belong to the so-called iGen. This refers to those born between 1995 and 2012 who grew up with smartphones and social media. In a much-discussed article, psychology professor Jean M. Twenge recently explained exactly how the digital revolution is changing adolescence. She refers to statistics that were collected in America. But the changes may affect any society characterised by smartphones.
Today's teenagers differ in many respects from their predecessors.
Twenge observes that today's teenagers are better off in some respects than previous generations. For example, they are involved in fewer car accidents and have fewer problems with smoking and alcohol. On the other hand, they are doing worse psychologically, as depression and suicide rates among teenagers have exploded. The teenagers of the iGen are more dependent on their parents than previous generations, they go out alone less, they date less, learn to drive later and have fewer holiday jobs. They are also less sexually active.
What they do with their time is obvious: they lie alone in bed - with their smartphone. At a time when my generation wanted nothing more than to put their heads together with other teenagers, the iGen are burying their heads in their smartphones. And it's making them unhappy: the more time teenagers spend on their mobile phones, the less happy they are. This affects girls even more than boys because they are also more often victims of cyberbullying.
These are painful observations. However, author Twenge only sheds light on one side of the coin. When I think back to my youth, the digital revolution also has positive sides. How desperately I would have wished for something like Spotify in the 1980s to find the music I wanted to listen to. Instead, I waited for hours and hours at the radio to press record at the right moment - when my song was finally played. Today, my son can produce his own hits with his smartphone. My thesis is therefore: if a child has a stable social foundation and creative interests, then the smartphone is more of a blessing than a curse.
There is also hope for the iGen.
However, I know how addictive the constant surfing of social media can be. I also know how difficult it sometimes is for children to give up their smartphones and do something else. But with a little insistence, you can do it. As long as you're not too comfortable to intervene - because you're constantly staring at your mobile phone - there's hope for the iGen too. Because she is also entitled to a nice, bright room in the house of the future.
