Youth should often walk out of enslaving virtual world
A user uses his smartphone with logos of WeChat in the background.
What you need to know:
- Our in-person interaction is suffering, especially among the youth, because we have become too wired.
- There is need to put that phone down, switch that laptop off and walk out of the enslaving virtual world for hours and even days.
We live in a world where we can do almost everything from our laptop and phone screens.
This has come with a lot of advantages as we can easily do shopping, make payments, research, communicate with others and work from the comfort of our homes.
However, there is a negative side of this addiction to screens that we rarely pay attention to.
Our in-person interaction is suffering, especially among the youth, because we have become too wired.
It is not uncommon to find a group of teenagers together but not conversing because they are too absorbed in their devices.
The struggle is real, with college and university students failing to get assignments done on time as some choose to discuss through chat platforms and Zoom.
Apparently, we young people just do not have time for one another and this is impacting our lives negatively.
Real outside world
The use of these devices has also put a strain on the parent-child relationship because it has become harder and harder for them to talk.
In some homes, days end without parents and their children meeting as both parties stay locked up in their rooms.
As fathers and mothers work and run business online, their children play video games, watch movies and chat with their friends and God knows who.
We are so absorbed into the cyberspace that we have almost forgotten about the real, outside world.
Many argue that it is difficult to get off the screens is because they get more done that way as they engage in different activities— watching videos, reading books, playing games, among others.
What most of us forget, however, is that this excess screen time is hurting us.
Bright screens, for instance, have been linked to eye defects in young children.
Enslaving virtual world
Parents who abdicate their roles and hand their children phones have ruined the minors’ eyesight this way.
Longer screen time has been associated with lower levels of life satisfaction, pessimism and higher levels of anxiety among young people.
Social media harassment and cyberbullying have also been blamed for rising suicides among teenage girls.
I think it is time we developed some level of self-discipline and regulated our personal screen time.
There is need to put that phone down, switch that laptop off and walk out of the enslaving virtual world for hours and even days.
We need to get outside and experience the real world. We need to relearn how to live in the real, outside world, to play real games, to have real and meaningful conversations, to explore real places and yes, live life in the moment.
Kamau, 18, sat KCSE exams early this year.
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