Warning: Some of the information provided in this blog could literally scare the crap out of you if you are a parent. You will either do one of two things (reading about Dissonance Theory will help): either take what I write seriously and change some things or derogate me in your mind to make it more comfortable for you to continue to live in relative oblivion to how our children are being affected.
We have a serious problem on our hands. Technology is not the completely wonderful thing we think it is. I am not even talking about the more serious issues involving pornography access (if you knew what your child was able to access inside those VR devices, you would probably take a sledge hammer to it right now), violent behavior desensitization (you did know those RPG games were initially designed by the military to desensitize and human being to killing another human being right?), or the dopamine hit being equivalent in a humans brain from playing about an hour of that famous game your kid loves (sounds like bortright ;) as doing a line of cocaine. I am not even talking about the reality that all this tech and the addiction dynamics the companies who design it are aware of simply giving it out for free like crack dealers did on the street corners in the 1980's.
What I am talking about is the every day use. The auto populate streaming of videos, the seemingly innocuous social media posts, the constant urge to waste time looking at content that really has no "nutritional value." At this point, if you are a reasonably healthy adult it should be obvious to you there is a lot of "junk" digital content out there and it is expanding at an exponential rate.
What is Processed Food?
Basically it is any food that has been changed in some way to be able to preserve it so it can be sold more efficiently (i.e. you can't sell spoiled food very easily). So what would be the definition of "Digitally Processed Food"?
Digitally Processed content is any real life or live experience that has been altered in some way to preserve it so it can be sold more efficiently.
The similarities between actual processed food (A) and digitally processed "food" (B)
(A) Little to no nutritional value for the body - (B) little to no emotional or psychological value to the brain, mind or sense of self
(A) Research suggests processed foods are VERY unhealthy - (B) So logic dictates this is also true for the mind, psyche and sense of self - see the reference below for more information on this. We have had some time to research the negative effects of processed foods because they have been around a long time. I remember my 1st salisbury steak TV dinner and I'm approaching 50.
"Most Americans have made their bodies so toxic, that when they enter the catabolic phase of the digestive cycle, they feel uncomfortable. That means they feel fatigue, headache, stomach cramping or fluttering, anxiety, or other uncomfortable symptoms when they stop digesting food and the body starts to mobilize waste and repair the damage." The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food*
For those parents that have attempted to get their kids off tech, this part should sound eerily familiar: "they feel fatigue, headache, stomach cramping or fluttering, anxiety, or other uncomfortable symptoms when they stop digesting food and the body starts to mobilize waste and repair the damage."
3. (A) What drives the use of something that is unhealthy over healthy is one thing and one thing only; profit. Processed food companies figured out years ago they could maximize profits by engaging in this engineering food process. (B) Tech, gaming and social media companies are making money hand over fist...and like the processed food companies, they value profit over what is healthy for you.
Suggestions on what to do?
No surprises here...simply reduce or eliminate your consumption of the "junk" digital content. Engage in the real world, real conversations. Resist the urge to pull out your phone and consume "junk" just to cope with the normal social anxiety you feel at a dinner gathering. Even a small reduction is better than noting at all.
Then once you have that in place...try not to allow the shame monster to get you when you simply got to have that "Digital Whopper" once in awhile ;)
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