Vishü Rita Krocha
One of the greatest challenges confronting parents today is perhaps raising their children in an era of digital age. Today's children have never known life without the internet. They have been raised on clicks, endless scrolling and overwhelming information, something that wasn't even imaginable a few decades back.
The constant exposure to the world of social media has impacted the lives of children and adults alike particularly interfering with their attention span.
According to a research conducted in 2004 by Dr. Gloria Mark at the University of California in 2004, an individual’s average attention span on a digital device was approximately 150 seconds long. In 2012, this number plummeted by half, to 75 seconds. Now, in recent years, data suggests that it has reached a staggering low of 47 seconds.
One of the most profound effects of social media is undoubtedly its impact on attention and concentration. Closer home, during a recent event in Kohima, a speaker had also raised concern about the trend of children today who do not want to go through slow movies anymore while pointing to the reality of "flooded information", further resulting in the lack of empathy, sympathy and respect.
In schools and universities across the world, there has been reports of "crisis of focus" in classrooms. Being so accustomed to the fast paced realm of social media, today's generation especially struggle with deep reading, consequently impacting them with just the superficial understanding of a subject matter.
To be fair, social media can be an invaluable tool for everyone including students, young people, individuals, entrepreneurs, groups, or societies. But this is only when it is used wisely, and in healthy and balanced ways.
Social media is here to stay, and for today’s generation, it is an integral part of their social and emotional life. However, the challenge also lies in the role that parents play in guiding and shaping their children every step of the way in the digital world, as they do offline.
Despite all the negative aspects of social media, it can also be harnessed positively to enrich the lives of young minds. By guiding children to be responsible online, and by teaching them balance, awareness and kindness online, the use of social media can enrich the real-world lives of children who are born into today's digital world.
This is a guest editorial by Vishü Rita Krocha. She is the Publisher of PenThrill Publication and a senior journalist based in Kohima.
