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Editor's Choice -- Ismaili Digest -- Here's what social media and smartphones do to your children's brains
Social media and smartphones. Although we wonder how we lived without them, if we knew the damage they do to our brains, especially children's brains, we might wonder why we use them so addictively (hint: it's because social media executives have admitted, on video, they deliberately designed it to be addictive). Last September (2019), Ismaili Digest made the decision to stop posting to all social media platforms. In a long newsflash, announcing our decision, we also laid out our reasons. From all the websites Ismaili Digest monitors the newsflash was 5th most popular, non-Imamat-related post read by the global Jamat in the past 20 months despite its length. We were gratified by the unanimous praise we received for the decision. In brief, the primary reasons we left social media are: 1. Most of all the content Ismaili Digest pushes to social media is rarely seen so it provides no real value for either the Jamat, the publishers or us. 2. What little value social media offers is far outweighed by its many serious disadvantages including negatively affecting meditation, ensnaring the Jamat in narrow echo chambers and harmful addictions. In particular, top Silicon Valley tech executives -- such as Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, and former Facebook Vice President, Chamath Palihapitiya -- who develop social media and smartphone technologies, keep their children away from both at all costs. 3. We found our e-mail subscribers are far better informed, over a wider range of subjects, than our social media followers. However, as a faith-based community, in addition to the other problems with social media we outlined, one very serious concern, that was not obvious until we came across it, really stood out for us: the negative effects social media and smartphones have on meditation. For those interested, we cover each of these reasons in detail in our newsflash, linked below. In addition, to help the Jamat better understand how serious this issue is, our newsflash included links to over two dozen, well-researched articles on the severe problems smartphones and social media cause. These articles are organized into five topics: - Brain, psychological and social impacts: addiction, multi-tasking and depression - Lost time: The consequences - Echo chambers and filter bubbles - Cutting back: Digital Minimalism - Spiritual impacts Below we have linked to just four of those two dozen articles to help you and the Jamat appreciate gravity of the matter. However, we can't stress enough that you review as many of the articles as you're able, especially if you're a parent, so you can make informed decisions about your and your children's use of smartphones and social media. Please share this email and help your friends and family learn about this critical problem facing the Jamat. Thank you for your assistance.
Warm regards,
Ismaili Digest. |
