I'm as guilty as anyone, although I've made a conscious effort to reduce my "screen time".
The second cause of my crisis was more personal - my 13 year old daughter Emma's device addiction.
Emma is very unique - she has Cerebral Palsy, part of her brain that controls executive function is damaged - so she says what she thinks almost as she thinks it. Great breakthroughs in neurology have come by studying people with brains like Emma, and it’s fascinating to listen to her internal process. She’s only beginning to overcome an anxiety attack coming off of the iPad or DS or Mac. Here we've worked so hard to create awesome apps and immersive experiences, and yet we're creating little monsters with massive addictions.
Please believe me about the addiction. Watch how much time and attention you spend on devices every day. Notice how you might ignore those around you as you "jack in". She explains how we've become information seekers: the brain releases dopamine when finding something we seek.
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