The views and opinions expressed in this editorial article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Salina Post or Eagle Media. The editorial is intended to stimulate critical thinking and debate on issues of public interest and should be read with an open mind. Readers are encouraged to consider multiple sources of information and to form their own informed opinions.
By: SCOTT HILL
24th District Kansas Senator
In the 1960’s there was a spoof on the spy thriller genre called “Get Smart.” Mel Brooks directed this series that was remade several times as it poked fun at some of the sophisticated gadgetry exposed in the James Bond series of movies. One of the “cutting edge” techno gadgets in the TV show was the shoe phone that the main character Maxwell Smart used. In the 1960’s the idea of taking off your shoe and talking into it was comical. Sixty-five years of creative inventing has made talking into your shoe, even though still impractical, certainly achievable.
The advent of the cellphone has changed most of our lives. We have phones in our watches and phones in our pockets. Phones in our ears and phones in our hands. The idea of being able to communicate with our fellow human beings at any time anywhere on the surface would appear to improve social interaction. A very different thing happened, though when in 2007 the idea of having the internet in our hands was realized with the first Apple smartphone. Suddenly, the lure of communicating with people we have never met became the rage. Everyone now has the ability to broadcast their life to the world at large.
This column is not about passing judgement on the use of social media as a whole. It is intended to focus specifically on the harmful exposure that unlimited access to social media does to the adolescent mind. Ten years after the beginnings of the “smart phone era” researcher and author Jonathan Haight wrote a book called the The Anxious Generation. In the best-selling book Haight explores how juvenile development occurs when exposed to electronic devices. In particular, the author examines academic achievement and mental illness changes since 2007. The conclusions reached have resonated with lawmakers around the world.
The reduction in academic performance in Kansas students, coupled with increased behavioral and mental health issues led me to suspect cellphone social media exposure before I read The Anxious Generation. Four years ago, I introduced legislation to ban the use of cellphones in schools. The book reaffirmed what I was hearing from the field and has changed the minds of most lawmakers. The Governor and both chambers of the legislature appear to be ready to follow Johnathan Haight’s recommendations. While
I applaud the legislative effort, my practical side affirms that the intrusion of social media in children’s lives may be abated but not eliminated.
The title of “Get Smart” should be a real life thought process. We need to be smarter about the use of technology. It has an important place in all our lives. However, we need to be smart in the way we use it. The current promises of AI, that it will take over all our reasoning, should elicit profound discernment on our part. In the 1960’s taking off your shoe to talk to someone may have been funny, but today some of the ridiculous things we do should be examined with a great deal of “common sense.”
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