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Comment by eigenschwarz | Hacker News Reader

The scary thing about smartphones is how they might be permanently changing adolescent and teenage brains, and not in a good way.

Checking texts and emails, surfing the internet for information, and yes - even sites like HN and reddit - cause a dopamine surge in the brain that can lead to so-called 'dopamine loops' [1]. In such a crucial part of brain development, my fear is we are turning kids into the equivalent of 'lever-pushing monkeys' [2]. Certainly there is already evidence that smartphones might be contributing to negative development [3].

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-wise/201209/why-w...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axrywDP9Ii0

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/magazine/why-are-more-ame...

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The same can be said for video games.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170622103824.h...

I believe my parents said their parents told them same thing about TVs, and their parents parents told them radios, and so on.

Again, same as above: do you watch TV or listen to radio in school unless the teacher introduces it as part of the learning process? It's not that everything about a smartphone is bad - just like not everything about TV is bad - it's the unfettered and ubiquitous distractions inherent in smartphones being used during school hours for uses aside from learning.

> Again, same as above: do you watch TV or listen to radio in school unless the teacher introduces it as part of the learning process?

I don't, because I'm not in school, but my SO - who is a grade school teacher - says that there are problems in the school with students watching off-topic videos (analogous to "TV") when they should be doing other work.

In any case, distractions will exist, and continue to exist, students will seek them out, and this will forever be a game of cat & mouse.

> listen to radio in school

Yes, and it’s fairly easy to hide an earplug by adopting a leaning posture.

Also we read comics and books, and played games on our calculators, exchanged paper messages etc., though you would classify that as active distractions I guess.

It’s true that smartphones are a different kind of devices, but I’m not sure it’s such a big deal if we account for the number of hours everyday they will be spending using them formthe rest of their life. Might as well have them part of the equation from the start.

Well, true, but television in itself back then had much less "immediate reward" potential whereas video games and mobile devices are hands-on, and the experience changes much more quickly at the users' expense. The only comparison I can think of to the tube in that way is around switching channels on the tube on demand lol. The content is markedly different as well, often designed to generate easy feedback loops. Yes, TV originally did cause massive changes to social life and can also have negative impact. but I do not think it's a good idea to be dismissive of a potentially larger impact simply because of some similarities in technological progression through generations.

Though. I do see your point and maybe in a few more generations it will seem like just another bump in the road. Can't say I am optimistic in any case.

They said it and it was probably true =). There's a good reason why people aren't allowed to bring their TVs and radios to class.

And Television. And Radio. And tons of other things over the years. They aren't going away.

Do you watch TV or listen to radio in school unless the teacher introduces it as part of the learning process?

I actually think there are kids who listen to the radio in school, and I absolutely would have watched TV in class if I could have gotten away with it.

Definitely true. As pointed out in your link, the redeeming thing about complex video games (e.g. an immersive RTS or a complex level designed and puzzle filled FPS) is it causes advantageous adaptions in the brain, although at the expense of potentially becoming addicting with too much nonstop playing.

We can decouple these effects in video games partly by limiting continuous playtime; it would be interesting to see if the same could be done with smartphones in an educational setting. I can think of one suggestion: make smartphones only able to utilize educational technology (e.g. a VR tour of the solar system) during school hours and disable text/email/social media apps (but leave emergency call numbers). How to implement this beyond the honor system, I am not sure. But maybe that is all that is needed.

Don't forget the social aspect of that addiction, which is arguably the most insidious aspect of it all:

> We found that social gamers were willing to spend a lot of time and money on the game because by playing the game, they could: get an enhanced self-concept and self-efficacy, get a sense of community belonging, and distract themselves from the challenges in their lives.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40812-016-0025-x

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