Digital Dangers SSPX podcast series

[Geremia]

https://sspxpodcast.com/digital-dangers/

I'm listening to the first episode now (Ryan Grant interviewing? sounds like him), and I'm not convinced the issues in the youth today stem from their technology use. I think they stem from having absentee fathers or parents that only spend 18 minutes per day with them:

Dr Gordon Neufeld is a big proponent of homeschooling (he comes at it from a clinical psychologist point of view rather than a Catholic viewpoint...but it jives with a lot of Catholic reasoning)

His book Hold On To Your Kids is pretty good, only read half though. It basically argues that peers (especially at school) raise each other now, rather than the parents. My wife was telling me about one study that was done and kids who go to school with parents who work spend an average of 18 minutes a day talking with/spending time with their parents. That's nuts...

[LausTibiChriste]

Agreed - though I haven't listened to the podcast yet.

Absentee parents and peers filling the void has been a disaster for the human race. It's part and parcel of why state-run education was at the forefront of the communist movement (along with no-fault divorce and women's rights) - and you want to tell me America and the West with their state-run education ain't commie?

Technology is powerful - but it can go both ways. If we didn't have things like forums, all things being equal, I would not be Catholic, let alone a Trad. But put technology in a bowl with absentee parents and spending 90% of your time with peers, it's a recipe for disaster.

Blaming technology is blaming a symptom not a root problem

[diaduit]

It definitely is a massive problem and I see it first hand with my older kids.  No 1 temptation is porn and its so hard for them as the phone goes everywhere with them.  It disconnects them from their surroundings and the people in their life as they are always scrolling.  Just go on any bus or train, sit in any doctors waiting room and just see how people don't interact at all.  They scroll through short reels or tik toks and haven't developed the art of reading long prose so don't have the interest in reading good material that is character developing. They use the phone for everything, making dates, booking tickets, paying for things, photos, conversations with friends are done on apps and not in person ....thats only the start of it.

[Geremia]

I'm not convinced the issues in the youth today stem from their technology use. I think they stem from having absentee fathers or parents that only spend 18 minutes per day with them

He does bring this up in episode 2 @21:11, where he says parents could be asking if they're wasting time on their devices that they could be spending with their family.

[LausTibiChriste]

It definitely is a massive problem and I see it first hand with my older kids.  No 1 temptation is porn and its so hard for them as the phone goes everywhere with them.  It disconnects them from their surroundings and the people in their life as they are always scrolling.  Just go on any bus or train, sit in any doctors waiting room and just see how people don't interact at all.  They scroll through short reels or tik toks and haven't developed the art of reading long prose so don't have the interest in reading good material that is character developing. They use the phone for everything, making dates, booking tickets, paying for things, photos, conversations with friends are done on apps and not in person ....thats only the start of it.

But again, I think that's ultimately the fault of the parents, not the tech itself. Yes you can blame the tech, but girls wouldn't be on TikTok half-naked if their parents have their shit together.

Ultimately, it's the Church's fault. As the Church goes, so goes the world, and we all know how that's shaping up.

[Lynne]

https://sspxpodcast.com/digital-dangers/

I'm listening to the first episode now (Ryan Grant interviewing? sounds like him), and I'm not convinced the issues in the youth today stem from their technology use. I think they stem from having absentee fathers or parents that only spend 18 minutes per day with them:

Dr Gordon Neufeld is a big proponent of homeschooling (he comes at it from a clinical psychologist point of view rather than a Catholic viewpoint...but it jives with a lot of Catholic reasoning)

His book Hold On To Your Kids is pretty good, only read half though. It basically argues that peers (especially at school) raise each other now, rather than the parents. My wife was telling me about one study that was done and kids who go to school with parents who work spend an average of 18 minutes a day talking with/spending time with their parents. That's nuts...

It's not Ryan Grant, it's James Vogel.

[diaduit]

It definitely is a massive problem and I see it first hand with my older kids.  No 1 temptation is porn and its so hard for them as the phone goes everywhere with them.  It disconnects them from their surroundings and the people in their life as they are always scrolling.  Just go on any bus or train, sit in any doctors waiting room and just see how people don't interact at all.  They scroll through short reels or tik toks and haven't developed the art of reading long prose so don't have the interest in reading good material that is character developing. They use the phone for everything, making dates, booking tickets, paying for things, photos, conversations with friends are done on apps and not in person ....thats only the start of it.

But again, I think that's ultimately the fault of the parents, not the tech itself. Yes you can blame the tech, but girls wouldn't be on TikTok half-naked if their parents have their shit together.

Ultimately, it's the Church's fault. As the Church goes, so goes the world, and we all know how that's shaping up.

Yes I agree and I have failed here, in that my oldest two have mobile phones and it is attached to them all the time.  I went to dumbphone last year and it was amazing peace but had to return to smartphone as I will have foreign language students for next couple of months and need to be on whatsapp for daily pickup and activities, being back in whatsapp is the most time consuming of them.  I hate being back into it.

[queen.saints]

I went to dumbphone last year and it was amazing peace but had to return to smartphone as I will have foreign language students for next couple of months and need to be on whatsapp for daily pickup and activities, being back in whatsapp is the most time consuming of them.  I hate being back into it.

Yes, I struggle with this too, as there are things I genuinely need a smartphone to access, even my email when I get locked out. I recently saw this device and it looks like a very good and economical solution compared to a $500 WisePhone or something.


https://getbrick.app/

[clau clau]

These concerns stretch back to the birth of literacy itself. In parallel with modern concerns about children's overuse of technology, Socrates famously warned against writing because it would "create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories." He also advised that children can't distinguish fantasy from reality, so parents should only allow them to hear wholesome allegories and not "improper" tales, lest their development go astray. The Socratic warning has been repeated many times since: The older generation warns against a new technology and bemoans that society is abandoning the "wholesome" media it grew up with, seemingly unaware that this same technology was considered to be harmful when first introduced.

-- https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-technology-scares-from-the-printing-press-to-facebook.html

[Geremia]

https://getbrick.app/

🤣 "bricking" usually means incorrectly doing a software mod (like rooting with the wrong bootloader), thereby rendering the device irrecoverable

[Geremia]

https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-technology-scares-from-the-printing-press-to-facebook.html

Yes, with the automobile, some people argued traveling faster than 15 mph was unhealthy!

[Greg]

Pretty sure that was the train.  By the time the car came along trains were already doing 80mph with no ill effects on health.  You would have to be pretty stupid to think that 80mph in a train was safe, while 20mph in a motor carriage was dangerous.

[diaduit]

Pretty sure that was the train.  By the time the car came along trains were already doing 80mph with no ill effects on health.  You would have to be pretty stupid to think that 80mph in a train was safe, while 20mph in a motor carriage was dangerous.

Have you not lived through Covid!!!

[Bernadette]

I held out against having a computer for years. Finally had to get one for college. Then came e-readers. I held out against them, too, until my eyesight got really bad. Then came the tablet, which I got for Christmas and used until it died. I think the tablet is my favorite piece of tech. Then came the smartphone. I held out against it too, but finally got one to listen to my audiobooks and check email. Last year I downgraded from the iPhone 14 plus to a Samsung galaxy A54. I prefer it immensely, mostly because of its lower price point and 1TB expandable storage. Room for ALL the audiobooks and videos.