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Are Smartphones Making Us Dumb?
05/12/2016


Smartphones are screwing up our kids. They don’t know how to talk to people. They don’t know how to relate. They don’t know how to communicate. They don’t know how to look people in the eye. They don’t know how to have prolonged conversations. They just know how to use their thumbs instead of their tongues.

And most of you parents are at fault. Every one of you who has given your minor child a smartphone, I call that bad parenting. There’s absolutely no reason for them to have a smartphone.

There’s a reason for them to go to school. There’s a reason for them to have playtime. There’s a reason for them to participate in sports. There’s a reason for them to play music. But there is no reason whatsoever, unless they’re drug dealers, that they need a smartphone.

There are so many studies on this - I got bored looking at all of them.

College students spend 8-10 hours a day on their cell phones. Girls more than guys. Probably because girls are more loquacious—except they’re using their thumbs.

Another study found that young adults who are high-frequency smartphone users experience leisure distress - meaning, the DTs. That's right. Today's young adults are feeling uptight, stressed, and anxious because they have no idea what to do without their cell phones.

This is disgusting and terrible.

I mean, I know that our young people are getting more and more ignorant because they go to college and learn stupid things instead of useful things. They learn some activist group’s studies, instead of things they really need, like earning a living or serving their community and families.

It’s pathetic.

What is always humorous, in a sardonic way, is when these so-called news outlets send reporters out to talk to people who are “protesting”. It doesn’t matter what they’re protesting or what side they’re protesting; they’re just out there protesting. When asked, what are they unhappy about, what makes them come out and protest, they usually say something like, “Oh, I don’t want to discuss it…” Well, then why are you making noise and disrupting if you don’t want to discuss it? That’s the point of a protest. It’s called discussion and debate. No, we have just bred a generation of people who want to burn down buildings, hurt people, and make noise rather than have a discussion or do anything constructive. And this is all part of it.

You can just go on blogs and websites - whatever you want - and say bad and horrible things with no substance. Or should you have any substance, it doesn’t have to be truthful. It used to be a terrible embarrassment to be caught in a lie. Back in the day, being caught in an untruth would have been terminal. But today? You can do and say anything without consequence - unless it has to do with cupcakes and weddings, then your whole life is destroyed. It’s the only arena in which there seems to be that kind of reaction.

Besides the dumbing down of especially our young people, smartphones have also caused us neck problems from looking down. People aren’t looking around at their surroundings. They have lousy sleep because the light from these devices impacts it. The brain never gets a chance to reboot. Moods are not lifted. Memory skills are not helped. People are not being creative. Nothing good is coming out of everybody walking around with smartphones. 

That's why, more often than not, I either turn off my phone or leave it at home. I’ll be some place and someone will ask, “Where’s your phone?” and I respond, “I left it at home.”

"But, uh, what if…?"

"What if can wait. I want to have a peaceful lunch."

I want to look face to face with whoever I’m having lunch with or pet my dogs if I’m alone.

We are losing our HUMANity. There’s no content to our lives, and we've become so introverted because of the pseudo-communication. There’s no depth. People don’t know how to talk to each other and don’t know how to solve problems. 

Do I text? Yes, if there’s brief information that I have to give somebody.

"Tomorrow at 2."

I don’t need an entire phone call for that, but if there’s anything of significance, I make a phone call.

It’s interesting how many people there are constantly on their phones and don’t want to talk. It’ll go to voicemail and then I’ll get a text back regarding some sort of nonsense about not picking up the phone - because people don’t want to waste their time talking to somebody. Yet, they expect to have good relationships. Good luck with that.


Tags: Adult Child-Parent, Friendships, Internet-Media, Motherhood-Fatherhood, Relationships, Social Issues, Stay-at-Home Mom, Stupid Things Parents Do to Mess Up Their Kids, Teens, Values
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