Stroller Scrollers: A Doomed Generation?
While Gen Z kids grew up with being occasionally pacified by an iPad, Gen Alpha are the Stroller Scroller generation, children aged 1 and 2 years of age, handed their parents smartphones to keep them quiet.
As Gen Beta (born 2025+) will be growing up in an even deeper digital immersive reality (AI, VR, AR, Robotics), we need to better address the negatives of addictive and immersive technology in society, and particularly with children and their developing brains.
This month we look at the evidence around poor prefrontal cortex development and the arising negative effects on attention span, creativity, imagination, problem-solving, and self-regulation of handing a smartphone over to a child. Coupled with the addiction effects of high dopamine activity (HDA) in a young developing brain, the question is asked, is Smartphone and Social Media use by children and teens the Big Tobacco/Smoking scandal of our time?
Are we all, collectively, asleep at the wheel, fully aware of the negatives and dangers but pushing ahead anyway?
Now widely known as the ‘King of Customer Experience’, Ken Hughes is considered one of the World’s top speakers on consumer behaviour and values, organizational change, the customer and employee experience, leadership, agility, creativity and innovation. He blends his expertise in consumer and cyber psychology, behavioural economics, motivation theory and social anthropology to explore the needs of modern consumerism, leadership and the world of work and predict the changes to come.
You can learn more about Ken Hughes and book any of his keynotes and workshops here: www.kenhughes.com