[thenobsta]

I was talking with a friend who is a camp counselor for a small summer camp the other day and they said that 4 of the 35 or so kids at the camp left because they couldn’t be away from their devices.

This power intermittent reinforcement in the on-ramp of addiction is scary powerful.

Do we have any ways to innoculate ourselves and the future generations against it?

The author poses changing the game which is support. I guess the trendy “dopamine fast” is a tool against this or weekly screen free time. Maybe more education on intermittent reinforcement or a D.A.R.E-like program for apps (a this one is a little tongue-in-cheek, but not really).

[absolute_unit22]

> said that 4 of the 35 or so kids at the camp left because they couldn’t be away from their devices.

Wow that’s scary. Such powerful addiction at such a young age

[fn-mote]

Parents let them.

[account42]

Individual parents don't have that much of a choice unless they want to turn their kids into social pariahs.

[yesfitz]

Can you provide any sources on that?

I've only been able to find articles that counter it[1][2][3][4], and nothing more rigorous than a Pew survey.

It feels right, and I recall feeling similarly about certain items/events as a teen, but teens aren't known for having the most measured interpretations of reality.

1: https://medium.com/@helmisantosa/teens-without-smartphones-h... 2: https://screenstrong.substack.com/p/can-you-raise-a-teen-tod... 3: https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/parenting/article/teenag... 4: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/smartphones-flip-phones-screen-...

[ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7]

...so some parents feel peer pressure from kids too?