Screenformation 2.0 @screenformation

From “The Motivation Myth author @jeff_haden: ‘All of our success and growth comes from choosing the hardest and least comfortable way’ [Motivation Myth, p. 168]” (Screenformation 2.0, p. 119) #Screentime is the comfortable, low-achievement way—#Screenfree fosters effort & reward

Children must first learn to write by hand, starting from Year 1 of school, so that they can form the neural networks that create the best possible foundation for learning. In 2024, 20 states in the United States reintroduced handwriting at school.

When people write by hand, we see noticeably more nerve activity in the parts of the brain that deal with memory and interpretation of new information. This activity plays a key role in the learning process.

Compiling more than 250 references of scientific studies and research, this book offers facts on how #Screentime damages brain function, mental health, creativity, reasoning, concentration, attention span, problem solving, social skills, empathy, motor skills, and physical health

Enjoying other people’s company always puts the emphasis on the other person. Focusing on people we care about increases enjoyment. Phones undermine our ability to focus on the person we’re with.

Reported in The University of Chicago Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, a study found that having a smartphone in the room lowers brain capacity, even when the phone is off and out of sight (if you know it’s there).

Homeschoolers score in reading, language and math at the 88th percentile; science 86th%; social studies 84th %. Public school students score at the 50th% in all of the above. For anyone who is able, homeschooling is the best option to prepare kids for success as an adult.

Thoughtful can mean both “kind” and “thinking.” Historically the two were closely related. It was the sign of a thinking person to act with appreciation and gratitude, to practice good manners, to show sincere courtesy towards others. #Screentime reduces thoughtfulness.

Wisdom grows only when we work, play, and interact in person. Shared experiences over long periods of time generate wisdom as well as life skills in general. Given our isolation with #Screentime today, we lose the wisdom of past generations and add nothing more of our own.

Screen damage is not generation-specific, and not culture-specific. It is human-specific. Lowered brain function is a clinical fact associated with passive #screentime, regardless of age, generation, or region.

It's true that #screentime is worse for kids, but it's also bad for adults. Even for adults, it undermines brain functions that require regular exercise to stay in shape, such as analytical thinking, problem-solving, attention span, concentration, reasoning, creativity.

Tech execs keep their children #screenfree, because screenfree childhood is a predictor of higher testscores/grades, ability to hold a job, life satisfaction/success, better brain function, reasoning, creativity, problem-solving, attention span, social skills and mental health.

Edu-Divide: When socio-economic high-end schools do one thing and get excellent results, and economically low-end schools do a different thing and get terrible results, we should pay attention to that “thing”: i.e., person-to-person learning (win) vs. #screentime learning (lose).

Throwing technology at disadvantaged students feels good but doesn’t address educational inequality. The edu-divide widens between the rich, who get human interaction and real-world learning—vs. poor, who get screen learning which causes lower test scores.

#Screentime has dominated our perception and brain function increasingly for the past 60 years. Adapted to less active and more passive mental and physical conditioning, generations of parents and grandparents have unwittingly distanced families and undermined child development.

Studies show that we all (conservatives and liberals alike) reject evidence that upsets our worldview, we “just don’t believe it.” Our worldview embraces screen devices as normal. Data showing that #Screentime damages our mental and physical health is neither welcomed nor heeded.

Screen media disengages logical processing and critical thinking—we respond with a predictable emotional reflex instead of an intelligent analysis. If the message feels good, then it’s true; if it feels bad, then it’s false.

A UCLA and Princeton study found that even when screens are used actively as a learning tool, non-screen methods (hand-writing notes) enable deeper conceptual learning and significantly better retention than the same activity on a screen device.

Screens undermine learning. Even instructional videos fail to instruct. Participants in a study watched the video twenty times and were confident they learned the task. When they tried to perform the task, they failed. Video makes us think we are learning, but we are not.

A study reported in the New Yorker found that reading literary fiction improved social perception and empathy, the ability to guess with accuracy what another human being might be thinking or feeling. Reading also lengthens lifespans (TV shortens lifespans).