In China's 'smart cities' there are video cameras spying everywhere. Paul Joseph Watson points out how tech giants in the West are bringing the same kind of thing to internet media platforms, from which you may be banned if you stray outside the prescribed norms.
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quark
Thu, 2019-06-13 22:45
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Decline of play and increase in children's mental disorders
I have recently read a US psychology article about the greatly increased numbers of young people who are assessed as depressed, testing covering the last 50 to 70 years! In brief the article relates how the increases in depression are not about external circumstances or threats but about the degree to which subjects feel they have control over their lives. There has also been a shift over time in the sort of goals young people have for their lives from goals formulated by self to imposed goals, like material wealth and achievements that will be approved of socially. The author puts forward the hypothesis that there is a causal link between the increased "extrinsic" goal setting and a decrease in opportunities for free play (where children work out problems for themselves in an unstructured situation) since they have coincided. I have certainly noticed in Australia, an increase in parental supervision of children's out of school time with organised activities and organised sports or after school care. A year or so ago I saw a television documentary where they were able to show that neural brain networks were differently organised in children who played freely, unsupervised by adults and children whose out of school time was more organised and adult-directed. This brings me to the conclusion that the free play issue is also an issue of space- space in which to play. There must be a wealth of research about this as the implications are profound. It looks as though in the US and in Australia (as i think we have the same problems) we are sabotaging the well being of our children and that they will take their troubles into adult life.
Here is a quote from the article:
Below is the link to the article
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/freedom-learn/201001/the-decline-play-and-rise-in-childrens-mental-disorders?fbclid=IwAR3pQq5pm786v9OkbumddLhF1uCRpcL2KnzUQzK9JE0Iyqjlboqe9okSUPE"
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