Winter Book Club

Chapter 5:Four Foundational Harms 

In Walden, his 1854 reflection on simple living, Henry David Thoreau wrote, ‘The cost of a thing is the amount of … life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately and in the long run.’ So what was the opportunity cost to children and adolescents when they started spending six, or eight, or perhaps even 16 hours each day interacting with their devices? Might they have exchanged any part of life that were necessary for healthy human development.

Within this chapter, Haidt outlines the four foundational harms.

• Social deprivation
• Sleep deprivation
• Attention Fragmentation
• Addiction

I wonder if any adults have experience of any of the above? I, for example, know that if I am on a screen after a certain time, I am guaranteed to both have trouble getting to sleep and have a more interrupted night. I know that when I am trying to work on something that requires a lot of mental resources, I want to minimise potential distractions. Things like putting my phone away, closing my emails and being in a suitable space helps me to stay focused. There is the temptation to find easy distractors because I am having to exert mental effort, especially as I am getting started. Once I am in flow, it is much easier to maintain the level of focus. Just getting there is the challenge. If these can be challenging for us, how much more so can they be for children and adolescents who are in such a critical phase of their social, emotional, cognitive and physical development.

Our bodies and brains are geared to save energy so they will look to ‘easy’ paths. The information Haidt has in this chapter about the way various applications have been designed to take advantage of these traits is fascinating and alarming.

Recently, our lovely neighbour has asked to borrow our dog. Her son loves gaming and it is becoming increasingly challenging for him to break away. She wants to get him outside and exercising more and taking our sprightly 2-year old fox terrier makes it much more appealing than a walk around the neighbourhood with mum. She knows it will be a long-term challenge for her. The pull will continue to be strong and she is going to need to remain resolute in setting those boundaries with him. Our family, and our puppy, are happy to help her in her efforts.

Here is a link to an ABC interview with Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haughen, about proposed changes to social media laws in Australia.

Jodie Bennett

Principal