This hits home so hard (did I write this?). I'm curious how many are afflicted with this. I don't hear enough people talk about the powerful addiction of "podcasts + headphones". There is an endless amount of content, so if you're not careful, the majority of the voices in your head will not be your own.
This happened to me. I justified it because "I was learning", and "it's like listening to the radio, but better", or "this content is good for me", but when every moment alone is filled with someone else's words and thoughts, you stop having any of your own.
> I don't hear enough people talk about the powerful addiction of "podcasts + headphones"
I have headphones on everywhere I go. If I’m outside I have them on, while I’m doing work in the office I have them on, when I’m doing sport I have them on. When I don’t have them on, I’m usually at home and I’m playing stuff via speakers.
I’m not playing stuff only when I’m out with friends, of course.
To be honest I think it’s one of the reasons why I feel very good and comfortable being on my own alone. But I definitely agree that there might be some kind of addiction in all of this.
> but when every moment alone is filled with someone else's words and thoughts, you stop having any of your own
I don’t necessarily agree with this, especially because I think about the thing that is being discussed and agree/disagree for different reasons. I might argue that podcast give you a reason to think about “unusual” things sometimes?
> I have headphones on everywhere I go. If I’m outside I have them on, while I’m doing work in the office I have them on, when I’m doing sport I have them on
Back in about 2007 I realized I was doing this. At the gym, snowboarding, walking to work, at the supermarket.
I realized it closed me off from meeting new people and living in the now. Music encouraged me to drift away and think about some other time in my life when I saw that band, or was at a great party or something.
So I put the iPod away and have never done it since. I don’t own headphones now, have not done for 20 years. Really happy I made the correction not to get sucked in.
That's completely the wrong analogy. It's fairly well established through studies that language acquisition in preliterate kids is improved through handwriting (as opposed to typing or tracing letters).
Yes, but that is a different kind of improvement compared to note king during a lecture as an adult. I think hadriting ability is important, I just don't think note taking dutin a lecture is useful in any way.
Can you cite a source for the claim about "most faithful test predictor"? I'm genuinely curious. I would think high school GPA would be more predictive.
High school grades are not evenly applied, and sometimes heavily inflated. Eliminating that variable is the whole point behind taking a standardized test.
It hasn't been a problem for us. Our child has a cellular enabled Apple Watch (it has its own phone number). At home, the iPad satisfies all the other needs, and is restricted with Screen Time and Downtime. YMMV (kids are different)
1. Talk openly and often about how much you hate your phone, how it's addictive, and all the dangers of social media.
2. Consider an Apple Watch with its own cellular plan. This allows them to TXT with friends, call you, and be located in Find Devices.
3. Create a sense of pride in not having a phone. Other parents will openly praise this.
My child doesn't have, and doesn't want a phone. It's been our biggest win as parents.
> Talk openly about how much you hate your phone...
The idea of modelling the behaviour you're trying to teach your kids seems to be a key one as mentioned in this interview with Zak Stein [1]. Obviously the general tone might be a bit too much anti-tech for this forum, but he certainly seems to have some well reasoned points to make and obviously the genie isn't going back in the bottle so working with tech whilst being aware of it's dangers as mentioned in the original article might be the best compromise for now?
This happened to me. I justified it because "I was learning", and "it's like listening to the radio, but better", or "this content is good for me", but when every moment alone is filled with someone else's words and thoughts, you stop having any of your own.