Digital Slavery & Mental Poverty
At my mental Health Therapy Clinic, I treat youngsters who are digitally addicted and have become slaves of the digital devices. As a father of two amazing children it is so sad to see how poor many young children are with regard to mental health. Even though these children hail from wealthy families, they are extremely poor in terms of mental health. If not recognised timely, a slight deviation can de route the entire route of a ship and take it to a completely different place from its original destination.
This is why as a parent we should be vigilant and focused to recognise tiny deviations, unless the lives of our little children will be ship wrecked. This generation is tech savvy and that is the reality. Just as food is required for the existence of the human, consuming junk food excessively is life threatening. Just as a vehicle is important for humans so can careless driving kill a person. Clinging on to even a good practice excessively will make you an unproductive person. Even though physical health is of utmost importance to a person’s life, living in the gym on a daily basis and neglecting everything else will certainly make you an unproductive person. Reading books is an amazing practice, yet continuously reading 24/7 and doing nothing else at all will make you a failure. Therefore, as digital technology is essential to move ahead, we must be wise in separating the good and the bad out of it.
The issue in today’s society is that many children do not have control over social media rather social media has taken control over them. They have become slaves of social media. The moment your children do not receive sufficient acceptance and appreciation at home, they will readily seek the acceptance through social media. Hunger is common to both the physical body and mentality. Just as food, water and air is needed for the physical body, so does love, acceptance, sense of selfworth and appreciation matter to the mind. You will surely die physically if you do not have air, water and food. Similarly, your mind will be numbed and paralysed if it is not fed with the basic food the mind requires. Since my mom left me when I was a kid, I was craving for acceptance. My heart was dry and my mind was starving as my heart had no more moist left in it. I longed for acceptance and got it from a crowd of people in Dehiwala. I never knew that my little mind will be influenced by their behaviour.
Your children will always crave for what they do not receive from home. Therefore, just as you yell at them to eat their green vegetables, pay close attention to the mental food they receive. Parents are so busy building up their materialistic dreams, yet they do not know that the material they are using is the future of their children. As a Mental Health Coach, I treat children who hail from extremely wealthy families. I have seen that many parents have been deeply involved in the wrong construction. What good is it to live in a mansion with no peace? Is it not better to live on rent with a happy family? Even when my earnings were only 50K per month, I told my wife to completely focus on Joshua (we had only Joshua at that time) and not on seeking any paths of earning. I am glad that decision was made as we are very intimate with each other and living in complete bliss. We allow our children to use the internet but they have been trained to have control over the digital devices.
Therefore, develop healthy thought patterns in your children and make sure that their mind store is full of productive thoughts. Be mindful and take an inventory of what your children feed their mind. Make sure that they will not find life boring and empty, as that is when they will attempt to seek for alternatives to overcome the boredom. We taught our son Joshua to cook by the age of ten as we believe that it is a positive undertaking to feel good. We also bought him a drum for one of his birthday’s, as we believed that it would help his brain to coordinate simultaneously. However, we also bought him a gaming unit which we sold immediately as we felt that he was being too attached towards it. You cannot expect children to make wise decisions as their brains have not matured and experienced enough to do so. As parents we need to help them to manage their minds and brains until their mind becomes independent to face life’s battles. Till then, let them become the vice-captain of their life and as the parent you become the captain. Once they reach the milestone you can retire and handover the captaincy to your child. Yet, it is always better to keep a close eye on them as a coach, as life is always a fiery battle. Let them play the game, if not they will never acquire the necessary skills.
A monkey would not know to handle a switchblade. Similarly, your children may not know how to handle their devices. It is our responsibility to navigate them in handling those devices which I name as the devil’s armoury. If possible, try and get your hands on the book “Digital Cocaine” by Brad Huddleston, you will realise how scary digital devices can be. Is there a significant difference between half a line of cocaine and an hour of playing a video game? Drugs are a highly detrimental artificial stimuli that you can gain feel good factors, it is similar to what your children derive from digital tools. The only difference is that the drugs will destroy your physical body. What use is the physical body of a man whose mind is discarded? Act swiftly, tomorrow may be too late. Nourish your children to attain a rich mental health so that they can avoid being slaves of the digital devices.