I was at a local restaurant the other day and witnessed something that I found both strangely fascinating and deeply troubling. Three women at different tables, with children of approximately the same age, are engaging in adult conversations with the rest of their tablemates while completely ignoring their children. What allowed for this detachment? Each child had before them either a cell phone or tablet playing some version of video heroin. Even when Mom said something to the child on a rare occasion, the child didn’t immediately respond, held in rapt attention by the Lord of the Screens.
Mama was only too happy to avoid having to entertain her child and avoid a scene, as one screaming meemy had occurred moments before, remedying that problem by propping a screen in front of said child. It was like a switch had been thrown, with the child getting a hit of dopamine like some drugged-up hophead.
I’ll bet you’ve seen the same thing yourself. I’ll even bet the parents themselves know that giving in and using a screen to pacify their child isn’t a great solution, and they’ll grow out of it. Oh no, they won’t—witness, the hard-to-believe, yet true stories of young adults returning to the use of pacifiers.
Root of All Problems:-
Screens today, pacifiers tomorrow. What exactly is at the root of all of this? Our title is Sensationalism Defeats Logic. Sensationalism is a form of emotionalism. Sensationalism thrives on exaggeration, shock value, and dramatic framing. It’s designed to grab attention — often at the expense of nuance or accuracy. Young people, now adults, whom I identify as Kidults, are an ever-growing phenomenon in our society. We know that, just like the two-year-old we had to placate with a screen to meet their immediate demands, it’s not likely a great idea; it’s expedient. Pleasure today, pay tomorrow if you will.
Sensationalism is neither a strategy, a truth, nor a replacement for living an upright life; it’s a means to escape the rest of the world through emotionalism, and we’re learning to hide from it at an increasingly early age in our lives. The young don’t have a chance anymore; we give up too easily because parents believe life should not have too many real costs or demands. Yes, millions believe this, and everyone is suffering the consequences.
What allows for this kind of thinking started with feckless politicians who themselves never learned the fundamental lessons of causation and critical thinking, leading to both government and education being the wellspring for moronic thinking. They then allowed, and even encouraged, nonsensical thinking on subjects far and wide. The government has a vital role to play in ensuring that schools teach reading, writing, actual history, arithmetic, and the oh-so-important ability to think critically. If this is all they did, we’d be so much better off, but they have negated that role in favor of pushing false narratives.
Closely aligned with these future dodo birds are the entire caring industry of religious groups, non-profits, and millions more who live lives of quiet desperation, not knowing which end is up, but ever optimistic that the good times will continue. They won’t.
You have to ask yourself, don’t most people realize that they aren’t in control of their lives, depending on others to guarantee them a job, a next meal, medical care, or whatever it is they consider vital (acquiring more screens, for instance) for their lives to be “secure?”
The Hidden Forces Driving the Dopamine Economy:-
Where we are today did not occur in a vacuum either. There were always those who benefit from a society that relies on constant hits of dopamine to feel alive. Let’s take a moment and reveal who those bad actors are:
- At the top of my list is a government that seeks to be all things to all people to validate its relevance. “You need us to deliver you the essentials of life. You need us to protect you from the endless dangers that life entails. You need never rely on yourself ever again; we are here to address your needs.”
- Big Business has moved from specialization to serialization. Accept for a moment that Big Business can influence your behavior, either through advertising, incentivization, stigmatization, or regulation (Example: Biden’s attempt at killing the internal combustion engine in favor of electrics). Businesses can then ensure maximum production with minimal actual innovation. Today, innovation is confused with invention, which we are doing less and less. Have you noticed how airplanes look remarkably similar to those of fifty years ago? The Boeing/Airbus duopoly restrains innovation.
- Geopolitics—leaders around the world and the kingmakers behind the scenes don’t like rabblerousers. Governments send a remarkable amount of secret signals that keep blocks of like-minded countries toeing the same line. It’s good for business, but especially good for controlling people and their expectations; the dumber the better it appears.
You can already see a plan coalescing that further restricts our freedoms, almost out of necessity, since so many of our flock no longer possess the means to live as independent sentient human beings. Was that the plan all along, or just a result of a nanny state run amok? I don’t have an answer.
What I do know and believe is that there is a direct correlation between how much time we spend on our screens and our ability to think for ourselves. A new class of robber barons (not the good kind that brought us tangible benefits, which saw all classes rise) has emerged, whose product is control of narratives, outcomes, and money, and the power it connotes is our new joint enemy. They are all-powerful and represent an entirely new class of societal controllers not unlike the Alphas plus’es of Brave New World. Yes, that reality is firmly part of our lives today. They care not if you are American, Chinese, or Russian, so long as they control the direction your eyes are focused so that they can continue a direct connection to your brain.
Conclusion:-
Studies have shown that parents are aware that excessive screen time can harm Junior’s brain development. Despite this knowledge, parents turn their babies and children over to a known bad actor (screens) because they value themselves more than they do the child, looking the other way as their children are actively brainwashed.
That too says volumes about where we are as a society.
God Bless America!
Allan J. Feifer—Patriot
Author, Businessman, Thinker, and Strategist. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com. Read additional great writers here.
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