TAMPA, Fla. — According to a study by the University of Cambridge, smartphones are destroying the creativity of Gen Zers.
It is leaving them with shattered attention spans, unable to think critically, or unable to filter out noise from meaningful information.
“They're just connecting with people, who think the same way that they do. And if that person doesn't think the way they do, they might just simply unfriend them,” said Katie Trowbridge, a veteran educator and founder of Curiosity 2 Create.
Trowbridge’s nonprofit Curiosity 2 Createhelps teachers engage students more. She believes teens are deeply affected by what they see on their cellphones and have lost the ability to focus or think critically.
“They are being surrounded by one way of thinking. So, they're not getting multiple perspectives. They're just seeing what the algorithms are giving them,” said Trowbridge.
Trowbridge said teens often don’t question what they see online. They tend to believe everything as fact.
“It really is educating them on how to think in creative and critical ways. How to be those deep thinkers. How do you look at a source and say, 'Maybe I need to see if that's really true?” explained Trowbridge.
She also wants to encourage parents to ask more thought-provoking questions and to lead by example.
“What was your favorite part of your day today? Why was that the favorite part of your day? What frustrated you at school today? What was the most challenging thing you learned?” said Trowbridge.
She continued, “So I think modeling it, showing our students, showing our children, how do you question information? Why do we think that this is really true? And if we don't think it's true, how could we figure out if it's true? So that they're learning from us.”
According to research in Jonathan Haidt’s bookThe Anxious Generation, social media is rotting the brains of Gen Zers. Haidt said their brains are rewiring to “passively absorb content” rather than actively engage in “Critical thought.”
“We're not connecting. We're not learning. We're not seeing different perspectives. We're not having this empathy. We're anxious. We're depressed. We're not getting out and talking to each other,” said Trowbridge.”
Also, Derek Thompson’s article in The Atlanticexposed how rising isolation is driving mental health issues among Gen Zers. Their loneliness and lack of social connections are crippling them emotionally and socially. And Trowbridge warns it’s happening to all ages.
“We are at a point of loneliness and isolation. And they're saying that it's as dangerous as smoking 17, I think they said 17 cigarettes in a day because we're so lonely. And they're talking about the fact that part of it is because we're staying at home. We're hiding behind our phones. We're not connecting with each other,” explained Trowbridge.
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