Maybe except for stubborn diehards, the majority of people, in particular kids, have plastic (adaptive) minds. As a neuroscientist, Susan Greenfield is concerned about the impact of intense changes in our environment which result from digitalization on an immature mind of a child. Although her claims about this influence made in the book Mind Change may be true for some kids, my personal experience is not at all consistent with her description.

First of all, the scientist puts a spotlight on the tendency for deliberate isolation from the real world in favor of a digital one (24). While some years ago, a bedroom was an equivalent to a lockup for guilty kids, nowadays it’s a place where children maintain connections with distant friends or surf the Internet often being alone. According to Greenfield, such a behavior may result in the loss of vital for social interaction abilities: empathy and communication skills.

Also, the scientist expresses a concern which is familiar to a sea of modern parents: sedentary lifestyle of their children (26). She touches on an important issue. Not only could constant immersion in the digital world affect kids’ minds, but also it’s likely to harm their health. However, the author concedes that the direction of causation may be reverse: due to their indolence, some kids indulge in sitting in front of a screen.

Moreover, Greenfield states that in front of a screen, kids receive produced content, which doesn’t require a lot of intellectual efforts. Therefore, the author deplores the contraction of the amount of time an average kid spends outside. She claims that role-playing games and communication with peers both promote socialization and develop children’s imagination. Indeed, stories and characters come directly from inside a kid’s head when he is performing as a cowboy or playing with toys. Without this crucial experience, according to Greenfield, children hardly can gain creativity and ability to analyze subjects from their own perspectives.

All mentioned concerns determine what Greenfield perceives as the most severe threat both for children and future generations. She states that “life in front of a computer screen is threatening to outcompete real life” (25). According to the scientist, digital technologies provide children with so many opportunities that people’s experience in the world behind screens can become independent of connections into real life.

The neuroscientist seemingly describes my childhood. However, as far as I remember, neither me nor my contemporaries had problems depicted in Mind Change. The digital world didn’t absorb us and it didn’t affect our mental and physical development.

Changes mentioned in her work had begun even before my birth. Ubiquitous technologies like TVs, phones and PCs pervaded our house too. Although I didn’t have a personal TV in my room, the “window to the outer world” was always open when no one used it. But I clearly remember that I preferred to play outside rather than sit in front of the TV. In small towns, like that where I was brought up, the environment encourage play in the open air. When all citizens live in two-storied houses fenced by lofty trees which outnumber the population of a town, they are likely to obtain the unity with nature.

• 

• 

After I reached the school age, I left this quiet and peaceful place because my parents wanted me to study at an advanced school. In those days, I began to intensely use the opportunities provided by social networking sites and telephony. Being far from home (I lived in my granny’s house in Cheboksary), I often chatted with distant friends, parents and other relatives.

Notwithstanding frequent usage of technologies, I spent a lot of time outdoors. Recalling those years, I marvel at the ingenuity of kids living in a stone jungle surrounded by roads and highways. We used to play tag and hide-and-seek running around high-rise buildings or played football with the makeshift gates on one of few fields.

When games ended and I came back home, social networking sites and collective games helped us to remain connected after parting. Even a TV show or a game which were watched or played by me on my own usually pervaded my conversations with classmates, thereby promoting my socialization and analytical skills.

Thus, my childhood didn’t fit the Greenfield’s description. Although I often used a laptop with access to the Internet and sometimes gawked at the screen of a TV, such activities didn’t affect my connection with reality. Conversely, opportunities provided by social networks and telephony enriched my life and augmented the real world. It’s true that we spent less time outside than we could have spent in a world without screens, but the difference was not as hazardous as Greenfield presents. Neither my socialization process, nor the acquisition of analytical skills was affected by the usage of gadgets. However, the fact that tendencies described in Mind change didn’t influence my childhod doesn’t mean the absence of these threats. The verification of Greenfield’s concerns requires rigorous research.

Works cited

Greenfield, Susan. Mind Change. New York: Random house, 2015