Well, according to the most recent report by Ofcom, the UK is surfing its way through the following regular activities…
But here’s the sad part.
Any list that includes Facebook, Theladbible and Dailymail is bound to mould the next generation of geniuses right? (cue wry emoji right here.)
So what’s the problem? We’re all having a lovely time virtually creating relationships, learning about the world through others’ opinions and primarily checking our facts on barely-moderated sources.
Because, for every mind-numbing minute we are spending scrolling through another feed, we could have learned something new, expanded our skills, prepared ourselves for the next tech generation or even, scarily enough, spent some time in the real world.
And these activities are having serious impacts on our cognitive thinking and development, especially those of the littlest minds among us, whose pathways are not yet formed. Online activities such as social media and gaming have been shown to be potentially as addictive as some drugs, and we could just be walking into the biggest legal addiction problem since someone said, “Hey, do you want a codeine – they’re from the doctor?”
Teenagers waking up in the middle of the night just to check their “like” status; toddlers lulling themselves to sleep with a snuggly iPad; couples living together in different worlds – it’s like a strange desire for isolation is sucking us all in like social lemmings. But hey, don’t just take our word for it, do some “general browsing” for studies on social media or online gaming addiction – or save yourself the trouble and watch this neat little video from asapScience
Call us over-anxious, over-the-top or downright technophobes but, at CX Marketing, we had a NY resolution. And that was to stop wasting our time on mindlessness and start applying it to better things. Things like… creativity… innovation… interaction… and physicality.
We all know that the UK is sleepwalking into a critical shortage of digital and creative skills. In the 2014 BCC Workforce survey, over 20% of businesses surveyed stated that they were facing a skills shortage in both computer literacy and creativity. Sure we can all navigate our way around a smartphone and filter an image until it’s Vogue-ready. But, in terms of equipping our current and future generations with the necessary skills and knowledge to contribute to a growing online world, we have about as much digital relevance as Windows Vista on the day it launched.
Thanks to an influx of UX-designed apps, platforms and devices, the need to think for ourselves is gradually being eroded. I’m sorry Steve Krug, I worship your book like a God at the UX altar, but isn’t maybe time for us to use that grey matter a bit more? Having everything presented to us on a plate is a sure-fire way to lose our abilities to problem-solve, analyse and question. And while we’re digitally watching someone else’s take on the world, we’re not creating our own.
Just think what you could be doing with those 3 hours a day instead? Got a NY resolution to get fit? If you did a squat thrust every time you went to check a status, those buns of steel would be baking in no time. We’re not saying social media doesn’t play its part, it just shouldn’t do so at the expense of everything else. So, if you’d rather not see your life through a 5.5 inch screen anymore, here is our guide on how to not sleepwalk yourself into a nation of #selfiezombies.
It only remains for us to say. “Go forth humans. And good luck.”
With thanks and recognition to the following sources:
Alexa http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/GB
Ofcom’s Media Use and Attitudes 2015 report
2014 BCC Workforce Survey
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