There is a document of a commission of the Senate of the Republic which says that young Italians (but this is true for everyone), are (I quote verbatim) “slaves, drugged and decerebrated” due to smartphones, which would be “like cocaine”.
This sensational investigation was approved in June 2021 but it did not stop the world, as the seriousness of the conclusions required, it did not change the government’s agenda, it did not lead the head of state to issue a warning to the families Italian like “take off your children’s mobile phones”. No: she remained in a drawer and is back in the limelight now. The investigation is disconcerting for the apocalyptic tones used. Disconcerting yet it repeats a pattern already seen: when the writing came it was said that it damaged memory, the invention of printing for many would have helped the spread of false news, the train was an instrument of the devil, television would have turned us into a numb mass. The future is scary.
With this I certainly do not minimize the impact of smartphones in our livesnot only in those of young people: every now and then I turn it off, the do not disturb mode has become a daily practice, with my children I have negotiated times of use, times, applications in a continuous but necessary dialogue because it is clear that leaving them alone with one screen always connected it won’t make them grow well. But from here to define smartphones the evil of the world there runs.
Was that report really unanimously approved? Who are the experts who provided the material to the senators for such a definitive alarm? What are scientific researches? Let’s talk about. I remain convinced that young Italians are neither slaves nor drug addicts, nor decerebrated because of smartphones. Words are important. We can’t use them like that just because we don’t understand them.
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