What you are missing while being a digital zombie | Patrik Wincent | TEDxStockholm

so before I start I would like everybody to take up their phones pick it up and then give it to the person on the left or the right it doesn't matter which one as long as you don't have your own phone on you and don't worry y'all going to get your phones back so don't worry about it okay okay so now put your phones back into your pockets and take a deep breath welcome to the old world so this is me being an Indian I grew up in the south of Sweden and I love playing

cowboys and Indians I thought it was great fun and I live where there was a lot of nature used to ride bikes and skateboard and this goes out to the younger generation we hardly had any technology at all we had one TV and two channels and we had a phone stuck on the wall and sometimes when it rang we didn't even answer the phone and I know it's shocking but it is true and then computers came into my life such as Atari and Commodore 64 and I was blown away and the old world as I

knew it was gone and this is my son and yes I must admit that I'm - I'm guilty of letting him play video games in an early age and I thought it was both convenient as well it was you know great fun and looking back into my younger adulthood I could see that I often escaped into the virtual world back then I had my son only on the weekends and every time we went outside I always had one eye on my phone and the other one trying to interact with my son and we did spend

time together playing video games most of the time and he could cut out come up to me sometimes they say can we go outside and play and I said yes but not now because I needed maybe to level up on some game or I needed to work so I created this perfect electronic babysitter but just placing him in front of a computer and my problems were solved right so actually we have to take a look about the things that we see as a problem and four things so what do you think about a baby who

have yet now learned how to speak but knows easily how to incorporate an iPad studies shown by Hilda Cavalli shows that 30% of children under the age of 2 knows easily how to use an iPad but knows but haven't yet learned how to speak and also the age between 0 to 2 the brain doubles in size and continues to grow until they become 25 years so early brain development is dependent on which environment and which surroundings were in right and also studies showing the three four year olds does easily knows how to control an iPad

having material difficulties by grasping objects such as blocks pen and a paper so what is the mobis ambi well actually we see them every day they're the ones that is looking at the phones you know in front of them walking and bumping into each other's bumping into trees bumping into walls right and my son and I you know we spend a lot of times together and he really loved playing table tennis and I remember this one time he entered this huge tournament and I was sitting at the bench cheering supposedly but I was pretty much

just staring down at my phone and he did really good at this tournament he actually came to the finals and he was about to meet this very tough opponent and they started playing and the score was even he had two points to win and I felt the vibration in my pocket and I had to take up my phone to see what was happening and something knew what happened on Facebook and I really needed to check it out and I hear the crowd is sharing and I looked up from my phone to see what was happening

and it was as if everything was in slow motion everybody's surrounding my son to congratulate him because he had just won the whole tournament but what i sadly see is that he's looking at me with these sad eyes knowing that i missed watching and win the last ball that made him the champion of this tournament just because i was too busy looking down at my phone all the time and i could really feel his pain of me not being present in this very moment and for the whole day he did not even want to speak

to me again so a mobile zombie I'm going to show you some pictures from before and after you become a mobile Sambi you're ready okay so this is a picture before a mother interacting with her baby right and this is a picture how it could look more today and father outside playing with this kid or maybe playing but maybe more on his phone how about this a mother reading to her baby or a baby maybe left alone with an iPad how about this a romantic couple in love looking into each other's eyes and maybe not

someone loved looking down at the phones and instead how about this a family connected playing board games or yeah connected but maybe more to the wireless network so how was that for you so just let that sink in and we will continue so mobile the new cigarette it has become a new type of distraction and in certain areas also be called the new cigarette because we have it in our pockets and every time we feel we're bored or frustrated where we feel some tension we have a tendency to always wanting to pick it up because

it gives us rewards and pleasure which is called dopamine the same kind of effect as it does with cigarettes so modern technology has become the new type of distraction we as humans are now starting to react like cats you don't want a cat when they hear a sound or you know this year a vibration they are twitching their bodies like that we humans are also starting to twitch our bodies when we hear an SMS or an email sound when we feel a vibration we are twitching so what happens to our bodies is that we are

releasing adrenaline and cortisol which is the same as stress hormones and if we get too much stress hormones longer periods of time it can become chronic so I'm not getting into that so much but I'm just going to say that it's not good so how much should we allow our children to engage with technology and when do we as a parent say enough you know when do we draw the line because many of us is confused because they're giving iPads and laptops to kindergartens in preschool right does that mean it's okay I mean it's a

good thought many in many cases there are good applications and good video games that actually stimulates their development in a positive way of course but in many cases it is not so instead we are seeing them staring straight down on the tablet you know watching the latest Disney film or playing a video game and no one can blame a parent for wanting to take the shortcut I know for a fact I've done it for years I know how effectively it can be I was blaming worked I had a company to run so I didn't have

any regular hours I was working late nights and it was pretty bad have you tried to say to your son or your partner let's have some quality time you know maybe watch a movie together and then you're sitting there at the sofa having your laptop on your knees multitasking trying to work and then also having that quality time I can't reassure you it's not a good idea it's not something I can recommend so the distraction has become the norm rather than the exception so we give technology to our children and at the same time miss

the quality time we create this perfect electronic babysitter right by throwing an iPad in the laps and expresses pride by saying well this should keep them quiet for a couple of hours so we have to ask ourselves a question is a good child it is a quiet child a good child of course not we need to interact too you know decipher our body language our children need to nag yell scream move their bodies so our health and our happiness is at stake in many cases and I often get this question well if the technology if

they don't have their technology who is then going to entertain them so the myth that our children needs to be entertained is the opposite of what they really need they are becoming more dependent on their parents and I truly believe that they need to learn from life to being in situation where it doesn't exist quick rewards you know to learn how to be patient and tolerant to wait their turn so if we would look at something that is positive for our children that we know so let's say movement for instance if a child gets their

normal need of moving their bodies they will also incorporate and manage school more successfully and while some movements can be found indoors it is more optimal to be found outdoors and also physical contact that we know reduces human anxiety and also reduces adrenaline and cortisol and also to put into larger context for them to socialize in larger groups instead of putting them in front of the computer and also nature green environments which we know is both soothing as well as good for the brain and the nervous system in our bodies so if we will get

some quick tips for parenting could be something like this help to develop new interests right create opportunities for children to play for each other and also our children craves parental attention not video games and also to read to our child maybe half an hour a day and I love this quote when somebody said there is no app that can replace your lap so my son and I went to Thailand to visit my father and we ended up in this local Buddhist monastery way up in the mountains where no man's has ever gone before or something

like that and the locals were really excited they wanted us to meet this elderly very special Buddhist monk it was probably enlightened or something I don't know but we went up to him and the first thing my son son said to him was are you poor and he said actually I'm the wealthiest man on this planet and yet I have nothing and he started to talk about the words of dalai lama by saying you have everything you have big houses but no one to talk to you have many computers with but less communication you can

travel planets but you can hardly go across the street to talk to the neighbor you had a lot of quantity but less quality much knowledge and experts with more conflicts and after this experience I have myself a wake-up call I went back home I stripped myself on technology for two weeks and I sat down and wanted to prioritize things that I wanted in my life because I could really feel that I was emotionally distant and I wanted to change that so I made up some rules no technology at the dinner table or breakfast no technology

in the bedroom and sometimes when we go out we leave the phone at the door we go training we read books we do stuff and I believe moderation is the key it's like a digital diet just like food we need to find a healthy way to balance our habits and I truly believe that artists and visionaries just like Einstein Mozart Michelangelo who often talked about the importance of using our imagination or fantasy to contemplate to be creative that makes us humans create big things not only to have that external information but also to create something

from within and then let that come out to the world so pick up your phones and give it back to the rightful owner so how was that how many did feel some tension hands up restlessness okay so be honest how many of you touch the display button to see if you missed anything on your phone how many okay so that just shows us how important our technology has become that we as humans have this primitive urge to have control of our surroundings and if we are then be given this little device that gives us that

control then we have a tendency to always wanting to pick it up all the time so the real world is pretty great and the digital world should be added to our lives never to be replaced so let us just think about that the next time when we interact with our children and our loved ones so thank you for allowing me to speak thank you you