Digital soothing

I don’t know. It is like if we, as peoples of the world, are toddlers. We know what will happen if we stick our finger in the electrical socket or put our hands on an open flame, but we do it anyway, to see if those consequences we know about will actually happen.

The same probably goes with climate change. We see the trajectory, have the capacity to change things before they get worse, but we continue on anyway. Same with the possibility of war in the Middle East.



Israel Saturday morning directly attacking “military” targets in Iran. The West is urging Iran not to retaliate. As the violence and killings continue, the trajectory is clear, but there is no stopping, and instead there is escalation.

The same with the US election, where Trump is showing his intentions. He intends to get rid of the “enemies within”, he likes Hitler, he has a bromance with Putin, he does not like any news media that reports on him negatively, and generally attacks anyone who opposes him. Clear trajectory, and yet the polls are tight going into the election next week.

Similar story with AI. We keep hearing persons warning us on the trajectory of AI and the destruction of the human race, clearly following the Terminator franchise model, and yet we are pushing to do more with AI, without the inherent controls. Same with the addiction to cellphones, tablets and digital objects.

You see us waiting in an airport, waiting room, train, even in a lime. Our backs are bent, and our heads curved down, in a lordosis spine position. And we are not just skimming through the digital world, but it’s almost like we have left our present world and we are fully immersed into whatever digital platform, clearly following the Avatar franchise model.

When you call that person during this fugue state, if they look up from their device, their eyes will be glazed over, their consciousness totally not present, their bodies in the earth reality but their minds taken, somewhere else, in the digital world. One of the worst things though about this Avatar experience is that they seem to be having more fun online than on earth. They can flicker between YouTube, WhatsApp, TikTok, answering e-mails, Facebook, Instagram.

The immersion is very visual and short, the best of whatever video or set of clips. The combination is hard to resist. We get the short segments and highlights.

There are no boring parts to sit through. The most emotive piece of news, the most funny video clip of that day, the most interesting arguments. It is like a constant set of short visual highlights, with droplets of dopamine release, leaving us addicted for more feel-good mechanisms.

And then there is the propensity to go down algorithmic rabbit holes of things and people that we like and are more interested in. We are not really, at most times, engaged in our real world and, in fact, we get annoyed when we have to come back to reality with its slower pace, without highlights. We have to get back to the doldrums of reality to read a book, have a conversation, review a report, have a meeting, or have a still moment with nature.

We have to listen to people drone on about how their day was, when in reality we would like to ignore them and swap to our digital realm. This digital addition has now evolved further to our children where we use tablets and smartphones to distract them and keep them occupied. It is called digital soothing.

Like the adult versions, it takes them away from our reality world to their digital virtual one. But their brains are more vulnerable to addiction so once they start, they cannot do without the tablets and cellphones, and suddenly it moves from a distracting aid to a babysitting device, to their everyday norm of how they spend their days. Suddenly real-world interaction is the distractor, and the virtual world is their normal.

Digital soothing, especially in ages three to five years, has led to emotional dysregulation, especially in boys. The devices keep them occupied but do not teach them how to deal with emotions or socialise with people. The data shows it can make them switch rapidly between sadness and excitement.

They have easy changes in mood or feelings. There is also increased impulsivity. With the digital devices the child’s development is stunted, but also they reduce their ability to be bored and remain calm without stimulation.

Essentially, they become moody, almost manic depressive and ADHD. Just step away and look at it. In every space.

A bunch of adults bent over their phones, smiling and laughing, but not with each other. They are in a different world. Just look at your child.

Distracted and happy in the digital realm. But away from it, cranky, irritable, impulsive, emotive, unable to sit in silence and play by themselves. We are trying to keep ourselves connected and occupied during downtime, but it leads to isolation.

We are trying to soothe our children, especially when we are busy, but it leads to more anger, irritation, and lack of emotional regulation. Essentially, they throw tantrums and cannot sit still. Anti-soothing.

We are seeing it evolving real time. We have the trajectory. There is a clear Omen franchise.

Let’s not be toddlers. Start the change. —Dr Joanne F Paul is an emergency medicine lecturer with The UWI.

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