For me it’s interesting how older generations who completely developed a frontal cortex (up to age 25) without the internet become addicted to the internet.

As a Gen Z adult who grew up with these addictive technologies, I remember screen time being restricted. Responsible parents of the time did that and told their kids to turn their games consoles an hour before bed or to spend some time playing outside, particularly during the school holidays. I don’t know how common it is for people my age but I try and have at least 1 hour a day without a screen. I try and go for a walk or read or cook/bake without screens. My childhood trained me to be more disciplined when it came to screen time.

I think for these middle aged and older adults who didn’t grow up with the internet and the only addictive screens they had were the television, it’s difficult to be disciplined when it comes to screen time. They didn’t grow up with parents telling them to take time away from their online devices and so that never became part of their growing up routine to have time away from a screen. When these new technologies emerged when they were well into adulthood, they didn’t have any “training” when it came to using them and so they don’t have much control when it comes to stopping themselves scrolling during family times or times when it’s really rude to scroll like at a restaurant or cinema. This lack of “training” from school or parenting during the time of devices existing also explaining why these people are more likely to fall for scams, why they’re less reluctant to generative AI use and why they don’t understand internet etiquette (like why it’s bad to post children’s face uncensored online).