Parents; Weapons of Mass Destruction?

How effective is your parenting or are you an ‘ignorant’ parent perpetuating mass destruction of the future generations? We have seen it on TV, heard it on the radio even read it on the daily papers; but do we see, hear or understand? The news is alarming and distressing. Are you familiar with the term Persuasive Technology, what it is, its pros and cons particularly to the young? Many books have been written highlighting the impending catastrophe warning parents, guardians and caregivers about the imminent devastation being unleashed on our children. Persuasive Technology is designed to influence peoples’ choices daily. This technology is created and utilised by marketers, professionals and others. To exploit the masses worse of all the young whose brain is not fully formed and developed. It is horrifying to know personal computers, Smartphones, websites, and most technologies are designed to not only influence people’s behaviour but generate new habits. This diabolical ploy gained momentum in the early 1990s when Stanford Researcher B.J. Fogg (‘The Godfather’ of this technology introduced the term “Persuasive Computing” this was later rebranded and offered as 'Persuasive Technology'. That has been escalated further by many companies using technologies that not only measure customer behaviour to develop products that are not just persuasive but explicitly aimed at creating and imprinting new habits. Habit formation as a business model was notoriously limited to casinos, alcohol and cigarette manufacturers. It is worrisome and sad to report technology has unleashed this model with a vengeance to a wide spectrum of corporations. The more knowledgeable we have become acquiring deeper comprehension in psychology and behavioural economics giving crystal clear insights as to how and why society make decisions and certain choices, these augmented by social media, smartphones and digital technologies, have empowered creators, inventors, stylists, artists, engineers, graphics and web designers, app designers including a diverse variety of other products to create hi-tech persuasive technologies to the detriment of society especially the young.

It is a diabolical plan to destroy and annihilate the family as we know it. The long-term strategy is to utilize adults to destroy our children by stealthily utilizing our love, care, concern and money as partners in this evil scheme. Persuasive technology which forms the core of smartphone technology is every bit part and parcel of this malevolent scheme. Sadly the majority of parents more so those of Sub-Saharan Africa are oblivious to this and have inadvertently formed a coalition with the schemers to annihilate future generations by lovingly, with pop and fanfare placing smartphones on our children’s hands.

I am informed that our children are spending sometimes more than eight hours on their mobile phones. Experts agree generally this should be curtailed to at least two hours a day. Where I strongly disagree with this fully persuaded nobody under 21 years of age at least should have unlimited access to a smartphone and or any gadget utilizing persuasive technology. Because under twenties brains are not fully developed and there are no definitive studies done on the detrimental effects of mobile/cell phone technologies to the young. To drive the point home; Amanda Lenhert; author of Teens, Social Media and Technology overview 2015 had this to say “24% of teens go online “almost constantly,” facilitated by the widespread availability of smartphones. Aided by the convenience and constant access provided by mobile devices, especially smartphones, constantly,” according to a new study from Pew Research Center. More than half (56%) of teens — defined in this report as those aged 13 to 17 go online several times a day, and 12% report once-a-day use. Just 6% of teens report going online weekly, and 2% go online less often.

This frenzy of access is facilitated by mobile devices. Nearly three-quarters of teens have or have access to a smartphone and 30% have a basic phone, while just 12% of teens 13 to 17 say they have no cell phone of any type. African-American teens are the most likely of any group of teens to have a smartphone, with 85% having access to one, compared with 71% of both white and Hispanic teens. These phones and other mobile devices have become a primary driver of teen internet use: 91% of teens go online from mobile devices at least occasionally. Among these “mobile teens,” 94% go online daily or more often. By comparison, teens that don’t access the internet via mobile devices tend to go online less frequently. Some 68% go online at least daily. 

African-American and Hispanic youth report more frequent internet use than white teens. Among African-American teens, 34% report going online “almost constantly” as do 32% of Hispanic teens, while 19% of white teens go online that often. This is a whopping 91% teenage access.  www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/

Something needs to be done and fast; what with the children using their cell phones/persuasive technology way too much subsequently putting their mental wellbeing at a terrible risk. Our children are getting more and more anxious with horrendous spiking rates of depression. I am inspired to add there is a correlation between the uptick of depression and suicides with the emergence of smartphones/persuasive technology. That said I will be the first to admit that correlation doesn’t necessarily suggest causation, but in the explosion of cell phone/persuasive technology, one has no choice but wonder whether the flare-up in emergency room visits for mood disorders and self-reported apprehension among the teens is not a creation of the uncontrollable, unsupervised access to technology?

Most will agree with me, there is something really addictive with the bleep of a text, the scrolling-counter informing us how many people ‘like us’. This has almost turned everybody (grown-ups and kids) alike into speculators/gamblers of sorts turning many into coach/bedroom-potatoes rather slot-players in windowless casinos losing track of time as the addiction to the next ‘dice’ heightens.

The gloomy news don’t just end there; with all these ‘online addiction’ comes more bullying adding fuel to our children’s’ distress.  There was a recent article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal drafted by a group of researchers based mostly in Quebec and Canada where they found that among a large group of teenagers more than 50% had experienced moderate exposure to bullying, with more than 10% reporting severe exposure to bullying, in person and online. Beloved, bearing in mind this is a microcosm of the world; these rates indicate our children's experience of bullying is as common as high school graduation.

There is no doubt concerning the invisible, manipulative and in some instances coercive power of persuasive technology. Persuasive Technology by its addictive nature is also being used to surreptitiously draw the young to pornographic sites. This sly strategy makes it very difficult for you as a parent to effectively protect your child from this malice because as a caring parent you simply cannot protect your child from something that is concealed, alien to you and your child. As a recovering porn-addict, I am best placed to proclaim pornography permanently contaminates and corrupts any sexual encounter, sex being a God-given gift to marriage and by extension the family and society at large. It is a tool utilized to propagate humanity, therefore contaminating this divine ordained institution paves way to the corrosion and imminent destruction of marriage, the safety and security it provides thereby perpetuating the end goal of destroying mankind.

It is not my intention to proliferate distress to you as a parent. My intent is to draw your attention to the dangers of technology especially to parents in Sub-Saharan Africa who due to our so called ‘deprived’ upbringing have been conditioned to supply our children with everything that we did not have growing up. This is not only ridiculous but a lie from the pits of Hades. Look at yourself; you turned okay despite your background and upbringing. Therefore, do not exterminate your children’s and future destiny by being ‘Persuaded’ and blackmailed into submitting to the evil ‘Persuasive Technology’ hell-bent on the absolute annihilation of humanity ‘just because you did not have all these gadgets growing up’.

In these doom and gloom, I am happy to report, it is time to think about what you and I can do to slow down preferably put a stop to the spiralling devastation prescribed for our young. I have a few solutions that could remedy our predicament. Which are;

? First of all we need and must incorporate God into our daily lives; accept without God The Creator and Redeemer of mankind we are nothing. Meaning, our lives are fully depended upon Christ. In Christ we have everything but outside of Him we are nothing and we would have no reality, logic or life. We must and should appreciate without God there is no reason for anything because everything was made by and for Christ. Therefore our very existence belongs to Christ and in Him we have everything. Outside of God, we have no intellect and power over sin, Satan and or the capability to overcome and protect our children from the Luciferian influence of persuasive technology. Hence the necessity to allow God into our daily lives.

? We should also demand corporations facilitate family-friendly gadgets and or technology that will empower us to control how much time our children access smartphones, computers, Apps and websites. There should be away these corporations can create operating systems that anyone could utilise to lock the phone and or block access to the internet for a set number of hours a day. This would enable parents to curtail if not full curb the influence of persuasive technology that is actually pedalling the online equivalent of crack cocaine.

? Find creative and alternative ways of handling addiction.  Because addiction alters brain chemistry and this change motivates the compulsion for the ‘highs’ our children are craving for. We should embark on a worldwide endeavour to substitute artificial highs expedited by Persuasive Technology. By finding alternate ways that could compete with the artificial highs provided by drugs and smartphones/persuasive technology. Such as sports, crossword-puzzles (these, I have successfully utilized in altering my seven-year-old boy's dependence on TV and Smartphones), becoming actively involved in your child’s life. I know of a parent actively involved in his teenager’s life. They go skating together albeit his always relegated to manning their (his child’s and friends’) personal effects as the youngsters have a ball skating because he cannot skate to save his life. Etc.

? We have to rethink smartphones at school. In Europe including many of their educational institutions smartphones are not allowed in the classrooms. I must admit I used to think smartphones were an amazing teaching aid that could empower learners access information not to mention bringing the world to their fingertips. However I have changed my stance due to the endemic onslaught on the young as smartphone use goes completely out of control. Literally poisoning our children’s future destiny and clandestinely inhibiting their psychosocial development. There is no doubt on this matter the danger is genuine and ever-present necessitating the rethink of smartphones in our classrooms.

? Lastly but not the least as parents we must and should purpose to stop bankrolling our children’s compulsions. In all honesty, it is the parents who make all spending decisions in most of the households. Consequently, it is the parents who are inadvertently purchasing and investing in this wicked technology, by paying for the data bundles/packages, purchasing the games and or topping up the accounts etc. In a nutshell, the parent buys the ‘bags of crack cocaine’ expecting the child to ‘self-supervise’. After all “My children are so responsible? They are divine. I let them do whatever they want, as long as it is in moderation”. Parents, wise up to the wiles of this world because the prince of this world the devil is looming as a hungry lion looking for whom he may devour. Your children are on the menu; therefore, exercise your God-given ability and right to positively influence and chart your child’s future destiny positively. Purchasing them Smartphones and or investing in persuasive technology is gradually opening up your children to hazards not fully comprehended. WISE UP!!!!

Njoroge Wanjigi is a family life counsellor, a public and motivational speaker, a respected corporate coach specialising in leadership training and skills development. For your conferences, church gatherings, seminars and or skills training feel free to contact him at

+254702784879, +254777784879, +254721250806 or www.pearlsmart.co.ke

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