Continuing the previous Posts, we were reflecting on how children, from Centennials on, have been more creative and stimulated, less repressed and more anxious. We were also saying that individuals are more prone to changes (both at work and in their personal lives) and that this is a result of a culture that now works this way, therefore, it doesn’t necessarily stand for a diagnosis of pathological anxiety. Instead, such anxieties are proportionate to the challenges, to the risk of innovating or leaving something familiar/stable. Finally, another aspect of their personalities is related to how communication and interaction have changed, in this era, and how the relationship with knowledge itself has changed as well. This topic is more directly related to changes brought by the digital revolution and is what we will discuss in this Post from a psychological perspective.
Information is available to anyone and access to information is brief, direct and continuous. Communication also happens through brief content and brief images. The act of learning happens in practice and it has made Centennial children and teenagers, as well as Alpha generation a more astute type of individuals, at least in what concerns technologies, or ones we could refer to as “do it yourself” (ask for Google in case of doubt). Since content whatsoever is available in websites and interaction platforms, the relationship with knowledge has gradually changed. Of course, there are still teachers and professors teaching in more traditional ways but their prestige as knowledge references has diminished among the younger culture. In fact, the change in ways of teaching and learning after digital revolution are way beyond our knowledge. Our reflection in focused on how cultural change has had an impact on personalities, bringing up new reference models. As a matter of fact, the psychological correlate of this new paradigm-brief information, content and communication- are multi-task generations used to doing many activities at the same time but with more difficulties to concentrate and with pervasive attention, and this is associated with more anxious types of personality. It has become more and more common to see children diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity disorder) whose treatment strategies are, besides medication and dozens of internet manuals- some of them teaching how to concentrate for more than 15 minutes…
According to Corso[1]: “(…) knowledge as a result of a pause to reflect (think and assimilate) becomes outdated (…)” and, experience that comes with time is less valued as well. The mainstream model is “to think outside the box”. In short, in what concerns “contemporary” anxieties, these are young adults and kids that value creativity, novelty, who are digital nomads and job hopping. They are more getting by than Millennials and use to being less self-demanding in what concerns practical knowledge, since learning by the “do it yourself” style is an anti-stress strategy for learning. This is because knowledge comes from the familiarity with doing an activity, which reduces the stress caused by the fear of failing and making mistakes. Hence, a positive outcome of cultural changes is a more independent relationship with learning and knowledge brought by digital era. In addition, learning by doing works as a natural protection for highly self- demanding individuals, who, at least in this field, are less anxious. On the other hand, there’s this sort of “pervasive anxiety (what is about to come?) that has become people’s natural state of mind and it is one in which they have more difficulty in focusing/concentrating. This way, they deal with a loss in reflexive modalities of knowledge, and, in the sort of knowledge that comes with experience. Anyway, there isn’t room left to cultivate nostalgia…. new challenges are coming with the evolution of AI- CHAT-GPTs, Multiverso and who knows what is coming next.
To be continued in the next Post
[1] Corso, D. e M. Adolescence in scene (Adolescência em cartaz). 2008. Artmed.
Comments