TE||Teens and screens
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导读
有很多家长认为他们的孩子变得焦虑甚至产生自杀行为的原因是沉迷于手机和社交网络。然而,研究表明,沉迷手机和社交网路与青少年的焦虑感并无因果关系,所以家长们试图减少孩子们使用手机和社交媒体的时间来解决这一问题是错误的。那么,家长应该怎么做?
事实证明,让孩子们多和小伙伴出去玩耍上街溜达是一个好办法,但是,现在越来越少的青少年这么做了。主要原因如下:
1.现在家长对孩子们的过度保护。
2.出于社会压力。
另外经济萧条和就业竞争的压力也是青少年焦虑的另一个原因。虽然学校为了减轻学生压力减少了家庭作业的时间,但是一些孩子们却将更多的空闲时间花在了看手机上。
感谢经济学人有温度群Julie精心总结
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音乐| 精读 | 翻译 | 词组
Teens and screens
青少年与屏幕
本文英文部分选自经济学人Leaders版块
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Cutting adolescents’ use of smartphones and social media is a poor solution to their problems
减少青少年使用智能手机和社交媒体,并不是解决他们问题(自杀,抑郁症等)的一个好办法。
First they went for tobacco, coal and sugar. Now they are targeting smartphones and social media. On January 6th two large investors in Apple demanded that the technology company must help parents curtail their children’s iPhone use, citing research into the links between adolescent social-media habits and risk factors for suicide, such as depression. Old and new media abound with reports about phones’ addictive, mind-warping properties. On the school run, parents compare tactics for limiting screen time.
从前的年轻人们喜欢抽烟、烧烤和糖。现在,他们却沉迷于智能手机和社交媒体。1月6日,苹果公司的两大投资者(持股20亿美元)要求苹果公司必须帮助家长限制孩子使用iPhone的时间,他们援引了一项研究为证,该研究表明青少年使用社交媒体习惯与自杀风险因素(如抑郁症)之间存在关联。无论新旧媒体,有很多报道都声称,手机让青少年上瘾,并扭曲他们的心灵。在上下学接送时,家长们常交流着限制孩子们使用手机时间的好方法。
Something has made today’s teenagers different from teenagers in the past. As well as being far more temperate and better behaved, they seem more anxious and unhappy. School surveys by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, suggest that 15-year-olds find it harder to make friends. In America—though, phone bashers should note, not in the rich world as a whole—suicides of young people are up.
今天的青少年与过去的青少年有所不同。他们性格更加温和,行为更加有礼,但同时,他们也变得更加焦虑,没那么快乐。经合组织(OECD)是一个主要由富裕国家组成的俱乐部,它对当今学校的调查显示15岁的孩子很难交到朋友。但是在美国,手机抵制者们应该注意到,不是所有发达国家青少年的自杀率都在上升。
Before stampeding for the off switch, parents and others should ask two questions. First, are iPhones, Instagram and so on actually to blame for adolescents’ problems? Second, will curtailing their use do much good? On the available evidence, the answers are, respectively, maybe and no.
在草率地关机处理之前,父母和其它人应该考虑这两个问题。首先,Iphone, Instagram 等等真的应该对青少年的问题负责吗?第二,限制使用时间就会使事态大为改观吗?从现有证据来看,答案分别是也许该负责和不会有改观。”
Some studies of Britain and America, which conduct large surveys of young people, have found correlations between heavy technology use and unhappiness. Correlation is not causation, however: it could be that unhappy people seek refuge online. And the correlations are very weak. Only about 1% of the variability in young people’s mental wellbeing can be explained by social-media or smartphone use. One British study suggests that eating breakfast regularly is more than three times as important.
一些对英国和美国进行大规模调查的研究发现,重度使用科技产品和不幸福之间存在相关性。然而此相关性并不是因果关系,可能是不开心的人上网寻求心灵的庇护。况且,该相关性也很弱。只有大概1%的年轻人,会因社交媒体和智能手机的使用而导致心理健康失衡。一项英国研究表明按时吃早饭对心理健康的重要性是不使用社交媒体和智能手机的三倍多。
Perhaps technology has messed up all young people, even those who abstain from it. Maybe it makes everyone feel left out, or thwarts all intimate connections: if your friend is always looking at her phone, it may not matter much whether you are. But if the effects are so amorphous it is hard to know what to do. Should parents gang up on teenagers as a group and enforce a universal crackdown? Should they deal with the inevitable charge of unfairness by applying the same restrictions to themselves? Good luck with that.
或许科技让所有的年轻人都陷入困境,就连那些拒绝科技的人也无法幸免。也许是它让每个人都感到被孤立了,或者让所有的亲密关系都变得不那么重要了:如果你的朋友一直看手机,那你看不看都无关紧要了。手机对生活的影响难以名状,使人无从下手解决。父母们是否应该联手对付青少年,对他们实行全面的镇压?当未成年人指责家长处事不公时,家长又是否能够以身作则?祝你好运!
Parents who worry about their teenager offspring(which is to say, all parents) can do something, however. Prod them out the house, and worry a bit less about what they get up to. There is plenty of evidence for the cheering effects of hanging out with friends. Yet youngsters are doing less of this. Overprotective parents are probably one reason.
不过,那些担心青少年的父母(就是说所有的父母)也并非无计可施。不要把孩子圈在家里,不要太过于操心他们在忙些什么。大量的例子表明与朋友们外出玩耍会对孩子产生积极的影响,然而年轻人现在较少这样做了,很大程度上的一个原因是父母的过度保护。
Social pressure is another. It is revealing of broader attitudes that, in Britain, “teenagers hanging out on the streets” is a standard measure of anti-social behaviour. The authoritative Crime Survey of England and Wales asks people whether it is a problem where they live, alongside things such as drug dealing and burnt-out cars. That the rate of adolescent hanging-out has dropped from 33% to 16% in ten years may please criminologists, but is unlikely to signal happier teenagers.
另一个原因来自于社会压力。更广泛的看法显示,在英国,“青少年在街上闲逛”是反社会行为的一个标准量度。英格兰及威尔士官方犯罪调查,询问了人们在住所或者周边是否发现诸如毒品交易和烧毁车辆等行为后得出数据结论,青少年闲逛的比率在十年内从33%下降到了16%,这或许让犯罪学家感到很高兴,但却不意味着青少年会更加快乐。
Put them to work
使之生效
A last cause of teenage angst could be the economy and the job market. The great recession hit young people harder than others. Some teenagers believe they face crushing competition, not only from their peers but from foreigners and robots. All the more reason for governments to work on improving schools and to get rid of job protection for older workers. Teenagers, for their part, could probably handle a bit more work. Even though homework is associated with higher test scores, it declined by an hour a week across the OECD between 2003 and 2012, from six hours to five. Some put in that much time on their phones in a single day.
青少年焦虑的最后一个原因可能来自于经济和求职市场。大萧条对青少年打击更沉重,一些青少年认为他们面临的激烈竞争,不仅来自同龄人,也来自于外国人和机器人。政府更加有理由致力于改善学校教育,减少对年长雇员的工作保障。对于青少年来说,他们很可能需要做更多努力。尽管家庭作业与高分挂钩,但在2003年到2012年间,经合组织国家中每周的作业时间减少了一个小时,即从六个小时变成了五个小时。因此一些青少年每天会把大量时间用在玩手机上。
翻译组:
Cece,女,消防工作者,CATTI三笔
Wesley, 男,自由职业,经济学人爱好者
Aileen,女,大四数学狗 经济学人爱好者
Evelyn,女,英专研究生,经济学人爱好者
校核组:
Samantha,女,外企低管,邓伦未婚妻
Cyrus,男, 口译民工,经济学人爱好者
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观点 |评论|思考
本次观点由Neil独家贡献,如有雷同,纯属巧合
Neil, 男,外贸民工,经济学人铁粉
社交网络的出现使人们非常方便地社交、娱乐和学习。人的空间距离被大大缩短,但是人感情上的距离并为因此而拉近,有时网络的虚假性反而使人与人之间的诚信度降低。这也可部分解释本文提到为什么当代的青少年变得焦虑,没那么快乐。
但这也只能部分解释,并不能解释所有出现问题的青少年。而且社交网络的出现,本身没有问题,出问题的是社交网络里的内容,所以假新闻和后真相成为网络热词。当代的青少年处在一个信息的时代,智能手机和社交媒体只会更加普及,现在青少年出现一些问题就盲目地禁止使用并不是明智之举。就像青少年沉迷于游戏,就一味禁止一样,现在整个社会都羡慕腾讯《王者荣耀》团队员工年终奖平均200W。
所以较好的方式是引导青少年正确地使用社交网络。作为青少年的父母一方面应该补充自己的网络技术知识,了解孩子们的日常社交网络活动,讨论并移除一些不健康的内容;另一方面加强与青少年的互动,建立彼此的信任,这样青少年在实用社交网络过程中遇到的问题才会愿意和自己的父母交流。
小编从文后选取了评论最多的一条观点,大家可以感受下:
Lots of opinions. here is mine, in-line with the author: Parents did it to them by creating a culture of fear, started by media and politicians. Fear of failure ( now we give them all better grades). Fear of walking home from school (they could get snatched by an insane person). Fear to be in large groups (a crazy shooter could kill them). Fear of future poverty (foreigners and automation will take your job). Fear of trying new things (it could hurt if its not supervised by an adult). Social media is the only "safe" thing left that can be done in isolation. This is seriously bad programming that is creating a neurotic generation.
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愿景
小组
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