Photo by Joselyn King
Jim Harris, director of Marshall University’s Interdisciplinary Behavioral Health Center, speaks during the Ohio County Schools mental health fair Thursday night at West Virginia Northern Community College.
WHEELING – The problem with youths’ constant use of their cellphones isn’t what they are doing, but what they are missing out on, an expert told a crowd in Wheeling on Thursday night.
Jim Harris, director of Marshall University’s Interdisciplinary Behavioral Health Center, served as the keynote speaker for an Ohio County Schools mental health fair Thursday night at West Virginia Northern Community College.
He asked those present to raise their hands if they would want to switch places with their teenager and relive their teenage years. Few raised their hands.
“That should tell us something, shouldn’t it?” Harris asked. “It’s something we can all agree on, is that kids have it harder today than we had growing up….”
Among the slides he showed was one depicting a group of teenagers sitting side by side outdoors, all using their cellphones.
“What are they not doing?” he asked the crowd. “First, they are not interacting. They may tell you they are, but it’s not in the same social capacity.
“The way you get to be social is to socialize. Without that experience, you won’t learn to socialize.”
Young people aren’t learning the nonverbal cues past generations did, such as communication clues from a person’s tone of voice that help convey what their words really mean.
Secondly, Harris noted the youths “weren’t doing things or moving.”
“They aren’t hanging from things or digging things,” he said. “Ask any teacher these days about hand strength. Kids can’t hold their pencil because they don’t dig and they don’t climb.
“Those aren’t things you are born with. They are exposure-based.”
Youngsters on their phones also aren’t taking risks or trying new things. They aren’t “turning over rocks,” figuratively or literally, according to Harris.
“One thing we know is kids bounce back well when we expose them to things,” he said. “Their bodies are meant to climb, hang and dig.”
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