Protect your Neurons
The fight against the screens
It is my hope that most of what I publish will be read by young adults.
There are many health organizations informing people of the consequences from watching television. It’s a very serious problem. And a lot more than you may realize.
The Brain Performance Center say television viewing can increase the risk of premature death, reduce intelligence, completely obliterate the ability to concentrate, and increase the risk of developing neurogenerative brain disorder. Neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. Neurons don’t normally replace or reproduce themselves. When neurons become damaged or die, they can’t be replaced by the body. Examples of neurodegenerative diseases are Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s disease.
You might say, “I don’t watch much television. I mainly use my cell and laptop.” Well, there’s a lot of conflicting information about the dangers of using cellphones. But looking at a constantly changing screen, does not give you time to use critical thinking affectively. You need to stop or save the information, and give your brain time to evaluate at what’s being fed to you .
Most days now, I don’t watch much television. Sometimes I’ll go without television for three or four days or even a week. Unfortunately, I’m plugged in to my android, though I use it mainly for productive purposes and listening to music.
If you were born a baby-boomer (1946–1964), possibly you were the last generation to use cognitive thinking in larger numbers and spent more time outside learning about life on your own devices. If you were born in Generation X (1965–1980 my generation), we were raised on a healthy diet of television, and most likely watched television immediately arriving home from school. We likely did a lot less activities on our own devices, were less independent, and were being fed on a larger diet of political correctness than the baby boomers. People born after 1980 are known as the millennials, and how different again is their life from mine and the previous generation. We know this through easy access to information, and I know about it from coaching or teaching these people from time to time. Their lives and the young children now are having screens shoved in front of their faces from day one.
In Japan, the private preschools have a wide range of activities. At many of the preschools in the rural areas of Tokyo and Saitama that I teach at, the children are the happiest, healthiest, smartest, and most well-balanced children I’ve seen. Some of these preschools teach the children to learn to read and write and do calligraphy as a part of the main curriculum. They have choices of extracurricular classes like English, Karate, piano, dance, gymnastics, soccer. Some preschools have continued doing their historical activities, like making rice-cake using a traditional mallet (kine) and mortar (usu). Sumo wrestlers visit some places and hold kids clinics, perform and get the children involved. The children are mesmerized and such activities strengthen their personal identity, local identity, and national identity. The principles of these high quality pre-schools work hands-on and lead by example. And there are no laptops or computers in the classrooms. The television is used on rare occasions for learning a song or dance, but nothing more than that.
Why should I care about this? Probably more than ever before, you young adults of today have missed out on large amounts of developing yourself by yourself. You are no better or worse than anybody else. You are no more talented or less talented than anybody else. And in my humble judgement, there is no such thing as genius. Everybody has something that they can do that enables them to be self-reliant, self-sufficient, and independent. Not everyone knows how to be a mechanic, an accountant, a chef, a teacher, a builder, et cetera, so you have to be prepared to fail, until you find you. There are great opportunities to be had, more than ever before. But the screens are taking away valuable time from you, as you say to yourself, “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
We live in a world now where people can feed themselves, yet not work. It’s probably the first time in history that this has happened—staying at home all day, staring at the screen, eating and drinking and complaining that life isn’t fair. Laziness has created big opportunities for go-getters, for those who are ready for a second chance at life’s quick journey to death. You may say to yourself, “I never went to university.” Neither did I. You don’t need to. A reasonable number of university students care more for ‘ideologies’ and ‘people categories’ than they do ‘realities’ these days, ha — more opportunities! Let these people squabble about things that they’ll neither profit nor benefit from, while you get to work on you. Where there’s a distraction, there’s a pocket of opportunity, as with the television and cell phones screens opposing your will.
You may say to yourself, “I’ve got problems that I’m dealing with, and issues, and daily difficulties that make life too tough.” We all have. It doesn’t stop. But neither does the excitement. Why else should I care about this? So you will empower yourself and make yourself non-reliant on the government, thus making a better and happier society for all.
Looking at a screen all day takes from you. It never gives. When you make your brain or body work, you give to yourself. So join together with me at night and empower yourself. Switch the television and mobile phone off for an hour or two. Do each of these activities thirty minutes per day: jog or walk (and stretch for fifteen minutes after exercise), read, write. It will work wonders.
In my early teens, I was told that I wouldn’t amount to much. Everyone in the realm of your life has a purpose, even your hardest critics, and even your enemies. As a rugby player, I was told that I had no stamina. Now I coach distance running, and have had top ten finishes in races from 5km to 50km when I competed. Years ago, people in my family discussed about writing a book. I beat them all and completed my first novel that will be published next year. English was my worst subject at high-school. Now I teach it. All I did was take a break away from the screens.
