Childhood in the Age of Excessive Stimulation
According to research, people are exposed to more than a thousand advertisements per day, meaning the stimulation created by advertisements. Why is this important for advertising companies? Because stimulation is the connection humans establish with the external world. Something catching attention, arousing curiosity, being learned and internalized is a state of awakening.
In fact, the beginning of this lies in the baby noticing the mother through the stimuli received from the mother. The baby awakens by internalizing what the mother offers and can step into life.
So far, everything is beautiful. But let's think, how would a baby feel if it were constantly being breastfed despite being full, or if lullabies continued to be sung over it while it was sleeping?
Giving a baby less or more stimulation than needed is a violation in both cases. Giving more than its capacity is like destroying it.
The Latent Period and Its Importance
From infancy to primary school age, the child lives with stimuli and impulses: hunger, satiety, love, care... But there comes a period (usually coinciding with school age) that we call the latent period. The child can now suppress their impulses and turn to learning. They become curious, memorize, and process what they internalize. The most important feature of this period is the opening of processing capacity. Now they enjoy not only satisfaction but also intellectuality and learning. Pleasure and impulsive life temporarily withdraw.
The Disappearance of the Latent Period in the Digital Age
But today we must ask this question. Is the latent period losing its universality and existence in the digital age? I think children might be transitioning directly to adolescence as an impulsive mass without experiencing the latent period.
Intense work tempos, day and night becoming the same, loneliness being constantly emphasized as something negative... All of this feeds this process.
A person surrounded by thousands of advertisements, lights, visuals, and notifications begins to live only with raw impulses among stimuli they cannot process. This is actually like the continuation of infancy and childhood without experiencing the latent period:
- Pleasure-focused life
- No capacity for delay behaviors
- Wanting what they want immediately approach
- Unable to symbolize, non-representational thinking
- Unable to invest in the future being...
Inhibition of Frontal Lobe Functions
This picture inhibits the functions of the frontal lobe. Thinking capacity shrinks, becomes trapped in momentary experiences. As a result, childish dependency develops. The desire to reach everything they want immediately makes the person dependent on the most accessible object. The first thing that comes to mind here is the screen.
What Can Be Done?
Today, when we go out, we see thousands of lights, advertisements, warnings. In the midst of so much excess, it is almost impossible for the thinking ability to survive. That's why we need to protect both ourselves and our loved ones from excessive stimulation.
Recommendations:
- Leave small spaces for your child and yourself
- Allow them to be bored
- Limit screens
- Reduce stimulation
Because being able to be bored nourishes thinking.
Clinical Psychologist Halil İbrahim YALÇIN - Youth and Adult Psychotherapist
