Scroll infinito, pensamiento finito: el nuevo contrato social.

 In the digital age, young people are immersed in virtual worlds, reshaping their habits, relationships, and perceptions of reality. The proliferation of mobile devices and social media has fundamentally changed the way we learn, communicate, and interact with the world. However, this digital revolution has not been without its consequences. 

An OECD study has revealed an alarming decline in reading comprehension among young people. A staggering 75% of 15-year-olds are unable to comprehend complex texts, indicating that the literacy crisis is having a significant impact on their academic and personal development. 

At the same time, 95% of young people own a smartphone, use it as their primary source of information, and spend an average of seven hours a day in front of a screen. Constant exposure to negative content and the pressure to present a perfect image on social media is causing anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem in many young people. Moreover, excessive use of digital devices is associated with a 40% increase in cases of sleep disorders, impacting academic performance and physical health.

The correlation between the time young people spend on social media and their academic performance is clear. Individuals who spend excessive amounts of time on these platforms are 25% less likely to achieve good grades. This is partly due to social media's ability to fragment attention, hinder concentration, and promote superficial learning styles. Similarly, 80% of adolescents feel pressured to live a perfect life, which can lead to chronic stress and the development of eating disorders and other health problems. A staggering 70% of teenagers prefer to communicate with their friends through text messages.

 As a result, opportunities to develop social skills such as empathy, nonverbal communication, and conflict resolution are limited. What do these statistics mean for the future of young people? What can be done to reverse this trend?

Having studied ancient societies from Classical Greece to the philosophical thought of the 19th and 20th centuries, I've come to a rather disheartening conclusion. In those times, the training of thought was a crucial aspect that governed even social classes. 

The dominant and influential figures were those who, through their personal abilities, could develop and truly contribute something new and original to the rest of society. In a way, for our mechanized society, they were like machines that created truths

. At that time, truths, ideas, concepts, and philosophical currents held great value. It was then that curiosity was celebrated in all areas, when the great existential questions weren't answered with ignorant phrases like "I don't know, man, something must be."

 They did something for us, which has led us to a framework of knowledge and comfort where, out of habit, we consider truths or pillars to be whatever our machines create in bulk, copying and repeating something dictated by someone; who in many cases has followed the process of which their own pile of metal; has copied and repeated.

The root of this lies in how we have transmigrated what, for us, are important values, which have become the pillars of our society and therefore those who lead us. It's pathetic how we have reduced ourselves to setting aside the power of minds, how we have restricted creative freedom, how we have banished faculties and how we close our ears when they talk to us about thinking.

 I try to understand the regression and I see us as mere puppets in a historical framework where the roulette wheel has pointed to our opposite and our reaction has been to work for it. 

I wonder if the future can be called that for everyone, if the new belongs to everyone or if the new can be called that when we have stopped practicing what makes us most human, to think.