Tiktok is a massively popular app that has been downloaded over three billion times with 60% of those users between the ages of 16-24.[1] Because teens make up the majority of users, they are susceptible to exposure to harmful trends on the platform. Reality shifting is one of these trends. The hashtag #shifting on TikTok has received 9.1 billion views. This trend may seem harmless at first glance. But if you take a second look, it turns out to be a double-edged sword. Today’s GKIS article explains reality shifting and breaks down how popular internet trends can affect your child’s mental health. You can help educate your teen on how to use social media in a safe and positive way with our Social Media Readiness Course. With a steeply discounted price, it’s worth every penny.
What is reality shifting?
Reality shifting, or shifting, is a process of allowing your consciousness to move from one reality to another. Many allege that the realities they are shifting to are real. But the majority of people in the shifting community admit that it’s similar to lucid dreaming but more vivid and realistic.
There are several ways people claim to shift, but they all essentially include meditation and the need for the individual to be in a peaceful environment where they can focus.
One well-known technique is called the raven method. This method has you lie down in a starfish position and count to 100 while picturing your desired reality. A second common way to shift is named the Alice in Wonderland method where you imagine yourself chasing after someone from your desired reality and jumping down a rabbit hole with them.
The authoring or scripting of a dream or desired reality, often referred to as DRs on TikTok, is a crucial component of shifting. Shifters write their lives within DRs. Hogwarts is an example of a very common DR in the shifting community. Scripting includes how the individual looks, who they interact with, and how they behave.
From Coping Strategy to Unhealthy Obsession
Many shifters say they are seeking a way to escape a world that is getting more hectic, suggesting that building the perfect world and living there helps one avoid real-life and mental health problems.
In an interview with Insider Mallory Grimste, an adolescent therapist, stated, “The idea of imagining or visualizing yourself in a different reality can be a very healthy coping strategy for many.” and that “many therapists will often help their clients create their own ‘calm, safe space’ to visualize when they need to re-regulate difficult emotional responses and experiences.”
However, some teens have made numerous Tiktok videos detailing how they shift for 15 hours at a time and wish they could exist only in their desired reality. They have also admitted that shifting had a negative impact on their mental health. One teen stated that she stopped shifting because it became an obsession. She claimed that, because she was continually focused on her dream reality, she “stopped liking things” in day-to-day existence.
In an interview with Insider, Professor of psychology Phillip Reid of Cardiff University in Wales claims that reality shifting can cause people to become disconnected from reality. He said that this could be a “predictor of psychosis.” He also explains how younger people without a strong sense of self may be in danger of adopting numerous new identities because they can become estranged from reality.
How You Can Help
As long as teens are on the internet, they will be subject to popular online trends that may be harmful to their health and well-being. But with Dr. B’s Screen Safety Essentials Course, you can strengthen family bonds and create healthy screen time. This course offers beneficial parenting information in the form of short videos and colorful downloads. Learn how to connect closer as a family so you can be well-prepared to prevent and handle the risks that come with being online!
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Liliana Esquivel, for explaining the popular Tiktok trend, “reality shifting” and discussing how viral internet trends can affect your teen’s mental health.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
Did you know that the FDA has given the go-ahead for companies to turn human test subjects into cyborgs? Advancements in the tech industry are being made at an alarming rate, giving rise to difficult ethical issues, especially in the medical field. Currently, there is a race to develop brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for a multitude of purposes. In today’s GKIS article, we discuss the possible benefits, risks, and ethical issues associated with developing such devices. If you are unsure of how to protect your tweens and teens growing reliance on technology and obsession with online presence, Dr. Bennett’s Social Media Readiness Online Course will give you the answers you are looking for and help you to navigate through these ever-changing waters!
What is a brain-computer interface?
A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a technological device that directly interacts with the brain with no noticeable lag time. These devices read the electrochemical signals of the brain and translate them to carry out a desired action. This action can be anything from moving a prosthetic limb to telepathic communication. The goal of these devices is to bypass the body’s natural pathways using technology. Up until recently, this was merely the stuff of science fiction fantasy, and comic books. Yet, with advances in processing speed and data storage, it’s become a reality.
Neuralink
Neuralink is a company created by Tesla founder and carnival showman, Elon Musk. The goal of this company is specifically to create BCIs. The current BCI that Neuralink is working on consists of a computer chip the size of a coin connected to extremely thin wires. The chip will be surgically implanted into the skull with the wires being inserted directly into the brain.
The original stated purpose of this company was the altruistic goal of helping disabled individuals regain lost function of limbs and mobility. Yet more recently, Elon Musk stated that the goal is “human enhancement.” In interviews, such as on Joe Rogan’s podcast, he spoke of telepathic communication and thinking capabilities to rival computer artificial intelligence (AI). Neuralink has been given FDA approval to start the human trial phase and is looking to begin drilling holes in test-subjects heads sometime this year.
Synchron
Synchron is a much smaller company based in New York with a similar purpose of developing BCIs. Synchron’s flagship BCI, the Stentrode implant, is inserted through a vein and guided into the brain. Synchron has already successfully conducted clinical trials in Australia, inserting these devices into four human subjects suffering from severe paralysis. They have also been given FDA approval to begin human trials in the United States, which will take place at Mount Sinai Hospital and involve six subjects.
Though Sychron’s current goal is to allow disabled people to control digital devices with their brains and to improve their functional independence, their ultimate stated goal is to achieve whole-brain data transfer. What that means is they want to be able to transfer a human into a digital world.
Possible Benefits of BCIs
Improving the lives of disabled individuals
Faster access to information
Telepathic communication
Virtual immortality
Possible Risks of BCIs
The exploitation of individuals with disabilities
Risky surgery
Disability or death
A wider gap between the abilities of the wealthy and the poor
Literal brain hacking
Forever altering what it means to be human
Possible Ethical Issues of BCIs
Tech to BioTech
The biggest issue with BCIs requires a discussion in ethics. When it comes to ethical questions, we are in a truly unique situation. We have multi-million-dollar for-profit tech companies entering the medical field with end goals that are not medical in nature. Is it ethical for a tech company to perform risky experiments on individuals with disabilities when the end goal is profit and ultimately may not benefit the group initially being tested upon?
It could be argued that the initial experiments will benefit disabled subjects, which is ethically sound. Yet, several ethicists have concerns that the ultimate goal of this research is for commercial means, such as using the technology to be implemented into Tesla automobiles, rather than being purely medical in nature.[1]Others have pointed out that this could be considered exploitative due to the potential for commercial gains in other areas of business.
Pain and Suffering
Recently, news broke that 15 of the 23 monkey test subjects that had the Neuralink chip implanted in their brains at UC Davis died horrible deaths.[2] Since this news broke, UC Davis has been trying to distance itself from Neuralink. The surgical device that Neuralink created to perform the surgery is currently not approved for human trials since it is not okay to put humans through a medical trial where they are more likely to die or suffer from debilitating side effects than to receive any benefits.
The Opportunity Gap
Another ethical issue revolves around the potential societal effects if everything works out according to plan. There is already a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots, those with power and those without. What would happen if one could pay to be smarter, faster, and stronger? The opportunity gap would become insurmountable!
Privacy and Cybercrime
There is also the issue of privacy. All technology that can access the internet can be accessed by others. The most advanced encryption and security safeguards eventually become obsolete as technological advances are made that allow people to bypass them. Imagine if every thought or memory could be hacked and stolen from you. An entire person’s being could be manipulated, altered, or even held for ransom. Cybercrime is already an issue when it comes to ransomware, identity theft, and phishing scams. Think about the new problems that would arise if people’s brains were connected to the internet!
Technology Weaponized
For every technological achievement, there is always someone who will use it for evil. BCIs could eventually be used for military applications. Powerful organizations could utilize this technology to create heavily modified super soldiers. The possibilities become endless when physical and mental enhancement is on the table.
I know this sounds crazy, like something out of a comic book. Yet, flying cars are currently being tested for manufacture by multiple auto companies. Thirty years ago, no one could have imagined where we would be today from a technological standpoint. As computer chips become smaller and more powerful, there is no telling where we will be by 2050. The question is now whether something should be possible rather than if it could be possible.
Staying Informed
Dr. B is in a unique position to help you to learn more about the potential dangers that your family could face when engaging with technology. She can help you to navigate safely throughout your journey as a practicing psychologist, university professor, and mother.
In Dr. B’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time, she discusses and attacks the issue of raising a family while safely integrating technology rather than fearing it. Also, you can download the free GKIS Connected Family Agreement simply by creating a GKIS account on our website home page. If you are looking for our most comprehensive toolkit to achieve screen safety and family cooperation, our Screen Safety Essentials Course offers useful tips about how to make the internet a safer place for your family with weekly parenting and family coaching videos, important teaching materials and infographics, webinars, articles, and other valuable information.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Michael Watson for researching brain-computer interfaces and the potential bioethical issues surrounding them.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
Video games have come a long way since Pong was first released in the 1970’s. Advances in gaming technology can enhance the experience for adults, but for children more realistic games are harder to distinguish from reality. At GKIS, our Social Media Readiness Course is designed to prepare your tweens and teens for the unexpected dangers of video games and social media sites. Our course is backed by Dr. Bennett’s years of experience helping tweens and teens who have already suffered digital injury from the unforeseen dangers found online. In this GKIS article we will cover the evolution of graphics and the steps gaming companies take to make games seem more real.
Video games Are Evolving
Video games are based in technology, and since players got their hands on Pong there has been a push to
advance that technology. Originally, video games were played using bulky arcade cabinets. The first home consoles were very restricted by their hardware. Games were flat and involved a character moving around the screen like a piece on a board. This all changed with the introduction of 3D graphics in the early 2000s. For the first time, video games had physical depth and the characters on screen moved more like a real person would.
Video games are striving every year to create a more realistic virtual environment. Games now have wind that moves individual leaves on tree branches, light that dances across the surface of the water, and characters that look real from a distance. Modern video games have advanced technology to foster a sense of extreme realism and maximize immersion. With such engaging digital experiences, it is important that children are provided with boundaries so as to prevent screen-time overload and digital injury. Our Screen Safety Essentials Course grants you access to weekly videos with parenting tips and coaching from Dr. Bennett that will help you pull your child out of their digital world and back into ours.
Motion Capture
It can be difficult to program a character to move in a realistic way. The awkward way early 3D characters moved unfortunately hampered immersion. Recently, the gaming industry began to use motion capture technology to solve this issue. Motion capture is a technique whereby a real human being is recorded in a studio as a program captures their motion and applies it to the game character to make the movement look as real as possible.
In a game called LA Noir, you are a 1940’s detective. One of the major objectives of the game is to interrogate suspects and solve crimes. For authenticity, developers created the characters with real facial expressions. The game used an advanced motion capture system to record the real facial expressions of the voice actors portraying the game characters. Players can tell what a character is feeling or if they’re lying based on facial expressions alone. The game uses very real human empathy and natural social cues as a part of the game, offering deeper immersion and better quality overall.
Real Game with Real Fear
Realistic graphics are fascinating when they’re used to make a character blink and breathe like a real person. Immersion is the goal, especially in horror games. Early horror games were limited in what they could create by the consoles of the time. However, as modern technology has evolved, new possibilities have opened for the horror genre.
Games can include motion-captured characters with realistic looks of fear and pain on their face. Horror games originally wanted to compete with the horror movie industry, but horror games now have the ability to do more than movies ever could.
For example, a game called Dead Space takes the classic zombie movie genre and sets it in a futuristic space station. An alien artifact mutates humans into nearly unkillable monsters. The game makes great use of body horror to drive home the alien nature of these dead humans. Body horror is a type of horror derived from twisting the human body into unnatural shapes creating nightmarish monsters. Our mind still sees that the monster is technically human, but is terrified by how wrong it has become. For example, in Dead Space, the zombie you are tasked to fight is a human with an open chest cavity and arms twisted in unnatural positions with sharpened bone where hands used to be. The key feature is that they still have a human face attached to the monstrous form to remind you that they used to be like you.
Immersion in horror games
The main thing horror games have over movies is the personal nature of the narrative and fear within. A zombie movie may be scary to watch as your favorite character fights for their life. However, an immersive game like Dead Space can make you feel like you’re the one fighting for your life. The immersive narrative attempts to draw you into the character’s shoes and, for the time you play, you can believe that you’re really in danger. The narrative takes on a whole new depth as suddenly you’re the one backed into a corner with only a handful of ammo and your wits.
Another dimension is that a game doesn’t guarantee a happy ending. When you run out of ammo, you know that you’re the one who’s going to die. Often when a gamer talks about an experience with a horror game, they speak in the first person. When I first played Dead Space, I remember the adrenaline rush I got when I had no ammo, because I knew I was going to have to fight my way out with my bare hands. The memory of playing a game differs from a movie because it stores itself as if the player had physically been there.
What does immersion mean for kids?
Realistic video games can be frightening and exciting to play. But at the end of the day, a player can still distinguish the game from reality. The same can’t be said for children exposed to the same things. Children have a harder time separating fantasy from reality.
As video games strive to be as close to reality as possible the task only gets harder. An adult who plays a particularly realistic horror game may have trouble sleeping for a night, but a child will suffer far worse than any adult.
Even outside of horror, we have shooter games that strive for realistic blood and death. Sniper Elite is a game that will follow the bullet fired from a sniper rifle through an enemy to show bones break and organs rupture as the bullet penetrates their body. These advances in immersion are great for taking a player into the world of a game, but only as long as that player has developed enough to pull themselves back out.
What can you do for your young gamer?
ESRB Ratings
Most video games come with an ESRB rating on the box to let players and parents know what type of audience the game is suitable for. If a game is rated for an audience older than your child, the game contains content inappropriate for their age group.
Our Connected Family Course is designed to help keep your family connected in a world separated by screens. Backed by years of psychological research our course is designed to keep your family connected and working together to prevent digital injury.
Play games with your kids
Make sure the game your child is playing is appropriate and get some fun bonding time in. You can learn what the game your kids are playing is really like by just spending time with them while they play. If a game is inappropriate, it’ll be hard to hide for long.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Jason T. Stewart for researching advances in the video game industry and co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
Walker, C. (2010, December 22). Video games and realism. Wake Forest News. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://news.wfu.edu/2010/12/22/video-games-and-realism/.
Most of us use our screens hours every day, whether it’s our phones, tablets, mobile gaming devices, televisions, or computers. Usually, when we’re using screens, we’re sitting and being inactive. With the rise of technology and remote work stations, more people are working at desks or home, going to school online, and using screens recreationally. Because of this, adults and children are more inactive than ever, putting them at risk of digital injuries and potentially life-threatening medical conditions. Today’s GKIS article alerts you to the American epidemic of the sitting disease, how it can contribute to medical illness, and how to reduce those risks and become more active as a family.
The Sitting Disease
According to the CDC, 25% of Americans spend eight or more hours sitting per day.[1]As a result, the U.S. is experiencing an epidemic of the potentially deadly sitting disease. The sitting disease refers to the harmful effects of a sedentary or an inactive lifestyle. Research shows that sitting for long periods can be bad for your health.
Cardiovascular Disease
For example, prolonged sitting is bad for your heart and can lead to cardiovascular disease. A study conducted by Tatiana Warren and colleagues measured the association between hours of sedentary behaviors (riding in a car and watching television) and heart disease. The researchers found that men who reported over 23 hours of sedentary activity had a 60% greater risk of dying from heart disease than men who reported only 11 hours of sedentary activity.[2]
Obesity and Type-Two Diabetes
People who spend more time sitting are also at greater risk of gaining body fat and developing obesity. This is because the number of calories burned while sitting is very low and excessive body fat results from consuming more calories than are burned throughout the day. Prolonged sitting can also put you at risk for type-two diabetes.[3]
Cancer
Those who sit for long periods daily also have an increased risk of developing certain cancers. One study conducted by the REGARDS team asked 8,000 middle-aged Americans to wear a tracking device every day for 5 years. Researchers found that the most inactive people had an 80% higher risk of dying from cancer than those who were more active.[4]
Other Physical Conditions
Migraines, back and neck problems, as well as carpal tunnel syndrome are other physical conditions that can arise from repetitive screen use. To read more about these digital injuries, check out the GKIS article Repetitive Strain, and Distraction Injuries from Screen Use.
Dr. Bennett’s book Screen Time in the Mean Time offers even more detail about repetitive screen use injuries and offers strategies on how to reduce the risk of digital injury and get closer to your kids.
Reduce the Risks of Medical Illness
Not only are repetitive screen use injuries preventable, so is the sitting disease. Small changes can make a big difference! The goal is to move more throughout the day, offering critical blood flow and stretching to stiffening muscles. It can be as simple as:
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
Walking around while taking a phone call
Doing chores around the house
Stand up and sit down several times a day or do a few quick squat exercises
Drinking lots of water so you have to get up and go to the restroom often
Be More Active with the Family
It’s not just adults that suffer medical risk from too much sitting. Strengthen family relationships while encouraging good habits with some of these fun suggestions:
Morning walks are a great way to start the day and get moving.
Engage in active hobbies that you and the family enjoy like riding bikes, playing sports, or hiking.
Invest in a fitness tracker or a pedometer. Seeing how many steps you take throughout the day can help you determine if you are moving enough. I use an Apple Watch. Some of the many features of the Apple Watch is tracking movement, calories burned, and it even sends reminders to stand up. You can share your data with family or friends, and you can even compete with each other! To read about the pros and cons of fitness trackers check out our GKIS article Is Your Health Declining Due to Wearable Tech?.
Home workouts are also a great way to be active with the family. For a list of some great at-home workout apps, check out our article GKIS Recommended Exercise Apps for Families.
Limit Screen Time
Cutting downtime spent watching television or playing video games can be beneficial for your health. It’s just too easy to spend hours on the couch binge-watching your favorite show. But if you have no choice but to work online, Dr. Bennett suggests keeping a yoga mat next to your computer and practicing yoga stretches to break up sitting time.
She recommends subscribing to the SarahBethYoga on Youtube for a variety of high-quality, free yoga classes. Once you learn some stretches, you can practice them during breaks and even try them with your family to encourage them to move with you.
