ABSTRACT
This chapter raises the alarm about our electronic milieu, not only in terms of its immediate effects on the mental health of children and the parents who raise them, but also in its potential to affect physical fitness, life expectancy, brain function, mood, and attachment, to increase vulnerability to addiction, and to collapse the space for personal interaction and creativity. Proponents of technology might argue that little disaster has befallen the human race following the developments in technology and in social media. Hofer studied how the physiological aspects of caretaking have long-term consequences for the developing infant, contributing not only to an ability to learn, but providing a direct role in regulating the susceptibility to disease later in life. Due to the relatively recent and rapid global proliferation of technology and electronic media of unlimited variety, researchers have not yet had time to conduct longitudinal studies on the effects of this immersion in electronic media across a human lifespan.
