Title: Skärmhjärnan (~Screen Brain)
Author: Anders Hansen
Series: –
Genre: Nonfiction
Length: 4 hours 55 minutes
Published: 2019, Bonnier Audio
My Grade: 5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION (translated to English by me)

Mental illness is taking over the great health threat in our world. The high tempo, chronic stress and this digital lifestyle with constant connection is starting to have consequences on our brains. It doesn’t matter h much you think you might enjoy scrolling your Instagram feed, watching the news on your phone or movies on your tablet, your brain is not adapted to whatever today’s society brings. It’s not synchronized with our time!

But that doesn’t mean that you’re powerless and that there are no solutions – with a little more knowledge on how the brain works, you’ll soon realize that it’s all about simple things. The human brain originate from a completely different time and we should show it some more consideration. Follow along on this exciting journey and get a whole new understanding on what’s happening inside your head!

MY REVIEW

Things might look different in the future when I have kids, but I feel like this is a book that I should reread when I have children of my own. It was, as Hansen’s other book Hjärnstark (The Real Happy Pill), really interesting and eye opening. They are strongly intertwined and I’m glad that I read Hjärnstark right before this one as I understood everything that he discussed.

As in his other book, he writes about so many different studies made on the subject and they all point to the same thing. Screens = bad. But that’s not entirely true either. It’s hard to tell if the depression among people increased when we got our smartphones or when depressed people use it more. Or if it is more accepted by society now to be open about mental illness. Regardless, it was interesting and in either case, screen time should be reduced. At least the unnecessary time we spend scrolling through Facebook and Instagram. I hate when I do it, but I can’t stop. I can’t really say that I feel bad doing it though. I don’t compare myself to unrealistic things posted there. I’m aware that people post the absolute best moments of their lives. I have moments like that too. And also, my feed is mostly filled with memes and cats.

It is very depressing to know that babies, not even one year old, are on the internet. Learning among kids are worsening because they use tablets and computers so much instead of learning the fine motor skills they get when writing by hand for example. They don’t play physically anymore, which is bad news for the development of their brains (which is more thoroughly described in Hjärnstark). I’ve also heard from my cousins that the digital social interactions are making kids unable to communicate in real life. That’s scary!

I am also aware that technology goes forward, and that’s great. There are benefits of having smartphones as well but the main point of both of Hansen’s books is that evolution goes much, much slower than the development of technology and our brains have not left the time when we were hunters and gatherers.

I know that I use my phone a lot. But I’m more concerned about younger generations that doesn’t know anything else. I grew up playing outside during recess at school, I built tree houses with my neighbors. What do kids do now? What will become of them in the future? This scares me.

I’m really glad I read the book. It was great! My recommendation is the same as with Hjärnstark. Please, read it! I give it five out of a possible five.