The social media addiction is not a universal scapegoat, I agree with you on that.
However I just wanted to express what I saw when I was a student. I saw people that are lost and dont know how to regulate because they don't percieve excessive screen time as something unhealthy. Not claiming I was enthusiastic about every single morning class also, which is understandable as some days I just went to party or had long study sessions for some exam or project. And I also struggled with excessive screen time myself. When I cut that out I noticed a huge amount of energy boost in my life.
The only thing I stand behind and regard as a fact in my comment is the rythm of the natural environment. I don't see how we could structure our society if not in respect to the natural environment of sunrise/sunset.
I am interested in your take on "conspiracy". While I understand it might feel that way for you as a night owl I would raise you a question. How else could we structure our universities and workdays if not according to our natural environment?
We cannot fill the employment roles for professors, support staff, and every other type of worker even with this rigid 8AM system. In my head that new world would include layers and layers of renduncancies which would be a system we could not feed with our current worker population.
I hear you. I also know people with ADHD, and know how it affects them. We all know it is a struggle and I am not asserting you or any other person with ADHD is less of an adult for it. You bear that burden and everything that goes with it, and I respect that.
However, there has to be something that the human society should cling to. And that is the natural sunrise/sunset cycles of our environment. We cannot please everyone, but could you agree with me on this ?
How else could we structure our universities and workdays if not according to our natural environment? I sadly cannot think of a way that does not include layers and layers of renduncancies and around the clock university lectures which would cater to everyone, and ultimately to noone. As we would open a pandora's box of people waking up at 6am, 9am, 13am, 3pm, and imagine the complexity of catering to ALL of those cases.
So every other animal on earth falls into a rythmic cycle but we don't ? I mean you have free will of course. You can choose to make your lifestyle be waking up at 12am and falling asleep at 4am. That choice should be anyone's to take, just like smoking, drinking, and anything else. However, we should give out a default guideline of what an average day cycle is so people can cling on to that when they disregulate and things go south.
I will assert - the sun rises at 6-8am, and our society should align with that. It also sets at 5-8pm. We should also align with that. There will be outliers, and pleasing everyone is not an option. But we need to take in account the natural cycles of our environment. As that is the one thing we certainly cannot influence.
Let me be the first to call this what it is - a strongly written opinion piece.
It's a lifestyle choice - if you go to sleep at 11pm of course 8am classess will make you detest them will have no concentration. Especially true if you use your phone up until you fall asleep. I was a student until recently and can say most of the burden is unfortunately on us. From my experience students lock themself in their room listen to music/play games/scroll social media until midnight.
Instead of building a community where hanging out/studying with other students until lets say 8pm and then going to sleep would be the best for most students. When hanging out in groups you are filling our your need for socializing and more likely to regulate each other. When everyone is siloed in their own room you are more likely to see extreme disregulation like going to sleep at 1/2am on most days.
Not everyone is a morning person I will concede that much. But being a morning person, there is NOTHING that makes a day more cursed for me than waking up at 9AM when the sun is already up and most people are out and about.
In my opinion, what students (and all of us) need is universal digital hygene. A set of guidelines where we would finally be able to follow if we ever fall into disregulation. Not advocating for China style timeout lockdowns of your netflix/games, just a general set of guidelines so that if you stay up until 23pm /1am - it's your responsibility. Just like it's your responsibility to not regulate every other aspect of your life. You should be encouraged to be an adult.
However I just wanted to express what I saw when I was a student. I saw people that are lost and dont know how to regulate because they don't percieve excessive screen time as something unhealthy. Not claiming I was enthusiastic about every single morning class also, which is understandable as some days I just went to party or had long study sessions for some exam or project. And I also struggled with excessive screen time myself. When I cut that out I noticed a huge amount of energy boost in my life.
The only thing I stand behind and regard as a fact in my comment is the rythm of the natural environment. I don't see how we could structure our society if not in respect to the natural environment of sunrise/sunset.