[00:00:00] Digital Dominoes. Hey there and welcome to another episode of Digital Dominoes. We're here to figure out today's tech so we can make a better future. I'm Angeline Corvaglia, but you can call me Data Girl. Today, we're going to talk about why it's so hard to stop when you've started doing things like watching videos or playing games online. And I have a very special [00:00:30] guest today.

Her name is Digital Defender Stella. Stella is an elementary school student who loves learning all about AI and the digital world. Thank you so much for being here, Stella. How are you today? I'm good. How are you, girl? I'm doing great. Thank you. I'm so excited to talk to you. So what do you think about this topic that we're talking about?

Do you watch or play games sometimes? I watch, but my mom doesn't let me play games. Okay, so she said you're not ready [00:01:00] yet, maybe? Yeah. What do you watch? Netflix, Disney, or Prime video. Okay, and sometimes when you're watching, is it hard for you to stop? Yeah, it's very hard. Do you know why? No. Well, we're gonna talk about it and see if we can help you understand that better.

But let's talk about first how it feels. When you say it's hard what does it mean exactly? How's it feel? Like you feel angry [00:01:30] or sad that they made you stop. Sometimes that happens to you? Yeah. Have you noticed that happened to other people too? Yeah, like one of my friends, that her name is, she's, when her mom tells her to stop to say goodbye to me, she doesn't, because she doesn't want to.

She does video games, and she watches [00:02:00] YouTube, and she watches videos of YouTube. Wow, just before I, I make a comment, you did such a good job of not telling her name. You learned that last time, right? We had the last episode where we talked about not giving people's information. So you did a good job. You were going to say it, but you didn't say it, right, Stella?

Yeah. Good job. So tell me. How does that make you feel when your friend doesn't want to look away from the tablet when you're there? I feel [00:02:30] lonely. Lonely because there's nobody to play with. All my friends are at the phone or tablet. That's horrible, and unfortunately, I see that a lot too. It's not only people your age that have that problem.

People of all ages have their faces stuck in the phone a lot and we're losing a lot of talking time and playing time. Yeah. So I can imagine that makes you feel sad, but I talked to your mom. And she told me you do like to [00:03:00] go to the park a lot, so you do get to play outside a lot with other people, right?

Yeah, I love doing that. Well, that's really good. Did you know that in a lot of places, even a lot of kids your age don't do that very much anymore? That they spend even more time on the phone? No. You're really lucky that you can spend time in the parks and there's a lot of people, even though it's hard sometimes that your friends are are putting their faces in the phone and not wanting to say goodbye.

But now I want [00:03:30] to go back, I want to ask you a little bit more. So you said you don't know why… Why it's so hard for you to stop, right? So let me ask you, when you're watching, what happens at the end of the show? Does it just stop, or does it keep playing? It shows you a little square. Just if you want to go back or if you want to play.

You see, that [00:04:00] is the very first reason why it's hard for you to stop watching. That square is there because it makes you excited to see something different. Afterward because it shows you, oh, there's some more exciting stuff that you can watch. So that's the first reason. And you said you watch, you know, Disney and prime and Netflix.

It's there. But if you see a thing like YouTube, that little shift between one video and another is even faster. It just goes right from [00:04:30] one video to the next with even less pause. And that's one reason why you get stuck on YouTube. Um, uh, people get stuck watching things like YouTube. And they have the numbers that count down.

They know that because at school, when I do songs, it goes like that. You watch songs on YouTube at school and you see it's counting down to the next one? Yeah. Very observant. Good job that you noticed that. That's right. That's another thing that countdown is exciting for you. [00:05:00] And another thing I want to ask you, sometimes when you watch shows, do you feel like at the end you haven't seen the whole story?

Yeah. Are those the shows that make you the most excited you want to watch more? Yeah. That's another thing that keeps you stuck, not want to stop watching, because it's called a cliffhanger. Do you know what a cliffhanger is? Nope, that means when you tell part of a story, but not the whole story, and it [00:05:30] actually can last a very, very long time.

I used to watch shows with cliffhangers, and sometimes the cliffhangers can last years. They can keep you watching for years, waiting to answer some questions. That's one reason you're so excited, you want to know what's going to happen, but they can make you be there for a very, very long time waiting.

Yeah, and if they watch all the time, they will notice all the things that are beyond the phone. That's [00:06:00] right. That's a very good point, right? If you're watching all the time, then you actually forget how fun it is to do other stuff. It's easy, right, to keep watching. It's not very hard. You just get to sit there or lay there.

And keep watching, right? Yeah. And, and that's pretty easy. It's harder to stop watching and think of what you're going to play or what you're going to read or who you're going to talk to. That's more work. And if you [00:06:30] watch a lot, then you can kind of get stuck that way. So that's why. Sometimes, it's just like when you, like, watch too much TV.

If you watch out of the window too much, you get stuck watching the window. It's just like that. That's right. If you keep looking out the window, you kind of get stuck, right? You're not even thinking sometimes if you're tired, yeah? So, is there any [00:07:00] questions you want to ask me about getting stuck online or videos or something?

Yeah. Why do, like, almost everyone I know watch, do video games? I saw my little cousin. Yeah? Was your little cousin playing games? No. What was he doing? He, sometimes, he watches TV. [00:07:30] When I call him, he watches TV. He doesn't even want to say hi. But he's like, stuck on the TV. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Because the TV and the videos and the video games, they're so, they're made to make you want to be, it's called engaged.

That means it make you really want to be fully focused on them and want to watch them from the beginning to the end. And I talked to your [00:08:00] mom and she said that you get that way sometimes too, that sometimes you don't hear when she's calling you or your dad, when you're watching. And the other reason why this happens is that the videos are actually made that they want you to watch from the beginning to the end.

For example, on YouTube, did you know that the people who make videos on YouTube can make money? No, yeah, they can. So if you make a video and enough [00:08:30] people watch it and enough people put the little button that say they want to watch your stuff every new stuff that you get, then you can make money. And in order to make money, people have to watch the video from the beginning to the end. And they have to want to watch more and more of your videos. So the more exciting your videos are, the more people are going to watch them, you know, the more you have these cliffhangers I told you about, the more people are going to be, you know, excited to watch the next [00:09:00] one.

And that way, the more money people can earn. So that's one reason why things are made that you can't even hear anything around you when you're watching or playing games. Yeah. So, my question is, do you have any idea how to help yourself or other people when you feeling like you don't know how to stop?

No. Do you have any idea, what do your parents do when you get all upset and angry and sad that you have to stop? Have you ever noticed what they [00:09:30] do? They calm me down. Yeah, they calm you down, yeah, that's right. Because the way you're feeling is actually perfectly normal. Who's been watching exciting things or playing exciting things.

It's normal to be all emotional when it stops. And it's really great that your parents just take the time. What do they do? Like they talk to you. You can talk to your parents. You can do breathing exercises. You can run around the [00:10:00] house because there's all that emotion. You have to get that emotion out and calm it down.

And sometimes you just have to be by yourself for a little bit. Yeah. Do your parents ever ask you to run around the house a few times to calm down? No. Maybe we can suggest that next time. A little bit of running is good. And, and another thing that's helped that I use a few times and that's been really, really successful is when you just [00:10:30] be right next to that person and do something that's fun, that's not online.

So if you ask someone, do you want to play with me? And they say, no, they'd rather watch or they'd rather play, just go do something really fun, right next to them or outside. And a lot of times they were like, wait, I bet that's more fun than what I'm doing and they'll come and they'll stop watching and they'll stop playing and they'll do the more fun thing because actually, as you said before, it's a lot more fun [00:11:00] being in the park than watching.

Right? Yeah. This you can do. All kinds of stuff that is beyond your phone. That's right. You've really learned that really well. You've been paying attention to this, haven't you? Yeah. The trick is to help other people understand that too. And sometimes they won't understand if you use words. But they will understand if you show them, just do it right next to them.

And they'll be like, ooh, I want to try [00:11:30] that too, like husking corn or something. You can go pick some corn outside in the field and you can take the corn husks off and cook or something like that. Some fun stuff they otherwise wouldn't have thought of. What do you think? I think that I'll do just what you said.

If someone can’t stop, like, play a game, or invent a game and play it. [00:12:00] Exactly. It's not always easy. It takes practice to be able to learn to stop. But if you know about it, And you know why you're having that problem, then it goes a really long way, right, Stella? Yeah. Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much. So everyone who's listening, you heard it directly from the mouth of Stella, our elementary school student who's super excited about what we're doing and what we're learning.

So I'm looking forward to Stella coming [00:12:30] back for another episode and we'll find out how that went. We're trying to do what, what we talk about now. So please give us your feedback as well. What works for you, what doesn't work? Send us your questions and see you next time.

Thank you so much, Stella. Bye everyone. Bye.

Digital Dominoes