Millennials who grew up without smartphones have noticeably different social skills than those born after 1994 - Silicon Canals

"Remember when getting someone's phone number meant writing it down on a piece of paper? Or when making plans required actually sticking to them because there was no way to send a last-minute "running late!" text? There's a fascinating divide happening between millennials who remember these pre-smartphone days and those who don't, and it's showing up in ways we're only beginning to understand."

"Those of us born before the mid-90s had something unique: an analog childhood followed by a digital adulthood. We learned to read body language without emoji translations. We developed patience because instant gratification wasn't an option. When we were bored, we couldn't scroll through Instagram; we had to sit with that boredom or find creative ways to entertain ourselves. This isn't just nostalgia talking."

There is a clear split between millennials who experienced pre-smartphone childhoods and younger peers raised with constant digital access. Younger adults often prefer digital communication and struggle with unscripted face-to-face interaction, while those with analog childhoods developed different social skills. Analog childhoods fostered body-language reading, greater patience, sustained attention, and creative ways to handle boredom. Phones and digital media reinforce reward pathways similar to drugs and alcohol, producing compulsive checking and withdrawal. Constant notifications interrupt sustained focus and homework. These differing developmental environments produced different neural pathways and observable differences in social behavior and attention today.

Read at Silicon Canals