As a concerned sister of a 12-year-old boy, I sigh helplessly at the news and research released on the impacts of excessive screen time on adolescents. Effects on cognitive functions, literacy, emotional regulation and self-control, having a higher risk of depression or anxiety diagnoses, incessant dopamine hits rendering them emotionally numb… the list goes on and on.
Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash
Oftentimes, we can only observe and give mild warnings, because no matter what we say, children won’t listen. It’s like the screen is hypnotising them, making them dependent on the dopamine releases it triggers. It’s not like they watch anything valuable — all they do is scroll through meaningless videos or play mobile games. The worst part is that these dopamine hits make them less connected to the real world around them.
This, I fear, is the biggest danger we face today — apathy.
Apathy /ˈapəθi/
noun. lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
I can only hope this trait is solely found in 12-year-olds, but unfortunately, it has taken its grasp on the whole generation; Gen Alpha and Gen Z, which includes us. Go out in the city of London, and you’ll rarely ever find a single person not scrolling on their devices within an hour. On transportations, in cafes, in libraries, while walking, in the park, at home. After a tiring day at work, the comfort that we seek comes from screens. Children return home excited not to see their families, but to hop on their tablets and watch meaningless videos.
We are so confined in our tiny flashing boxes that we ignore reality and those in it. Dinner tables lack deep interaction. Manners thrown out the window. And worse, genocide is witnessed like a fictional trope as they scroll past the news with empty eyes. That can’t possibly affect me. It has nothing to do with me.
This is all according to plan.
The genocide in Gaza remains the most horrifying crime ever committed while beingthe most well-documented. Almost every person with a device and an internet connection has heard of this news.
Yet, not many react. Some scroll past helplessly. Others worry it might affect their mental health.
Desensitisation. This has been their plan all along. The plan of corrupt governments and obsessed with power and control. They know that in order to commit genocides in the open, the public has to lose sensitivity. They need to be stripped of all feelings so they no longer react, leaving behind an apathetic generation.
This is the exact opposite of Allah’s obedient creations when they see corruption spread on land.
You have certainly made an outrageous claim, by which the heavens are about to burst, the earth to split apart, and the mountains to crumble to pieces in protest of attributing children to the Most Compassionate. — Maryam, verse 89–91
How intense are the reactions of the skies and the earth, protesting a grave sin, which is the association of others with Allah as God. This is similar to the reaction of the jinn-kind when they hear lies about Allah against His Oneness.
We certainly thought that humans and jinn would never speak lies about Allah. — Al-Jinn, verse 5
The skies nearly burst out of anger! The Earth almost split! The jinn gasps in disbelief that anyone would dare fabricate any lies about Allah and the unseen. How do you think they may react now that we let evil spread amongst the people, that human lives are treated like livestock, that people are governing others with laws besides what Allah has revealed to us? How do you think they are responding to us right now that we stay silent, like mute devils, when evil presents itself in front of us?
Now what about us? How do we respond?
When the Epstein files were released, this state of apathy is exactly what they aim to achieve. Once we adjust our moral ground to the horrors they unfold one by one, we will no longer react to what will come next. Nothing will surprise us anymore. Nothing will trigger any reaction. As a result, the distance they’ve put from us and our deen (religion) has succeeded in making us feel hopeless and powerless, as if we don’t hold the very weapon to victory and restoring justice to the world (imaan, or faith).
They don’t want us to fight back. They want us to think that there is nothing we can do. So we just scroll, perhaps a little guilty, but what else can we do? What can sharing a post possibly change? How can boycotting possibly work? In just a few minutes, our empathy dies down, and we go back to laughing at cat videos and memes.
Maybe we react, but we don’t act. We blame world leaders and militants, but we move on with our lives, looking forward to the next concert or drama release. Our bodies move, but our hearts don’t. Without realising it, our hearts harden.
Qur’an verses are just words on paper that we aim to finish this Ramadhan so we can tick our checklist. Ramadhan is treated like a personal growth course, where some Muslims would “rest” from all this noise and focus on themselves, protecting their peace, but in a halal way. When in fact, Ramadhan should be a time of deep connection with Allah, so we know what He requires us to do in this world to truly bring ultimate justice and unity.
So… how do we get our sensitivity back?
We know that excessive screen time dwindles our ability to feel — a requirement for meaningful action. Individualism and seizes our hope, leaving us thinking we’re powerless, when in fact unity brings power. Exposure to too much stimulation has rotted our brains, cutting off the bridge between our senses and our hearts.
How do we regain sensitivity?
لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍۢ لَّرَأَيْتَهُۥ خَـٰشِعًۭا مُّتَصَدِّعًۭا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَتِلْكَ ٱلْأَمْثَـٰلُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ٢١
Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have certainly seen it humbled and torn apart in awe of Allah. We set forth such comparisons for people, ˹so˺ perhaps they may reflect. — Al-Hashr, ayah 21
If the Qur’an is able to crumble whole mountains — towering, unbreakable structures — down to its base, then it can certainly soften a hardened heart. Sa’d ibn Mu’adh, a leader of an Aws tribe in Yathrib, was ready to throw hands until he heard the message of the Qur’an from Mus’ab ibn ‘Umair.
It’s no wonder that the heart can be touched by the words of its Creator.
So this Ramadhan, make it your personal goal to cut off screen time and truly reconnect with the messages of the Qur’an. Quit scrolling in an attempt to feel something, and actually feed your heart and soul with the food it has been longing for.
In time, you’ll find yourself unable to withstand the corruption of the world. And that is truly the time when you find within yourself a power that you’ve never felt before, with which you will change the world, bi idhnillah.
Allah knows best.
