Young imaginations becoming stunted as a result of the increased access to technology. Imagine that?

Whilst delivering a Laughology session at a primary school recently the question arose: ‘Are young imaginations becoming stunted as a result of the increased access to technology?’

The consensus in the session was a resounding ‘yes’ from the nursery school teachers. They commented that they had some children coming to school who clearly had not been communicated with much at home. They could tell which children’s parents were constantly on their mobile phones, and who had been left unsupervised with television and computer games playing the part of babysitters. The teachers had to go back-to-basics with these kids, teaching the fundamentals of communication as simply sitting down facing each other and having a chat was new to some of these children.

Help! Our country is full of child robots!

But, let’s not get carried away here. A healthy balance and an awareness of how often we use technology, and to what benefit is not difficult to introduce and maintain. London-based comedians the ‘Scummy Mummies’ have a frank and fun discussion about this issue with The Guardian’s Head of Technology, Jemima Kiss, in a recent podcast

Ironically, whilst writing this blog I attempted to ignore my mobile phone but two missed calls from my Mum in Australia triggered my imagination. Had something awful happened? Turns out she was just itching for a catch-up. How often have you created a false scenario in your head that has led to feelings of anxiety or fear, letting your imagination run wild?  

In a sweaty function room above a pub in front of a bunch of strangers - imagine that!

Imagination doesn’t become defunct because we start using technology or because we get older, we just forget to use it in the right way. Imagination is such a powerful tool. I have learnt over the years to imagine the best-case scenario before going onstage performing stand-up comedy. I may be in a sweaty function room above a pub in front of a bunch of strangers, but in my head I’m live at The Apollo and everyone in the audience is my best friend. And it works. Laughology’ s FLIP is an easy to use cognitive model that helps us process information and use our imagination in a positive way.  I’ve delivered the model to people, they have commented how useful it has been in every part of their life.

January - a month of doom and gloom?

So how about FLIPPING January; a month we’re led to perceive is full of doom and gloom.  We have the choice to change our vision of the start of the year, a time of cleansing, of getting our house in order, of feeling happier and full of hope.  You can even download some tunes that make you feel good on your mobile phone and use your imagination to take you where you want to be or visualise all the great stuff you want to fo this year.   Click here to find out more about FLIP and how to use it with your team or you can buy the Laughology book.