The Unseen Cause of Violence: Emotional Blunting!

President of Üsküdar University Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan was a live guest on the “Mehmet Aydın ile Gündem” program broadcast on TGRT News. Tarhan made remarkable assessments on the topic of “Increasing Violence Against the Elderly and Increasing Violent Behavior in Children in Recent Days.” Stating that incidents of violence are increasing globally, Tarhan said that this situation has multi-dimensional causes such as individual, familial, school climate, and digitalization. He said that digitalization creates emotional blunting and a distorted perception of reality in children, and that social media weakens character development. Stating that family, school, and society should collectively play a role in character building, Tarhan also expressed that a healthy school climate and strong parental role models are critical in preventing violence. 

“Digitalization creates emotional blunting”

Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that there has been a significant global increase in incidents of violence in recent years; “Incidents of violence are increasing globally. They are increasing in Europe and are showing the highest levels of increase in America. We are probably second after America in the increase of school violence. There are various reasons for this increase in violence. This was not unexpected; it was an anticipated situation. It did not emerge as a sudden explosion either. In other words, it gave hints and somehow appeared. Currently, cameras are being installed in schools, and security measures are being increased. These are useful, but what's truly important is to find and correct the root cause. When we look at the root causes, there are issues related to family and school climate. There is also a dimension related to digitalization. Our traditional culture regarding raising children has significantly changed and weakened. Previously, the family transmitted culture. Now, the screen, which is the open door of the home, does it. Digitalization is now carrying out cultural transmission. One of the important features of digitalization is that it creates serious emotional blunting in children because their mental maturity has not yet developed. Emotional blunting is a term that has entered the literature, referred to as ‘emotional blunting’. The individual's connection to reality weakens, and the boundaries of reality become distorted. In fact, we previously talked about three realities: physical reality, imaginary reality, and dream reality. Now, digital reality has been added to this. Virtual reality has emerged. In this virtual reality, boundaries are distorted. The child has not yet learned their own identity boundaries. They haven't fully learned where to stand in life, or what to do where. In such situations, they cannot even discern the boundaries of good and bad, or right and wrong,” he began his words. 

“People's sacred values have shifted”

Tarhan stated that the perception of identity, values, and boundaries has been severely transformed under the influence of digitalization; “If boundaries are learned only from the screen, the child experiences identity confusion. In such situations, intolerance to uncertainty emerges most prominently. That is, there is a serious uncertainty brought about by modernism and the postmodern age of digitalization. This uncertainty also increases intolerance in people. Furthermore, there is a second issue: secular sacredness. That is, people's sacred values have shifted. What we call secular sacredness means the change in a person's high values and sacred things. Now, a person's ego has become sacred. A person whose ego is sacred is a narcissistic person. Humans must strike a balance between individual benefit and societal benefit. However, today, a life philosophy has emerged that is more focused on individual benefit, living solely according to one's own interests. This is a change brought about by the capitalist system and modernism. Young people today are socially alienated from their own cultures. They are growing up like young people of a different culture. Not only do they not recognize their own culture, but they can also belittle it. Such a situation has emerged not only in children but also in families. People have moved away from the feeling of ‘I am attached to meaning, not to things.’ Such a worldliness has emerged that, as a life philosophy, everything has begun to be seen as consisting only of the worldly. The sense of accountability weakened. As a result, people connect to things rather than meaning. Yet, one should connect to the meaning behind things. Here, we actually see the negative consequences of materialism. Sacralizing objects, that is, sacralizing matter, money, property, and position, has become one of the important diseases of our age,” he said. 

“Character building begins in the family and continues at school”

Stating that digitalization can become an opportunity when used correctly and a risk when used incorrectly, Tarhan said; “Digitalization itself is neutral. The important thing is whether we will be the captain of the digital world or its assistant? Are we its subject or its object? If we use digital for our own purposes and become the captain of the digital world, it speeds up our lives, but if we become slaves to the digital world, then it uses us. Currently, Elon Musk made a new post. He said, ‘Intelligence has become very cheap, but character is very expensive.’ This statement actually summarizes very well the situation we are in globally. Because today, character building has weakened. Character building begins in the family but needs to continue at school. Children can no longer learn this from society. They cannot learn enough from the family either. Social media has a toxic effect in this regard. Because social media creates serious emotional blunting. People try to be satisfied only with likes. However, physical contact, touching, playing together, and feeling the gratitude and satisfaction of someone you helped are the things that most activate neurochemicals and happiness hormones in the brain. But on social media, individuals fall into a dopamine trap with short-term pleasures. That is, today, a dopamine-oriented life philosophy has emerged. Whereas, the philosophy of life should be meaning-oriented,” he said. 

Macro consequences of micro interventions…

Emphasizing the importance of the moral compass, Tarhan said; “Technology speeds up our lives, while values provide direction. But today our moral compass has weakened. A child receives their first moral education from the family. If parents tell their child, ‘Son, be cunning, be shrewd, forget about honesty,’ the child grows up that way. We are now in a period where shrewdness is confused with intelligence. We have begun to encounter examples of this very frequently. These are called macro consequences of micro interventions. That is, small changes in the family lead to large transformations when they reach a certain level in society. Therefore, family violence and family attitudes are very important. Parents ask, ‘What am I going to do?’ One of the most important things that can be done against the emotional blunting of our children is to instill in them a sense of reality. Especially against the perception of reality distorted by digitalization, it is necessary to teach the realities of life. We call this ‘Teach the fish in the aquarium that it will die.’ That is, it is necessary to ensure the child makes contact with reality. The antidote to this is for them to learn about contact with reality,” he said.

“He cannot control his impulses at that moment”

Stating that it is necessary to look at both individual psychological factors and the structure of the school environment to understand incidents of violence, Tarhan said; “We see impulse control disorder very often in these types of violent incidents. Especially in school violence and domestic violence, the child cannot control their impulses at that moment. They regret it later, but in some cases, it's too late. Also, the school climate is very important. Leadership in school is very important. The approach of teachers is decisive. If the school climate is collaborative, a sense of belonging develops among students. If one teacher supports one student group, and another teacher supports another student group, and polarization occurs within the school, everyone tries to undermine each other. In such situations, the school climate deteriorates, and incidents of violence increase further. Therefore, teachers, principals, and assistant principals need to hold frequent meetings among themselves and discuss, ‘How can we improve the school climate?’ For example, if a meeting was held once a month before, it should now be held once a week. A common message needs to be given to students. What one teacher says should not be contradicted by another teacher. Because this is one of the things that creates the school climate,” he stated.

“Parents need to provide guidance”

Addressing the role of parents in a child's development process, Tarhan said; “It is of primary importance for parents to be role models in a child's life. If parents use a common language and create a good role model, the child will be more prepared and better equipped for life. If the child models digital roles rather than their parents, and if there is an environment for discussing right and wrong and healthy communication at home, the child will be less affected by digital content. Even if they see something violent, its effect remains limited. Up to a certain age, the child needs to interact with games and content under parental supervision. Because abstract thinking skills are not fully developed, control is important during this period. After a certain age, especially from the age of ten, the child gradually begins to move away from their parents. During this period, if the child has a strong foundation, they might make some mistakes. In fact, some psychological literature describes adolescence as a 'normal schizophrenic period.' That is, inconsistent, erratic behaviors may be observed, but they learn balance again over time. Parents need to provide guidance here. They should not take the child's place. The child should not be the leader of the house; the parents should be joint leaders. Otherwise, the child sees themselves as the center of the world. When socialization begins and other people say 'No,' the child may experience significant disappointment and emotional difficulty,” he said. 

“One needs to be a companion on their life journey”

Evaluating the ban on social media for those under 15, Tarhan said; “The enactment of the law was very good. This was truly a great need, a global need. It was very good, and now the important thing is to look at its implementation. In this process, parents' hands were strengthened. Regarding children's digital use up to a certain age, a regulation was made in our country, as in the rest of the world, and the Parliament took a decision in this direction. This strengthened the 'parents should control' approach. In this situation, we are now facing a scenario we call 'school refusal'. The child isolates themselves, not wanting to go to school. Parents, on the other hand, act overly compassionate; parents who misuse love and compassion cannot bring themselves to be firm with the child. As a result, the child does not go to school, and a regular education process does not form. The child wants to acquire everything they see. At this point, many parents approach us asking, 'Where did we go wrong?' If the child is under 10 years old, such situations can be corrected much more easily. Between 12-15 years, we follow up with a bit more counseling and behavior charts. After 15 years old, the process becomes more difficult. Therefore, 15 is a very critical age limit. In legal terms, it is also an important threshold as the age of discernment, meaning the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Until this period, parents are naturally the legal guardians. During this process, it is important to be a companion to the child on their life journey. However, being a companion does not mean being overly familiar. It is necessary to talk about life by establishing a horizontal relationship, sharing positive and negative aspects, but always progressing while maintaining boundaries,” he concluded.