Digital Slugs

     I found this at Brock Townsend’s place:

     There’s a “pincer movement” involved here. Worse, really: a pincer movement normally has only two active elements. This problem has more than that.

     First, parents are more burdened than ever before, especially by our economic situations. Consequently, they’re less involved with their kids than ever before. The “glass teat,” whether it’s a TV, a tablet, a game console, or a phone, is a burden reducer for the parents. They lack sufficient incentives to change the pattern.

     Second, the makers of digital diversions are very, very good at making them psychologically addictive. Kids are easy to hook, especially kids who are already disinclined to exercise or are averse to the outdoors. Their preferences tend to strengthen with the repetition of their chosen behavior.

     Third, the world beyond the front door, whether or not it’s actually getting more dangerous, is being billed as more dangerous than ever, especially for children. That’s another disincentive to shoving Junior outside and requiring him to find something to do.

     Fourth, many of the pastimes kids of previous generations adopted were ones they acquired from their parents. Today’s typical parent probably doesn’t have any pastimes he could share with a pre-teen. Very few maintain gardens, or build treehouses, or go walking regularly, even in districts where there are inducements to such things. In part that’s because of Item #1 above – contemporary American parents lack time and energy owing to their economic burdens – but in part it’s because the many habit-forming digital diversions that surround us have affected us too. I know a considerable number of people whose smartphones are never out of their hands. In fact, I’m married to one.

     Fifth – and this one may strike you as paradoxical – there’s been a sharp decline in the activity from which kids and their parents once acquired their interest in new activities and pastimes: reading. Reading has been called “the key to power,” and it is exactly that. It opens the world to you, to a far greater extent than watching TV or YouTube videos. So while reading is a quiet, non-physical “indoor” activity, it’s a spur to the inquisitive mind that prompts such a mind to investigate new activities...and what’s more inquisitive than the mind of a pre-teen?

     I could go on. For example, I haven’t said anything about the role of the schools in this, and they do have one. But the above five elements strike me as the most important ones. Moreover, they’re coupled in a fashion that makes them mutually supporting. It’s possible that they must be solved concurrently or not at all. Think about it.

     All that having been said, we must start somewhere, and my preference is here:

If you have young children, don’t give them smartphones.

     That’s where the addiction most commonly originates. The smartphone, with its embedded access to diabolical contrivances such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and a plethora of games, is probably the worst thing a parent could inflict upon a defenseless child. The cost ain’t trivial, either.

     Take it seriously, Gentle Reader. Think about it. There will be consequences either way – and some of them could be for you. Would you want a noodle-muscled slug, a useless lump of flesh who probably can’t even think of changing a flat tire without giving in to the shivers, to be responsible for your care when you’re an aged invalid? Wouldn’t you prefer to have a moderately competent, strong, and resilient son or daughter to haul you around, change your nappies, and keep you company when you need to vent about “the old days?” Or would you rather be a pig in a nursing home, surrounded exclusively by indifferent orderlies who walk right past you, and other octogenarians, none of whom will stop talking and listen to you for just one minute?

     Verbum sat sapienti.