OK, for perspective, I am an older GenXer. This will give context to my perspective.
Three main things:
1) I am extremely skeptical when someone blames a technology for ANYTHING. A hammer can build a house or bash in a skull.
2) Is it the phones, or is it social media? Is social media the medium that causes us to consume "too much screen" or "too much phone"?
3) The cure is going to upset some people, and send a bunch of sacred cows to be ground into White Castle sliders.
Over the last 40 years or so--really, as GenX moved into adolescence--the following ideas have become deeply rooted like weeds:
1) Adolescents and even 18-20YO young adults are incapable of making adult decisions. This has resulted in the progressive "legal ageing" of everything. Here's where the sacred cow goes to the slaughterhouse: young people have internalized this idea that they are incapable of "adulting", not just when it comes to vices but also the positive aspects of "growing up".
2) The world has become a progressively more dangerous place. This is utter B.S. and the statistics prove this out.
3) If harm befalls a kid, it's because of bad parenting, and perhaps the authorities should get involved. God bless Lenore Skenazy and her work.
The net-net result is a LOT less touching of grass, a lot less meeting in meatspace. Why deal with graduated driver's licenses and other restrictions and mall curfews when you can do your own thing online? My list of meatspace restrictions could go on for hours.
All of this needs to be rolled back, immediately. Yes, KIDS WILL DIE from injuries. Deal with it! Yeah, I said it. But it will help prevent kids dying from suicides and diabeetus and other metabolic issues down the road.
And all the safety whores (yeah, again I said it--no offense intended to sex workers, happy to come up with a better word) need to accept the blame for their misdeeds and "receive consequences". As usual, those in authority with the blood on their hands will escape blame.
I’m always excited to see when Clinton posts. And this review certainly delivered. We’re going to sound like old maids banging on about the history of technology, but it seems so crucial to open the historical window into the 20th century. Heck, even the 19th. Educating adults on the historical development and commentary on technology is crucial, but I wonder - how are schools tackling this subject? Where is the k - 12 curriculum covering “digital literacy”? Has it been mandated in any jurisdictions? This feels like a critical piece of education for any subject of a technological society. I suppose the lack of adult education in these subjects delays the implementation of education reform that targets digital literacy. Let’s hope Haidt’s book has the intended effect and gets the mass educated reader to take some action in that general direction.
As a parent, it's very difficult to not have your kid have a smartphone. My oldest child almost FAILED a class last year because the teacher assumed that all kids would have one and had an in class multiday project that required the use of smartphones. They were in SIXTH GRADE.
Plus all her different school activities share updates and times and other important info via various apps and group chats that they expect the students to have access to. "You should know that, we posted it on the app." We caved and bought her a phone (and highly limited her ability to use most of it -- she doesn't have any social media at all. I don't mind being able to contact her easily about picking her up from activities but the fact that she HAD to have a smart phone because of school really frustrated me.)
But leaving aside the school system, overall screen usage would be a lot easier to reduce or eliminate if more people worked in the community they lived in. It's very difficult to get my kids together with friends because they may not live far away, but trying to get anywhere after school is a freaking nightmare because there's just so. much. commuter. traffic. One of my kids is lucky because our neighbors have sons around his age and they can just get together and run around outside, but the other two are SOL on that front. And even in our neighborhood, there's a lot of traffic and no sidewalks so the neighbors ACROSS the street also have kids my sons age, but he's too young to just go over there. It still has to be something the adults coordinate. And I hate that for the kids, I wish it was safer for them to just be neighborhood kids together without worrying about the bazillion cars.
They complain, complain, complain that they want more time for video games or TV, but when they're able to get together with friends they'll spend hours doing anything else and not even think about it. So I think a lot of kids would naturally and without complaint reduce their screen time usage if it were easier for them to get together with friends...not all of them would, but a lot.
As a long retired clinical social worker - with grade school aged digitally connected grand children - I've been anticipating Haidt's new book having read his earlier work. However, your historical framing in this article was immensely helpful in allowing me to "pull back" a bit and to consciously take a broader meta-perspective regarding the much larger forces at play beyond simply "adolescent use" of "smart-phone social media apps." I'll certainly add Sherry Turke’s "Life on the Screen" to the reading list, and I'll look forward to part two of your analysis. Thank you.
OK, for perspective, I am an older GenXer. This will give context to my perspective.
Three main things:
1) I am extremely skeptical when someone blames a technology for ANYTHING. A hammer can build a house or bash in a skull.
2) Is it the phones, or is it social media? Is social media the medium that causes us to consume "too much screen" or "too much phone"?
3) The cure is going to upset some people, and send a bunch of sacred cows to be ground into White Castle sliders.
Over the last 40 years or so--really, as GenX moved into adolescence--the following ideas have become deeply rooted like weeds:
1) Adolescents and even 18-20YO young adults are incapable of making adult decisions. This has resulted in the progressive "legal ageing" of everything. Here's where the sacred cow goes to the slaughterhouse: young people have internalized this idea that they are incapable of "adulting", not just when it comes to vices but also the positive aspects of "growing up".
2) The world has become a progressively more dangerous place. This is utter B.S. and the statistics prove this out.
3) If harm befalls a kid, it's because of bad parenting, and perhaps the authorities should get involved. God bless Lenore Skenazy and her work.
The net-net result is a LOT less touching of grass, a lot less meeting in meatspace. Why deal with graduated driver's licenses and other restrictions and mall curfews when you can do your own thing online? My list of meatspace restrictions could go on for hours.
All of this needs to be rolled back, immediately. Yes, KIDS WILL DIE from injuries. Deal with it! Yeah, I said it. But it will help prevent kids dying from suicides and diabeetus and other metabolic issues down the road.
And all the safety whores (yeah, again I said it--no offense intended to sex workers, happy to come up with a better word) need to accept the blame for their misdeeds and "receive consequences". As usual, those in authority with the blood on their hands will escape blame.
I’m always excited to see when Clinton posts. And this review certainly delivered. We’re going to sound like old maids banging on about the history of technology, but it seems so crucial to open the historical window into the 20th century. Heck, even the 19th. Educating adults on the historical development and commentary on technology is crucial, but I wonder - how are schools tackling this subject? Where is the k - 12 curriculum covering “digital literacy”? Has it been mandated in any jurisdictions? This feels like a critical piece of education for any subject of a technological society. I suppose the lack of adult education in these subjects delays the implementation of education reform that targets digital literacy. Let’s hope Haidt’s book has the intended effect and gets the mass educated reader to take some action in that general direction.
Excellent. Best thing I have read this year.
This was fantastic, thank you. We do seem to constantly starting conversations over, needlessly.
Go outside and touch grass is great advice. Or something similar in a city.
As a parent, it's very difficult to not have your kid have a smartphone. My oldest child almost FAILED a class last year because the teacher assumed that all kids would have one and had an in class multiday project that required the use of smartphones. They were in SIXTH GRADE.
Plus all her different school activities share updates and times and other important info via various apps and group chats that they expect the students to have access to. "You should know that, we posted it on the app." We caved and bought her a phone (and highly limited her ability to use most of it -- she doesn't have any social media at all. I don't mind being able to contact her easily about picking her up from activities but the fact that she HAD to have a smart phone because of school really frustrated me.)
But leaving aside the school system, overall screen usage would be a lot easier to reduce or eliminate if more people worked in the community they lived in. It's very difficult to get my kids together with friends because they may not live far away, but trying to get anywhere after school is a freaking nightmare because there's just so. much. commuter. traffic. One of my kids is lucky because our neighbors have sons around his age and they can just get together and run around outside, but the other two are SOL on that front. And even in our neighborhood, there's a lot of traffic and no sidewalks so the neighbors ACROSS the street also have kids my sons age, but he's too young to just go over there. It still has to be something the adults coordinate. And I hate that for the kids, I wish it was safer for them to just be neighborhood kids together without worrying about the bazillion cars.
They complain, complain, complain that they want more time for video games or TV, but when they're able to get together with friends they'll spend hours doing anything else and not even think about it. So I think a lot of kids would naturally and without complaint reduce their screen time usage if it were easier for them to get together with friends...not all of them would, but a lot.
As a long retired clinical social worker - with grade school aged digitally connected grand children - I've been anticipating Haidt's new book having read his earlier work. However, your historical framing in this article was immensely helpful in allowing me to "pull back" a bit and to consciously take a broader meta-perspective regarding the much larger forces at play beyond simply "adolescent use" of "smart-phone social media apps." I'll certainly add Sherry Turke’s "Life on the Screen" to the reading list, and I'll look forward to part two of your analysis. Thank you.
This was excellent.