“All our neighbors worked for those firms — Facebook, Google and Apple. None of them would let their children interact with any screens. They all knew how addicting they were and how to protect their own children.”
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A movement I'm following in public ed and something I just read about this morning: Parents, Schools Clash Over Movement to Abolish Screens. Enrollment is declining nationwide, so school boards and cabinet members can't ignore this very real concern.
Not limited to tech. I worked in advertising in the Bay Area for many years and my collegues, if they had the means, chose Montessori or Waldorf or some other privae educational system that deemphasized screens/technology/consumerism for their kids. Almost without exception.
It's America's caste system forming before our eyes.
If these tiny scions of the powerful have no screens to look at then just imagine all the time they must have to watch the adults around them… who are focused on their screens. They are likely desperate to know what wonders keep their favorite people (including nannies and teachers) staring down into those little boxes. I predict their teenage years will bring some combination of resentment, rebellion, duplicity and defiance.
Waiting for just one movie to depict screen usage as it actually exists in the 21st century.
Would that be?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E
My brother's kids hardly ever watched screens growing up (they're 18-24 now), and still hardly ever sit on their phones or other screens. They did grow up on a farm though, not in a city focused on tech. My brother and his wife made conscious choices to limit the kids' TV/computer time, and refused to get them cell phones with data. Those kids now turn to hands-on hobbies instead of screens. Everyone's different, but starting good habits young can help.
Maybe it's me but I always thought people had far better BS detectors than they seem to do. Or had they once and the ability's been lost?
Trump. Trust in BG media propagandistic reporting. Social media, at least when it comes to what's pushed in the algorithm-dictated feeds. The stench is overwhelming yet...
What happened to people? (I know; likely a *very* loaded question.)
I believe it is the cumulative effect of "the dumbing down of America", along with a couple generations of eating chemical laden, factory-farmed, highly processed food. Sure, big ag is "feeding the world", but this is the price. It is not sustainable for optimal consciousness development.
I am so grateful to be fortunate enough make optimal choices, for now, (climate change may level things out), and feel for those who are not.
There are some who look at this and think that these Silicon Valley executives are better parents, when in fact, a huge part of this has nothing to do with screens or better parenting, but with socio-economic status.
The executives can afford full time nannies and Waldorf schools because their income is orders of magnitude higher than the average worker who cannot afford to live on one income, let alone hire a full time nanny.
I was one of the wage slaves who worked 60+ hour weeks just to afford a condo in Cupertino. The income distribution above and below director level looks like a hockey stick.
The idea that we live in a democracy because we have elections is a thin veneer over the brute fact that our actual work and family lives more closely resemble feudalism.
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