This is a photo I took ten years ago. Even back then I found it unusual to see some kids outside, entertaining themselves playing hockey. I remember even further back in 1976, when I was teaching in the two room elementary school how strange it felt during recess, upon discovering that the kids didn’t just go out to run around and play, they just stood outside. I had to organize some sort of activity, before they would do something beside standing around during their recess.
Things are many times worse today. Not only do the kids do things outside on their own, but so many are so messed up emotionally that they just totally retreat to live their lives in their smart phones and computers. What has happened to kids?
I heard a talk the other day, that suggested that there was a marked change in the emotional stability of kids that began in 2012. That happened to also be the year that parents began giving their children smart phones. With girls, the suspected cause was their introduction to social media, and apps like Instagram that made them feel depressed and hate themselves. With boys, it was the excitement in video games, which led to pornography, and then to online sports betting.
These problems with kids rose not only in US, bu, like the spread of smart phones, they are worldwide.
The smart phones not only led to emotionally messed up kids, but also, to kids who don’t read books anymore. Books are just not exciting as the apps on smart phones, that are designed with their algorithms to keep everyone glued to their phones. Reading has declined by 40%.
I found this news very depressing, because I can’t see any cure for those problems in the generation that grew up with the smart phones. Sad, very sad.
Take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
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