Digital Self Harm
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@Doctor-Phibes said in Digital Self Harm:
Anybody should be able to see that social media is potentially very unhealthy and dangerous, particularly for vulnerable teenage girls.
God alone knows what we can do about it. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle at this point.
Yes. Although it seems there is a general shift in parents to delay it as long as possible. "Wait until eighth" is one slogan where parents wait until 8th grade to let a kid have a smart phone. There are other communication devices (e.g., text messages and calls only) for young kids, too, it seems.
Our oldest is only 6. As of now, we ambitiously plan to wait until she is 16 and driving before she has a smartphone. Perhaps before then she'll have a smart watch or other "dumb phone" before then. We'll see... want to hold off as long as humanly possible. They say once your kid has a smartphone or social media, their childhood is over.
@89th said in Digital Self Harm:
@Doctor-Phibes said in Digital Self Harm:
Anybody should be able to see that social media is potentially very unhealthy and dangerous, particularly for vulnerable teenage girls.
God alone knows what we can do about it. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle at this point.
Yes. Although it seems there is a general shift in parents to delay it as long as possible. "Wait until eighth" is one slogan where parents wait until 8th grade to let a kid have a smart phone. There are other communication devices (e.g., text messages and calls only) for young kids, too, it seems.
Our oldest is only 6. As of now, we ambitiously plan to wait until she is 16 and driving before she has a smartphone. Perhaps before then she'll have a smart watch or other "dumb phone" before then. We'll see... want to hold off as long as humanly possible. They say once your kid has a smartphone or social media, their childhood is over.
I seem to think we didn't give our two proper smart phones until they were in high school. They're in their 20's now and my son never really uses his except as a phone (he uses his PC a lot, but that's kind of different), my daughter is rarely off hers.
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Yeah I've mentioned it before but even at the pool it is a bit sad to watch teens all come in together, get on lounge chairs together, then proceed to each stare at their phones for the next 10-15 min before maybe they get in the pool. Same with parents at the playground. Yes maybe I am judgy (and do it too, at times)... but holy crap live in the moment. Watch your kids while they're still young, enjoy the freedom of hanging with your friends at the pool, get your face out of the screen!
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How many people check their phone in the morning right after they awake? Before doing anything else?
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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How many people check their phone in the morning right after they awake? Before doing anything else?
@Jolly said in Digital Self Harm:
How many people check their phone in the morning right after they awake? Before doing anything else?
The phone functions as the alarm clock for most people. Of course that's the first thing most people check after they wake up. The phone is also the newspaper, the day planner, the sticky note reminder ... usual things that the older generations check "first thing" after they wake up.
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How many people check their phone in the morning right after they awake? Before doing anything else?
@Jolly said in Digital Self Harm:
How many people check their phone in the morning right after they awake? Before doing anything else?
Depends on your definition. I'll pick up my phone as I get out of bed and start moving (e.g., go to bathroom, get dressed) and check for any messages or reminders. My wife likes to stay in bed and scroll (endlessly) for a while, which isn't a problem if the kids are still asleep. Which they rarely are asleep.
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I think we are likely over thinking this. There have always been a significant number of people craving attention, even when/if that attention is negative. Especially when we live in a society that ascribes nobility to victimhood.
Maybe I’m underthinking this, but I am remembering back to girls that I knew back as a teenager that wanted attention at all costs. Would they do something like this? Hell yeah. They probably are doing so now, even as adults.
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Yeah I've mentioned it before but even at the pool it is a bit sad to watch teens all come in together, get on lounge chairs together, then proceed to each stare at their phones for the next 10-15 min before maybe they get in the pool. Same with parents at the playground. Yes maybe I am judgy (and do it too, at times)... but holy crap live in the moment. Watch your kids while they're still young, enjoy the freedom of hanging with your friends at the pool, get your face out of the screen!
@89th said in Digital Self Harm:
Yeah I've mentioned it before but even at the pool it is a bit sad to watch teens all come in together, get on lounge chairs together, then proceed to each stare at their phones for the next 10-15 min before maybe they get in the pool. Same with parents at the playground. Yes maybe I am judgy (and do it too, at times)... but holy crap live in the moment. Watch your kids while they're still young, enjoy the freedom of hanging with your friends at the pool, get your face out of the screen!
If you ever find yourself saying "Back when I was a lad we used to make our own entertainment!" then you'll know it's time to start shopping for some carpet slippers and a nice comfy cardigan.
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You're young. Back in the 70's, we'd spend the drive to the seaside trying to decide which buildings would be most likely to be targeted in a Soviet (or accidental American) nuclear strike.
Happy days.
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You lived in England. There's no such thing as a long drive...
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@Jolly said in Digital Self Harm:
That's just a good warm-up...
In the discussions about the UK trip, @Doctor-Phibes and @bachophile have given me good advice and have recommended against certain drives as being too long and to take a train or fly. While I sincerely appreciate the advice, I do think it comes from a somewhat different set of experiences involving driving. They recommended against visiting Cornwall as it’s too long of a drive (5 hours). This week we have to take the cats down to Newport News and get them neutered on Wednesday and adopted on Thursday. I have work on Thursday and Karla has work on Wednesday. So I’m driving them down (3.5-4 hours) on Wednesday morning, dropping them off, then taking Finley and Lucas to the beach and fishing in Yorktown. I’ll be leaving Finley at Lucas’ overnight when I drive back that evening. Karla’s going down on Thursday morning, going the boys and Luke’s girlfriend to Colonial Williamsburg for the morning and finishing the adoption and driving home in the evening. We will each be driving 8 hours each day. No big deal…
We each drive over 25K miles per year. Karla drives over 35K…
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If you hit heavy traffic, it might not be 5 hours. Or even 8. There's 67 million people in the UK. Most of them live in the bottom half. Check out how small it is. If they all decide to go for a drive you're fucked. And not in a good way.
I've never really understood Americans and driving. Why would anybody think that sitting in a small metal box for 8 hours was something good to do on your holidays?
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If you hit heavy traffic, it might not be 5 hours. Or even 8. There's 67 million people in the UK. Most of them live in the bottom half. Check out how small it is. If they all decide to go for a drive you're fucked. And not in a good way.
I've never really understood Americans and driving. Why would anybody think that sitting in a small metal box for 8 hours was something good to do on your holidays?
@Doctor-Phibes said in Digital Self Harm:
There's 67 million people in the UK. Most of them live in the bottom half.
NOTICE: Thread drift..................
I thought it was interesting that about 150 years ago, the population of the UK and Ireland were about the same. Ireland population today is about the same and hasn't grown at all, while the UK has tripled or more.
