Curmudgeon Tales

It must be something about the Fourth of July. There's fireworks, music, festivals, and somehow some authors reach back to the mythical land of yore to complain about life nowadays. Perhaps the sound bangs and light show woke someone up. Perhaps it was a long simmering pot ready to boil over inside of them. However, when one reads their perspectives, one can't help but feel like someone is simply complaining about society. On July 6th, the New York Times started it with Jane Brody's personal health piece, Screen Addiction is Taking A Toll on Children. Sportscaster and former Sun-Times columnist Terry Boers followed it up with Finally, the Grateful Dead are Gone. Now, Boers makes a living making fun of people for silly decisions. I don't follow Brody enough to know her perspective, but both pieces come across as if the authors were members of the focus group described in The American President's final speech:

     "That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle age, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family, and American values and character, and you wave an old photo of the President's girlfriend and you scream about patriotism. You tell them she's to blame for their lot in life."

 As Boers' pillages those who attend the Grateful Dead concert, he cherry picks examples of disconnected hallucinogenic fans to make vast generalizations. People like Allen, who wanted to "touch the hand of Jerry Garcia" and Jeff, who was trying to "cleanse his soul." Now I'll admit, I am not the music aficionado in the family. I am as likely to be listening to A-ha as Taylor Swift and not know the difference. I leave it to my bride and 8-year-old son to guide the music. However, I did look at the packed concert pictures from the weekend's Grateful Dead concerts. Attending I saw pictures doctors, lawyers, engineers, plumbers, and rabbis. Adults, sometimes with their kids, posing with their red solo cups having a good time. For some of the pictures, I felt like I could overlay a picture of the same individuals 20 years earlier attending the same concert. And the same curmudgeon's would be out saying these kids today are going to amount to nothing. They have no fiber and no values. Today those kids are building our world and leading our souls. Terry Boers may not like the stink of the Grateful Dead concert, but it's no more a problem than Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Rush, or Taylor Swift.

Jane Brody comes across the exact same way hitting on the morally objectionable devices that are plaguing America's youth. At least Boers' had direct quotes from the Chicago Tribune. Brody cites an unnamed study by "Chinese doctors" who are diagnosing children with this disorder and sending children off for treatment. She brings out the American Academy of Pediatrics position statement on technology, which truly is analyzing any form of digital media consumption. And then she cites studies about number of texts authored by kids per day and how kids lose sleep because they are texting all night. I almost cried as I could hear her shouting "those darn kids today are in serious trouble because of these devices." John Herrman in his piece "Why Grandma's Sad" on the Awl does a much better job than I could in an analyzing Brody's position. If you want to read a great counter to it, his piece is fantastic. The reality is, Brody is right in the fact that the mobile internet is changing the fabric of our world. However, it's not just kids and it's not just for the worst. There are issues and we will have to deal with them.

Screen addiction is the wrong word. Just because one drinks alcohol one is not necessarily an alcoholic. One can have an occasional drink and certainly not be the local drunkard. Moreover, many of us know people who can't live without their morning coffee or soft drink. I am pretty sure one of my fifth grade teachers always had a stash of Diet Coke somewhere when I was a principal. Screens are a medium through which we access a world of information and a world of others we wish to connect with. They connect us to our personally selected interests. Whether that is a local seven-year-old playing Minecraft alone or with friends, a pre-teen Instagraming duck-faced selfies to a group of friends, 40-somethings hash tagging pictures of themselves on Facebook as they are running around the Grateful Dead concert, or seventy year-olds posting inspirational quotes and political action articles on Facebook. Screens are a portal. They themselves are not the addiction, we, both children and adults crave the high interest and high engagement. We crave the communication, the connection, the stimulus. We crave the idea that we are unique but also part of something more. We crave to hear and to be heard. Screens aren't addicting, the substance behind them is powerful.

Brody complains about kids texting all night. Kids not talking to the people in the present. This is not new. I remember sitting with my grandmother. I remember her complaining about everything. And she did, just ask my Aunt and my parents. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I also remember my son hanging with a 90-something Grandma Bernice. She didn't complain about anything all she did was hang with him and talk to him about what he was doing. She laughed with him and sometimes at us. You know what, Cameron loved hanging with Grandma Bernice. At 96, Grandma Bernice was an active iPad user. Grandma Marjie, Grandad Don, Grandma Nancy, and Grandpa Barry are as likely to be on their devices as 12 year-old Cameron and 8 year-old Logan. If you are worried about the device time, be a parent. If you need some suggestions, here are 4 easy steps. Just remember, those darn screens aren't the problem. It's a problem only if we choose to not be the parent and let it become a problem.

Kids are Always the Problem