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We Have Ruined Childhood

nytimes.com

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Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#131

Post by diminoten »

pjkundert wrote: post #127
diminoten wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great, and now your kid isn't going to be as well versed as their peers in the technology that drives literally everything. They'll be left behind as the kids who were allowed to grow/learn using modern tools fly past them. You can't win. Everyone damages their children, stop pretending like you're some kind of exception. Additionally, this nostalgic "My childhood was great these kids don't get what I had" is bullshi…

I'd take an outdoorsy farmer kid who can weld and blow shit up, over a "well educated" city kid who stares at their iPad, any day. I can work with that. I can't work with useless...

That's an incredibly selfish way to parent, and I hope your kids are sneaking in some useful skills under your nose while you're not looking.

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#132

Post by mattrp »

koolba wrote: post #70
mattrp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With five kids of my own, I can certainly say that an hour of play would reduce the perfectly groomed worlds of most people to rubble while leaving them in tears. That’s not to argue against play it’s just that you have to accept that it’s not quite something you can post to Instagram.

I can assure you that no child gives two shits about how many likes your Saturday activity received on any social media platform. A handful of worms, a skinned knee, and arms covered in poison ivy they’ll remember. The perfect sunset shot they won’t.

Did I write my comment that poorly that you think I care more about social activity than my kids fun? I didn’t think I did but maybe I’m interpreting your comments incorrectly.

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#134

Post by chrissnell »

diminoten wrote: post #106
chrissnell wrote: post #97

I am a parent of two boys—ages 7 and 4–and I hardly recognize the negative forces that this author laments over because my wife and I have simply chosen not to raise our kids that way. When my boys get home, we get outside and do sports. We’re in the middle of (tackle) football season right now and that’s what my 7 year-old does five days a week for two hours every evening. It’s exercise, fun, camaraderie, and lesson…

Great, and now your kid isn't going to be as well versed as their peers in the technology that drives literally everything. They'll be left behind as the kids who were allowed to grow/learn using modern tools fly past them. You can't win. Everyone damages their children, stop pretending like you're some kind of exception. Additionally, this nostalgic "My childhood was great these kids don't get what I had" is bullshi…

I’m not sure why you’re being down voted because you are breaking any rules as far as I can tell, but I must say: after reading your comment, I feel very sorry for you. We only get one chance at life and I want my kids to spend it being happy and fulfilled, doing things they love. I see no reason to prepare them for being Silicon Valley wage slaves at ages 4 and 7. Even if they did want that for themselves, they don’t need to worry about it for a long time. I didn’t own a computer until my junior year of high school and here I am, a principal engineer for a big SFBA tech firm.

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#135

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #69
mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@Causalityl , @jranmer - question for both of you (or whoever) - at what rate of death if any would it become appropriate to do these types of drills and why?

I don’t know where the line is, but I think I would sooner pull my kids out to homeschool than have them be further traumatized/militarized by letting them participate in active shooter drills. It’s insane and will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more you expose kids to this kind of lifestyle, the more it becomes... part of their lifestyle.

Yeah, that came to mind for me as well / seems like a pretty serious drawback to say the least.

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#136

Post by protomyth »

erklik wrote: post #85
protomyth wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CDC does an amazing job of gather stats on what kills people in the USA. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm and those statistics have a section on child mortality.

Interesting, by gathering data on what kills people, they inadvertently also gather data on how dangerous guns are. Although, props to the CDC. That is some serious data gathering, cleaning etc. Most countries don't have that level of detail. At least not publically available.

Beware of comparing the data with other countries as the definition for what looks like the same terms is hidden in the details. Infant mortality is one area where there are some fundamental differences in definition (yeah, this is a surprise). Guns are a far cry in danger from quite a lot of activities.

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#137

Post by jklp »

esotericn wrote: post #2

Is this exclusive to childhood? It feels to me, though this could well be a socio-economic bubble thing, that people are just scrambling everywhere. Hyperfocused on something; anything. Maybe it's their career; maybe it's their cause; whatever. But the innocence of just living, existing; hanging out in this beautiful world we call home; seems to be fading for many. Happiness must be now, not future, otherwise future…

I have an XKCD bookmarked for this exact thing - with quotes as far back as 1871 about how modern life is just too hectic

https://xkcd.com/1227/

Notable quotes such as:

> It is, unfortunately, one of the chief characteristics of modern business to be always in a hurry. In olden times it was different.

-- The Medical Record, 1884

> If we teach the children how to play and encourage them in their sports ... instead of shutting them in badly ventilated school rooms, the next generation will be more joyous and will be healthier than the present one.

-- Public Opinion: A comprehensive summary of the press throughout the world, Volume 18, 1985

> Our modern family gathering, silent around the fire, each individual with his head buried in his favourite magazine, is the somewhat natural outcome of the banishment of colloquy from the school

-- The Journal of Education, Volume 29, 1907

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#138

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

Causalityl wrote: post #94
mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@Causalityl , @jranmer - question for both of you (or whoever) - at what rate of death if any would it become appropriate to do these types of drills and why?

When there aren't far more productive ways to spend that time. For instance, teaching and reinforcing the wearing of seatbelts, talking to kids about domestic abuse, or even just child gun safety like not picking them up and playing with them.

Makes sense. I suppose no need trying to quantify more specifically if we're nowhere near that line.

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#139

Post by ecoled_ame »

protomyth wrote: post #5

Well, if you report 24x7 hate and danger, scare the crap out of people, and report that there is danger behind every tree, then yes, childhoods are ruined. Things are getting safer and the only way you would know it is go look at the CDC stats. Kids need time with their friends away from parents. I'm so glad I was able to grow up in the (sadly last) "be home for dinner, be back by dark" generation.

Probably when you were a kid the global population was around half of what it is know, i.e. twice the amount of space per kid.

Re: We Have Ruined Childhood

#140

Post by higherkinded »

>Youngsters these days

What a marvelous start, good luck looking trustworthy. It's straight up the same as it was generations and generations before. I also love the emphasis on video games imposed in this article, from the very beginning.

I have a different opinion on this. While I can confirm that some team-based games can tilt someone, it's unlikely that it contributes to mentioned suicide rates in any meaningful way. It's just the same kind of "youngsters these days" activity as it was before. The actual reason may lie deeper in the current state of human society. Fearmongering by the crackpot young adults who still didn't grow up themselves is but one manifestation of what's happening in the bigger picture.

I'm ashamed to admit, being the part of this "young adult" generation myself, that we're a laughable bunch of irresponsible wimps, relying on everything but ourselves to relieve the stress posed onto us by the ordinary "adult" problems. As the result, some of us easily fall the cult-like mobs, failing to recognize the stupidity of our derived positions and causing problems to people around us while hypocritically stating that we just want to make the world better. Our generation isn't strong enough. We ruin each other and the majority of us is too immature to take care of our "youngsters", which is the real reason behind them going rabid or just straight out killing themselves.

We are the ruined generation and we ruin our societies, and what's more important, our kids, the ones who are supposed to be the next building blocks for it. And it's most probably our fault. Or wait, do the games cause that? It's always someone else's fault, it's the guns who kill people, not the other people, it definitely must be the case this time, isn't it? What a mess.

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