Screens, screens, screens. No, not the ones that keep out the flies, but the ones that are ubiquitous in our lives everywhere else. We’ve got video, cell-phone, computer, game, movie theatre, and MP3 player screens (I refuse to call them iPods as I can’t stand iTunes and their monopoly and totalitarian way in which they force you to organize your music…I have no heat on this issue – HA!).
My boys are addicted to them, as with most of their generation. And, my family would argue, I am addicted to my computer and phone screen (for e-mail), to which we finally instituted a limited after dinner policy. One half-hour is all I’m allowed, after dinner, to check and respond to e-mails. Writing and such must be done during “work hours,” whatever those are.
Fair enough, but my boys don’t have these limits other than no TV on school nights. That doesn’t mean no computer time, so really what is the difference? With YouTube, they can watch most anything anyway. With video chat and other options on the web, they’re as addicted to their screens as I may be to mine.
What happened to playing outside? Or riding your bike? Talking on a landline phone while fiddling with the cord vs. talking on a cell phone and texting? Reading a book vs. hearing it or reading it via a Kindle? Newspapers are already becoming anachronistic. Am I part of that older generation that can’t keep up or am I just a guy?
