Joey sent me this open letter from a number of prominent UK scientists, children's authors, critics, sociologists, etc. in the Telegraph, regarding their concern with the way new media is damaging children. It's entitled "Modern life leads to more depression among children." They suggest that kids are not psychologically able to deal with our "fast-moving hyper-competitive culture" which is contributing to higher levels of depression and violence. Much of their open letter I agree with:[Children] still need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed “junk”), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen-based entertainment), first-hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives.
But if they're not getting these things, is that really the fault of "modern life"? Hasn't every generation been faced with "Modernity" in some capacity, whether it was radio or rollerskates or TV or the internet? And hasn't every previous generation suggested that such tools of modern living are contributing to our children's downfall? Ultimately, despite the fourteen pages of signitures, the letter ends up seeming pretty shallow. They offer no solution aside from proposing that:
as a matter of urgency that public debate be initiated on child-rearing in the 21st century this issue should be central to public policy-making in coming decades.
Great. We'll get right on that. What about rather than appending your name to the fairly simplistic notion of helping children (who would oppose that?), why not use your name to actually suggest solutions to the problems you see?
Any thoughts?
5 comments:
Kyle! This isn't the time for action, it's the time for research. There's a need to identify weaknesses in our cultural institutions. Theoretically, if we've identified those weaknesses, we should be able to set things up to make it easier to raise a child well than poorly.
oh, but i do very like your point about there always being a new modern to deal with. how very post-modern.
So, can I blame your blog for why I get sad and kick my dog?
of course you can adam. but you must also blame your dog for being so darn kickable. and joey, i agree with you, but i don't see this letter even doing that. what's the point of writing a letter and having all these people sign it just to say we should do that. why not begin by suggesting paths to solutions? it just seems like a wasted step. even if they put a list of people to get in touch with or institutions that could affect change...
agreed. they fucked up big time. good concept, bad execution. next time, they come to us.
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