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?
