>>>What about the Internet's downside?
>>>Kids have retreated out of the physical world into the cyber world. It
>>>gives them a larger reach, [but] they're not getting out in the sun,
>>>playing with other kids
>
>Hahahaha.
>
>I could swear they used the exact same words 40 years ago to describe the
>debilitating effects of TV on my generation.
>
>Michael
it's been said about every generation at least since the 1880s. It's why all those programs were initiated during the progressive era: boyscouts, girlscounts, etc. they were all designed to deal with the debilitating effects of urban life on children. they needed fresh air and sunshine. my books are still in crates because i can't figure out where to put the bookshelves -- you can go to the blog and see pics and vote: in the sun room or the living room? i can't decide! but if i could be arsed, I'd unearth a book on the history of childhood that has quotage through the ages, from the Greeks until the late 20th c about how each generation was debilitated by one thing or another.
i'm with Dennis. When you talk to moms, at least in my workplace and among neighbors, there's no one complaining about their kids being on the intertubes all the time. it seems to be a thing with certain kids, the same kinds of kids who would have shunned the outdoors anyway. my son was headed in that path once, when we lived in a neighborhood with mostly older folks. once we moved to the ghetto, where there were kids, you couldn't keep him inside. he was so into being outside, his friends would call him nature boy. he loves gaming now, though, but he goes to the gym where he lives daily mostly because his job is pretty sedentary.
shag