Right. But, ¿uth?

Huffington Post
Jim Steyer

Kids' Overuse of Media Now Seen as #1 Health Concern for Parents

[M]edia is a full-time job for the average kid, consuming 44.5 hours a week of their time, attention and imagination--and teens now spend 72 hours a week immersed in the media universe.

And it's getting more complex. In an increasingly portable and convergent world, it's how kids communicate, learn, relax and express themselves. Media access is also changing at warp speed. As media devices become more portable and powerful, kids become increasingly and intimately wired into the media world.

Right.

But, ¿uth?

We're realizing that what kids put in their brains is as important as what they put in their bodies. Media needs to be recognized as a public health issue when it comes to kids.

But there is good news. A serious conversation is finally starting to take place among parents, health professionals, educators, policymakers and media executives about the health of the new media-saturated generation. In the "Beyond Primetime" conference, held this week in New York on February 5 and 6, CEOs of major media companies, academics and health experts are coming together to explore, for the first time, the challenge of keeping kids mentally and physically healthy in a 24/7 media environment.

It's time for an honest, open discussion of these issues that are profoundly affecting kids and families--and for solutions. It's also time to acknowledge that we are all responsible for responsible media. As former Federal Communications Chairman Newton Minow put it in his legendary "Vast Wasteland" speech 45 years ago, is there anyone around who believes that we can't do better?

The ¿uth? is the conventional public-health-issue-bin thinking. Also, it's not news that what kids put in their brains is as important as what they put in their bodies. That gets an extra uth.

Uth. But the information age is news; and, duh, parents (etc.) have to understand it better. To quote the sage Rabbi, "What are we thinking when put an internet connection in a child's bedroom, so that she or he can close the door...." Which is also to quote the wise[] children in response,

The Rabbi seems to show a complete lack of understanding for the things he is criticizing. I'm not saying that some of his points aren't good ones, but without the proper perspective (i.e. understanding these things through the eyes of the children) his advice is dangerous and will backfire.

By saying "we are not perfect. But we do know a lot. We know what is right," he seems to suggest that parents have a perspective their children cannot, while at the same time he is illustrating how little perspective he has about children, the Internet and the world these children live in.

-g

I agree. His advice will send lots of parents crashing up against their kids in an obtuse and counterproductive fashion. Worse than the '60s maybe.

Some better advice would be, "Hey, parents, you'd better get a clue about the information age if you want to have half a chance of communicating with your digital native children (and if you succeed in acquiring a clue, maybe you can explain it to me, because I clearly don't understand this stuff well enough to be giving advice to hundreds of families on this subject)."

-t