1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

'This is what it's like to grow up in the age of likes, lols and longing'

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, May 26, 2016.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Obama wasn't interviewed for this piece in the Washington Post, but it's pretty sobering, especially if you have kids.

    This is what it's like to grow up in the age of likes, lols and longing

    Katherine Pommerening’s iPhone is the place where all of her friends are always hanging out. So it’s the place where she is, too. She’s on it after it rings to wake her up in the mornings. She’s on it at school, when she can sneak it. She’s on it while her 8-year-old sister, Lila, is building crafts out of beads. She sets it down to play basketball, to skateboard, to watch PG-13 comedies and sometimes to eat dinner, but when she picks it back up, she might have 64 unread messages.

    Now she’s on it in the living room of her big house in McLean, Va., while she explains what it’s like to be a 13-year-old today.

    “Over 100 likes is good, for me. And comments. You just comment to make a joke or tag someone.”
     
  2. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    My oldest is only about half her age, but this quote hit me like a ton of bricks.

    “I don’t feel like a child anymore” she says. “I’m not doing anything childish. At the end of sixth grade” — when all her friends got phones and downloaded Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter — “I just stopped doing everything I normally did. Playing games at recess, playing with toys, all of it, done.”
     
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    My boy is almost 7, and sometimes it can be a chore to get him to get off his ass and get outside. He used to love it, and he usually does once he gets out there. We have tried to limit screen time - though we both should talk, I guess - but the school, honest to God, gets them addicted. He's playing video games at school. Violent ones sometimes. The teacher told us he "often gravitates toward the computer more than to his peers, during free time."

    It was implied that this was a good thing. At the very least, she saw it as neutral.

    My aunt also gives my 3-year-old her phone to play on all fucking day. It's beyond irritating at this point. It's dangerous.
     
  4. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Tell your aunt to stop doing that.
     
    HanSenSE and JackReacher like this.
  5. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    None of the tribal elders listen to us.

    She starts pre-school next year, so at least she'll be around kids.
     
  6. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    It's not only the kids.

    I'm a grown ass man, and I'll find myself watching games at bars, interacting on Twitter more than I chat with the people next to me. It's a bad habit that I've gotten into. The phone is a damn crutch.
     
    wicked, JC and Double Down like this.
  7. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I'm on call with my work 24/7 and I'm on call with Mrs. Whitman 24/7. Ugh. Otherwise I'd love to put it away sometimes.
     
  8. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    I'm on call for usually two weeks a month. I have my phone in my pocket, and I turn the volume way up. Just because I have it with me all the time doesn't mean I even need to look at it most of the time.

    The one thing I'm "guilty" of is taking pictures of my kids when, according to most harrumphs I hear, I should just "enjoy" them instead, whatever the hell that means.

    Oh, and we have a rule in my family: If my wife or I tell you not to do something with our kids and you do it anyway, you don't get to see our kids again for a while.
     
  9. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    "(Fill in the blank) Is Ruining Our Children." I've been reading articles on that theme since I learned to read a long, long time ago. Notice that the protagonist is a 13-year old girl. Fear of teenage sexuality is at the heart of most of such articles.
     
  10. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    You're right. It seems perfectly healthy for 13-year-olds to obsess about "likes" on Instagram.
     
  11. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    It's perfectly normal for 13-year-old girls (and boys) to worry about being popular. This quantifies it.
     
    TowelWaver likes this.
  12. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    One of the great joys of singing in Europe is that I don't take my cell phone. Amazing how relaxing it is to not be plugged in but when I get home I'm right back where I left off.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page