'Have smartphones destroyed a generation?'

[Dick Whitman]

Atlantic story from the new issue. Among the revelations: 12th graders in 2017 go out less without their parents than 8th graders did in 2009.

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

 

[SpeedTchr]

Yes.

 

[User 11148]

I don't know about smartphones, but in re: the "destroyed a generation" matter The Atlantic's got some 'splainin' to do ...

 

[LongTimeListener]

Atlantic story from the new issue. Among the revelations: 12th graders in 2017 go out less without their parents than 8th graders did in 2009.

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

That's because parents of current high schoolers are wildly cool in a way not previously seen in America.

 

[User 11148]

Present company excluded, I'd wager.

 

[Starman]

In my day we didn't have any consarned fiddle diddle smart phones. In my day the phones weighed 25 pounds and only super cool teevee detectives like Joe Mannix had phones in their cars.

 

[Dick Whitman]

In my day we didn't have any consarned fiddle diddle smart phones. In my day the phones weighed 25 pounds and only super cool teevee detectives like Joe Mannix had phones in their cars.

There are measurably negative effects. Sometimes things are just moral panics about young people. But sometimes, things are genuinely a cause for real concern.

 

[Songbird]

That's because parents of current high schoolers are wildly cool

Dems just lost more voters. /Alma

 

[Songbird]

Would 12th-graders want to go out with their wildly cool parents anyway?

(Songbird photo at Ben's on 38th ca. 2010)

 

[Vombatus]

Would 12th-graders want to go out with their wildly cool parents anyway?

(Songbird photo at Ben's on 38th ca. 2010)

View attachment 2665

That's a 5+ minute video!!! What's in the rest of the video? Something besides that table of old guys must have caught your attention.

 

[Alma]

Atlantic story from the new issue. Among the revelations: 12th graders in 2017 go out less without their parents than 8th graders did in 2009.

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

I think it's unfair to pick on the kids, honestly.

It's ruining people across many generations.

At least part of it is the burden of knowing all this **** that you'd rather not know, and conflating that knowledge to imagine things are worse than they actually, or, in the case of Facebook, people are living spectacular lives full of eating out and vacations until, all of the sudden, they're arguing on Facebook about some damn thing or another.

I had Facebook on the phone for awhile, maybe 6 months. Gone now. Haven't missed it.

 

[Songbird]

That's a 5+ minute video!!! What's in the rest of the video? Something besides that table of old guys must have caught your attention.

Spent the day photographing people in NYC avoiding humanity by having their noses knee-deep in their phones.

We don't look at each other anymore.

 

[Vombatus]

Spent the day photographing people in NYC avoiding humanity by having their noses knee-deep in their phones.

We don't look at each other anymore.

I hit the like button to credit you with your observation. I kind of dislike the concept of course.

It's one thing to not look at each other, but let's take this to another level. What I find ironic and disheartening is that a lot of people seem to think they are much more involved and engaged in social issues because they read about lots of stuff, and comment and post on FB, Twitter and other social sites, but they have no damn clue as to how to engage civilly face to face in real life. Smartphones enable this.

I'm involved with a local community association (not an HOA). Former President and community organizer (ha) of the group that represents one-fifth of a county. I stepped away last year as infighting and lack of civil discourse erupted at our meetings in front of some of our elected officials. Embarrassing as all hell. I could tell some of the personal battles from the social cyber realm carried over into real life with people having zero self awareness of how poorly they were making themselves look, and our organization.

I didn't really want to step away, because I'm not the type to cut and run, but it got so toxic that I resigned from the board in order to try to signal very strongly to the main perpetrators that they needed to pull their collective heads out of their asses. And phones, I guess.

Relating this to SJ world: I've met a couple of you in real life, and have had a lot of fun. I arrived at SJ late and have never experienced a big SJ Gathering. Toronto! I'm a bit envious of missing out on things like that, but here's a question: as a group, could we at SJ have a Gathering nowadays without a cluster**** and a lot of butthurt occurring?

Sadly, I'm not so sure.

 

[Starman]

DTGDTN.

 

[Vombatus]

DTGDTN.

You forced me to look up what that meant. FYYFFGDIAF.

(j/k)

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

DTGDTN.

You forced me to look up what that meant. FYYFFGDIAF.

(j/k)

My first result in teh googles machine when I looked it up:
I Didn't Know What DTGDTN Meant So I Googled It

 

[Vombatus]

My first result in teh googles machine when I looked it up:
I Didn't Know What DTGDTN Meant So I Googled It

Yeah, Boots shows up.

 

[Neutral Corner]

My wife and I went out for dinner the other night. A group of four girls in their early twenties were seated near us. All four pulled out their phones and started tapping away. No conversation. They basically didn't even look at each other. We looked at each other, shrugged, smiled and shook our heads. I guess I'm old. I mean, my phone goes everywhere with me, I'm internet addicted as hell, but that was crazy to watch.

 

[BTExpress]

Only time I use my smartphone while out with wife is . . .

1) to make or receive a call
2) GPS purposes while driving
3) when she's at a craft or fabric store, and I know I'm not seeing the exit for an hour or so.

 

[Dick Whitman]

My wife and I went out for dinner the other night. A group of four girls in their early twenties were seated near us. All four pulled out their phones and started tapping away. No conversation. They basically didn't even look at each other. We looked at each other, shrugged, smiled and shook our heads. I guess I'm old. I mean, my phone goes everywhere with me, I'm internet addicted as hell, but that was crazy to watch.

You should see teen-age girls together at the beach. We had a group of four next to us a year or two again. Posed for photos together for two or three hours. Giggled as they posted and sent them out. Posed for more. Giggles and posted. Packed up and headed home.