Speaking of being 13 ...

[kenny]

WaPo http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/wp/2016/05/25/2016/05/25/13-right-now-this-is-what-its-like-to-grow-up-in-the-age-of-likes-lols-and-longing/

Very interesting.

Kids are from outer space now.

 

[AGBF]

I found the article interesting, kenny. I didn't know what any of those apps she used did! Not one!!! I've heard the names, but I don't have a clue what the things are. I don't know Spotify from Snapchat. or if one can only get them on a phone or also on a computer. And I used to be good with computer technology. Before Windows I navigated the web finding ways to read newsgroups when it wasn't easy the way it is now!

Deb

 

[Trekkie]

Wow. Just... Wow. Very different to the 13 year olds I know. Very worldly. Sophisticated, I guess? Cynical. Hard.

The 13 year old girls I know (and I know quite a few - easily a half a dozen girls aged 12-14) are actually quite naive. Sure they have iPhones etc but they play around with Masquerade to give themselves puppy noses, y'know? They go on hikes and do indoor rock climbing and surf and get angsty about how choppy the waves are, not instagram likes. Just last night my friend's 14 year old daughter was asking me if she could babysit my one year old son because she's saving up to buy a new bitless bridle for her horse. I don't know. I can't really relate to the girl in that article.

Is it perhaps because I live in a small town in South Africa? Is this article indicative of how 13 year olds act in the States?

Tbh (ha - I'm not that out of touch after all), that girl seems depressed. Or is this behaviour normal in the States?

 

[Tuckins1]

Trekkie, I think you are right that this girl is experiencing symptoms of depression, and could use counseling to deal with her grief from the death of her mother. To answer you other question, yes. This is how many children's lives are in the states. Just about every single one of the middle/high school students at my schools carry cell phones, and are on them EVERY FREE MOMENT!! It is an epidemic. Even staff are on their phones constantly. Looking at FB while the kids are taking a test, playing games during meetings, etc... (I know it's during work hours, and here I am on PS... I'm no better! But to be fair, I don't have any cases here at the moment.) I am very interested in what the research will show about how this affects developing brains...

 

[Cluless]

Trekkie, I'm in Canada and I'm sorry to report that the same goes here not only with teenagers but adults also. Try having a conversation in person or by phone with someone that is texting or surfing or whatever they call it, yeah I just give up. It's sad , very sad. As far as this little girl goes yeah I think she would benifit from some conseling not necisarilly because of her phone habits, but the way she reacts when people speak of her mom.

 

[arkieb1]

Wow what a sad article. We invented this technology to feel more connected to each other and yet it does exactly the opposite it disconnects us from real life situations. My 8 year old would be on it 24/7 if I let him but he has to earn screen time. Yes I know how ridiculous that sounds. He still likes to run and joke and play with his friends but he would rather be on a device than doing any of that, and I accept that I and the society we live in now is to blame for that, his friends are all the same so it's not unique, I guess it's what we do moving forward to balance it....

 

[dk168]

I knew when I was 13 that I definitely liked boys, and my tomboy phased ended.

DK

 

[Jambalaya]

That poor little girl - and her even-younger sister! It seems to me that she has suffered a loss of self-esteem through losing her mother while still a child, and her need for "likes" and "tbhs" is filling some need for approval that she can't get from her mother. If you don't know much about grief, loss of self-esteem might seem an odd side-effect, but it's well-documented.

The dad seems a bit overwhelmed and ineffective, although perhaps that's a little harsh because he is grieving too, and it must be overwhelming to cope with the grief of your two young children, your own grief, and to be the breadwinner and home manager, too.

Even so, it's crazy for anyone to live so wedded to their phone. Even before I was aware that very young teens are often glued to social media, I had reflected on how some people live their entire lives on their phones, almost as if they're barely existing in the 3D world at all. I find this turn of events in our modern world very depressing, adult or child.

 

[Tekate]

Kenny, perhaps this is more the story of upper class girls in a very wealthy area of VA? I am not quite sure that your average american kid has this life. She has experienced a truly shocking and painful event, one that would mold who she is for the rest of her life. Let's hope she doesn't grow up with a vacuous sense of self.

 

[kenny]

Even so, it's crazy for anyone to live so wedded to their phone. Even before I was aware that very young teens are often glued to social media, I had reflected on how some people live their entire lives on their phones, almost as if they're barely existing in the 3D world at all. I find this turn of events in our modern world very depressing, adult or child.

+1

I wish cellphones and especially 'smart'phones had never been invented.

I feel like I'm living on a planet of aliens.
Their bodies are still here but the rest of them has been sucked into a cellphone tower.

Actually it's so ubiquitous it's getting to where I am the one who feels like an alien.

 

[kenny]

Kenny, perhaps this is more the story of upper class girls in a very wealthy area of VA? I am not quite sure that your average american kid has this life. She has experienced a truly shocking and painful event, one that would mold who she is for the rest of her life. Let's hope she doesn't grow up with a vacuous sense of self.

Yes, of course kids vary.

Still, heavy 'smart'phone use is nearly universal today.
I've read 'smart'phone and social media use actually declines as education and income increase.

 

[kenny]

Part 2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/wp/2016/05/25/2016/05/25/inside-the-race-to-decipher-todays-teens-who-will-transform-society-as-we-know-it/

 

[Jambalaya]

I read Part 2. All in all, it's very depressing. I keep hoping that all this living of entire lives through phones will represent a moment in our story as human beings, and that everyone will get bored of living through a device. I'm talking about young people who live their whole lives through a screen, worrying about their Snapchat score or how many tbhs they have, and getting three thousand messages in a week. To live in a digital world to that extent is crazy, IMHO. It can't be good for you, surely.

 

[kenny]

I read Part 2. All in all, it's very depressing. I keep hoping that all this living of entire lives through phones will represent a moment in our story as human beings, and that everyone will get bored of living through a device. I'm talking about young people who live their whole lives through a screen, worrying about their Snapchat score or how many tbhs they have, and getting three thousand messages in a week. To live in a digital world to that extent is crazy, IMHO. It can't be good for you, surely.

+1

But Jamb, you and I are a dying breed.

I imagine a hundred years ago old farts lamented cars replacing horses, then radio replacing music lessons for little susie and johnie, then TV replacing radio, then, etc. etc.

I'm quite certain in the future people will increasingly to vanish into their screens.
It's the new heroin/white sugar.
Endorphins baby, Endorphins!

Humans will probably go extinct and the screens will take over.
Oh wait! That's already happened.