ghislainem70:

astronbookfilms:

deadlylittlekate:

elfstaranymore:

feministess:

elfstaranymore:

also re: teens sitting around with their tablets and smartphones

like, if a kid can access the internet (with some privacy still) while also sitting in the same room as their parents, honestly that’s better and more social than what I did as a teenager, which was hole up in my room at my desktop computer that I couldn’t move anywhere else in the house

mostly what I see from the teens in my family is they will sit and scroll through their phone, but if something interesting starts happening, or a new person enters the room, or they see something cool they want to share, they look up and interact again, because they’re sitting right there with everyone else.

that is waaaay more social than 2002 me, hunched over my desktop for hours and only seeing my mom in passing when I went to microwave a burrito at 1am. way, way more social.

My whole family does this now. We’re all in the same room, but each on a phone, tablet, or laptop. Certain poop heads will shake their heads at how technology is dividing us.

But

Like

What do they think families have done for since ever? Talk constantly while playing educational board games every evening? No.

They’d each be reading, or sewing, or writing letters or some shit, and mostly sat quietly near each other but not bothering each other.

yes this

It reminds me of the whole “omg people on trains used to TALK to each other” argument. No, they didn’t. They read the newspaper or stared straight ahead avoiding eye contact.

People have been finding reasons not to talk to each other for centuries.

I hear it all the time about public transit. Apparently, some people are under the impression that people used to always have conversations with strangers. Even if you are too young to have been on public transit at that time- and the vast majority of the people holding this fantasy are more than old enough to remember that time- movies, TV shows, and books from that time will show people reading newspapers or books, listening to music on headphones, and doing everything possible not to interact with strangers.

I’m so completely tired of the continual barrage of criticism that I get from other family members about my teenage daughter and her iPhone or laptop.  Otherwise she would have a very hard time being with her friends who live in various distant places since she goes to a private school; they do study groups in chat, all of the school posts homework on an iOS app, she creates school projects on her laptop and watches a lot of shows on it as well, and honestly it’s not their business.  It’s really a pervasive kind of aggression against teens today by people who really don’t understand and don’t want to.