Last week, I published By 1979 Standards, Your 1st Grader is Physically and Emotionally Stunted. The TL;DR is that being able to walk 4-8 blocks alone -- to a friend's house, a playground, school, the store -- was once a prerequisite for 1st grade! Most 1st graders today have never done anything alone, ever.
Even at freaking Chuck E. Cheese! Seriously. I've been to Chuck E. Cheese with a couple of different families. And each time, the parent hovered constantly over the child. They either inserted the tokens into the coin slots for their kid, or took the child's hand in theirs and guided it the whole time.
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Do kids in your neighborhood play outside every day? Or do they, like the average American child, spend up to eight hours per day in front of a screen? (In other words... they sleep, eat, go to school, and not much else.) Using some technology is great -- it can be fun, relaxing and even educational. But, when used excessively, it kills creativity and curiosity. It prevents kids from developing crucial social and emotional intelligence. It makes them bored... and it makes them boring.
Moreover, unsupervised outdoor play is one of the most important ways in which kids develop social and emotional skills, like resilience (something most kids with helicopter don't learn these days, which is one of the reasons that something like 15% of kids are being medicated for depression, and some 33% have reported feeling "too depressed to function"), self-regulation (a skill that is highly correlated with good grades, higher test scores, higher lifetime earning potential, lower incarceration rates, etc. etc. etc.), emotional intelligence, charisma, negotiation and leadership skills, autonomy and independence, and more. A few months ago, I was asked to answer this question on Quora:
"If you were a 17-year-old out of high school, what would you do with your life? I tested out of high school two years early, and lately I've just become so stuck and cynical of life. I don't know what I'm missing and why I'm stuck. I don't know where to move on to. I've been going to talk therapy once a week (which barely helps)." *** I'm not a licensed clinical psychologist or anything, but I do have a bachelor's and master's in psychology from Stanford. So here's my take on your situation, which is based on many assumptions that may or may not be true. You are a high-achieving individual. You are talented and gifted, and you worked hard enough to test out of high school two years early. That's really great. Congratulations on your achievements. BUT. There is a cost associated with your achievements. I recently published Boring People Lead Boring Lives, which discussed how passive entertainment stunts leisure skill development. I also wrote about the dangers of boredom: Boredom proneness is dangerous. It's associated with increased feelings of aggression (Rupp & Vodanovich, 1997; Dahen, 20004), anger, substance abuse (Rupp & Vodanovich, 1997), procrastination (Vodanovich & Rupp, 1999), shyness (Maroldo, 1986), coronary-prone and Type-A behavior (Kass & Vodanovich, 1990), depression, anxiety (Ahmed, 1990; Vodanovich, Verner & Gilbride, 1991) and low self-actualization (Vodanovich & Rupp, 1999).
I thought I'd follow up with a story about how iPads destroy creativity, curiosity... and even language and other cognitive skills.
I got mad at my boyfriend last week. We were discussing whether it would be a good idea for me to join him and his friends on a camping trip -- even though the primary activity would be whitewater kayaking. I'm not a fan of that particular sport... and I'm also recovering from a recent shoulder surgery.
"It's a beautiful area," he said to me. "I'm just afraid you'll get bored." It was like he'd called me stupid or said I wasn't good at basketball or something. He's supposed to know me better than anyone else -- so how could he suggest such a thing? |
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Eva is a content specialist with a passion for play, travel... and a little bit of girl power. Read more >
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