Welcome to the Distraction Age
I never cease to be amazed at the number of children I see in restaurants, in shopping carts, on public transport, walking down the street, and wherever you go, engaged with portable electronic devices. In fact, just the other night I was in a restaurant with two friends, and they were sitting across from each other texting. I said, “I sure hope you aren’t texting each other.” They smiled and said, “Not this time!”
The cyber world has given children and adults access to billions of bits of information that the majority of libraries of my generation did not contain. By trying to minimize the possibility of our children being bored, we have deprived them of creative living.
No device can match the satisfaction of building a network of tunnels in the huge snow drifts on the south side of a long caragana hedge. Or, what about the joy of playing “run sheep run” with a group of school friends. Then there were the multitudes of sports activities, spontaneous games such as identifying the strange creatures floating by in the fluffy clouds. And then there was the rocket we launched on the crisp clear February afternoon along with the smug satisfaction of listening to some “old men” talk about this mysterious cloud that drifted over the town that Saturday afternoon.
Yes, I do have memories of a childhood with very few toys but countless fond memories that were experienced with family and friends. No, I don’t want to return to the “good old days.” Making a trek to the “outhouse” in minus 25F weather has not appeal. Furthermore, I’ll cast my vote for a nice warm shower over that melted snow that was heated on the coal burning stove in that round galvanized laundry tub. More than once my feet reacted to the hot bottom of the tub. However, I am concerned that the present generation is not being given the opportunity to discover their own imagination.
Are we stunting a generation by now allowing them to discover the creativity that can emerge from the soil of boredom? Yes, there are creative minds that are stunning us with remarkable achievements.
But, by not allowing our kids to experience the slightest period of boredom, we deny them the chance to discover their own imagination. If my childhood friends and I were inside playing video games, we never would have ventured into discovering how to make a workable bow and arrow. If Wayne Gretzky had spent his spare time with a cell phone rather than a hockey stick, would we have lost a hockey legend?
Yes, there are rising stars that still emerge but that does not diminish my concern that digital intoxication is diminishing creativity and draining our culture of meaningful social relationships.
Robert Bellah, in his book, Habits of the Heart, has done research that points to the reality that western culture is losing the capacity for meaningful commitment. He points out that our world revolves around self-pleasure and self-fulfillment. To put it bluntly, we live in world that is about me.
I saw a cartoon of a musician who was introducing his song with these words. “The message of this song is meaningless but it sure is a wonderful showcase for my voice.”
Duane Harder
