May 20, 2020
The View From Dry Creek Hill
By Charles Prokop
www.DryCreekHill.com
Has anybody else noticed that news stories about the evils of screen time have disappeared? Before COVID we were bombarded with warnings about too much screen time harming kids and adults, not to mention how we were addicted to our devices and social media. We were supposed to get outside, meet people in person, and get all the endorphins and other good things that human contact brings.
Now screen time is our best friend. We go to school on screens. Some lucky folks get to keep working because they can do it on a screen. If you need human contact, it’s fine and dandy to get it on a screen. If you can watch a screen while your friend watches the same thing on his or her screen while you watch each other and celebrities watching their screens and everyone texts and tweets about what’s on the screen, you’ve hit the Screen Time Superfecta!
TV news folks must be relieved they don’t have to do those stories about the evils of screen time anymore. It always seemed wrong to listen to someone paid to be on a screen tell you it was a bad thing to spend time looking at a screen.
But I do feel sorry for those app developers that were imagining all the cash they’d see rolling in from screen time limiting apps. I never installed one myself, but I’m willing to bet there has been a lot of deactivating and uninstalling going on out there. That screen time app might be evidence that you were having a Zoom party instead of doing your job or your homework, and who wants to leave that trail of breadcrumbs?
I’m writing this on a screen and anyone who is reading this is doing it on a screen. Pixels to the people! It’s screen time for everyone! Does anyone know what the current recommended daily allowance of pixels is? I bet it’s higher than it was a few months ago. At least I hope it is. I need detox if it isn’t.
Now screen time is our best friend. We go to school on screens. Some lucky folks get to keep working because they can do it on a screen. If you need human contact, it’s fine and dandy to get it on a screen. If you can watch a screen while your friend watches the same thing on his or her screen while you watch each other and celebrities watching their screens and everyone texts and tweets about what’s on the screen, you’ve hit the Screen Time Superfecta!
TV news folks must be relieved they don’t have to do those stories about the evils of screen time anymore. It always seemed wrong to listen to someone paid to be on a screen tell you it was a bad thing to spend time looking at a screen.
But I do feel sorry for those app developers that were imagining all the cash they’d see rolling in from screen time limiting apps. I never installed one myself, but I’m willing to bet there has been a lot of deactivating and uninstalling going on out there. That screen time app might be evidence that you were having a Zoom party instead of doing your job or your homework, and who wants to leave that trail of breadcrumbs?
I’m writing this on a screen and anyone who is reading this is doing it on a screen. Pixels to the people! It’s screen time for everyone! Does anyone know what the current recommended daily allowance of pixels is? I bet it’s higher than it was a few months ago. At least I hope it is. I need detox if it isn’t.