Thursday, April 2, 2015

Facebook is Bullshit (part 1?)

I'm getting tired of Facebook. You'd never guess how many people you call friend would have the most asinine interests including Spirit Science. Someone shared an article from Spirit Science which you can read here, but I wouldn't recommend it: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/why-steve-jobs-didnt-let-his-kids-use-ipads-and-why-you-shouldnt-either/. The Article is about how you shouldn't let your kids use a smart phone or ipad or whatever because it'll harm their psychological growth and hurt their creativity without explaining how they know this.

First off, Spirit Science guy is a hippie, so I can't say whether or not he's biased towards nature and has some kind of aversion to kids not learning to respect mother nature by massaging her feet and asking about her cats.

Second, his assertion that you can have too much tech/that tech is unhealthy is made without any scientific substantiation.* I don't care if Steve Jobs thought it was dangerous or not, Steve Jobs is not an expert in child developmental psychology or neuroscience. This is called an appeal to authority fallacy. They're very easy to make, watch. The CEO of McDonalds doesn't eat rare hamburg. He says it's bad for you. See what I mean? I just made that up.
*Obviously, use a little moderation.

Third, he claims that technology "has been known to cause" and lists some bad things. I take issue with the way he says that. "Technology has been known to cause..." That's an odd way to say "technology causes..." Is he actually making the claim that laptops cause your writing skills to deteriorate and makes you an impatient person with a short fuse, a.k.a. a stupid asshole? That's a hell of a claim. I'm glad he included all those citations to credible sources so we know he's not making stuff up.

He also says technology is linked to obesity, ADHD, and brain tumors. How are they "linked?" With a metal chain? What does that even mean? You're just raising the stakes now. There's plenty of obese people who didn't get that way playing Runescape for 6 hours a day. My brother and I were diagnosed with ADHD before we got our first computer, and **brain tumors from cell phones is an irrelevant concern because now everyone just texts.
**Note the sarcasm.

Finally, let me say this: don't get all your parenting advice from one source and be careful who you listen to. I did not play outside when I was a kid. I lamented it. I played with legos and drew all day when I wasn't watching TV. My writing skills only improved when I began reading for fun in high school, not from writing. I would like to beg you parents: Do not ever bank on your kids "thanking you for it later." Spirit Science Guy says that thay'll "absolutely" thank you for it later. Watch out for people using absolutes unless they're psychic. Especially if they're claiming to be psychic. OK, if they're from the future, it's always safe to believe them.

Also, you'll most likely impede your child's ability to socialize by keeping them from experiencing the same things that the rest of their peers are experiencing. How else will your child be able to make friends with people if they can't relate to them because they don't get to watch the same shows or movies, listen to the same music, play the same games, etc. I had a lonely 5th grade year because I didn't have a Gameboy to play Pokemon.


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