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Thinking is becoming a luxury good
That is bad news for our democracies.
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Research indicates that kids who are exposed to more than two hours a day of recreational screen time have worse working memory than kids who are not.
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
Mary Harrington
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When I was a kid in the 1980s, my parents sent me to a Waldorf school in England. At the time, the school discouraged parents from allowing their kids to watch too much TV, instead telling them to emphasise reading, hands-on learning and outdoor play.
I chafed at the stricture then. But perhaps they were on to something: Today I don’t watch much TV, and I still read a lot. Since my school days, however, a far more insidious and enticing form of tech has taken hold: the internet, especially via smartphones. These days, I know I have to put my phone in a drawer or in another room if I need to concentrate for more than a few minutes.
