Certainly we’re connecting the mistaken dots. The reason for our youngsters’s collective awkwardness and incapability to handle disputes is obvious.
Their tragic nervousness just isn’t the results of just a few years of misplaced social shaping throughout a pandemic, as columnist LZ Granderson claims in “So what if Gen Z candidates deliver their dad and mom to a job interview?” [June 14, Opinion]. Their surprising infancy just isn’t because of a scarcity of pros educating children interpersonal abilities, as urged in “Applications purpose to maintain children secure in colleges” [June 17, Northwest].
It’s, as U.S. Surgeon Common Dr. Vivek Murthy makes clear in his proposed warning label, social media [“Surgeon general calls for warning labels on social media platforms,” June 18, A1]. Jonathan Haidt’s e book “The Anxious Era” reveals we’ve mistakenly allowed our youngsters free rein in grownup worlds deliberately designed particularly to arrest their consideration for hours a day. Concurrently, we stunt their real-world interactions on the altar of safetyism.
These of us born within the ’80s and earlier than discovered to operate as a result of our independence required it — and our dad and mom weren’t babysitters. I’m starting to suspect the primary cause we’re not demanding enforced social media age limits and phoneless colleges is as a result of we adults can not think about the actual dwelling of centered consideration and deep relationships of screen-free time.
Meka Zieger, Redmond
