Lost In Cyberspace
Surprise, surprise. Spending thousands of hours on the Internet apparently leaves children poorly prepared to face the challenges of adult life, according to The London Telegraph.
In fact, British child psychiatrists recently claimed that “teenagers were spending up to 16 hours a day playing games online with ‘potentially severe consequences’ for their education and social opportunities.”
Speaking at an educational conference in Manchester recently, John Gibson, head of the Independent Schools Association, said that compared with today’s activities, the ways that children spent their time in the 50s and 60s like playing games and even “putting the chain back on an oily bike” were viewed as “primitive preparation for adult life.”
Meanwhile, concerns over “stranger danger” have also scared parents into keeping their offspring inside. Recent surveys report that 25 percent of 8 to 10 year olds “never play outside without an adult, while one in three parents refused to allow older children to play outside the house or garden.”
Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia.
Deborah Lambert
