Quote:
Originally Posted by ceciltguitar
Raysachs, the switch from being mostly outdoors to being mostly indoors was not an immediate sudden change in most cases, and the change was not ubiquitous - there are still many families that spend a lot of time outdoors.
I agree that internet and video games also accelerated the transition from more people (especially kids) with more time outdoors to more people (especially kids) with more time indoors. I do think that the whole transition started with air conditioning and TV. But that’s just my opinion based on my experience and observations, again, no way to prove it.  |
Yeah, I can agree that it was one of the early drivers of the change in that trend. I probably over-reacted based on my intimate knowledge of a data point of one... Well, it was more than one because my friends were all out too, but I'm sure some kids had started staying in a lot and I just didn't see them much.
But, when you look at the continuum from when AC and TV started (with 3-5 channels in any given home!) through today with cable, 24 hour news, lifelike video games, computers, the internet, smart phones, the beginning of TV and AC looks like a pretty small and innocent beginning!
BTW, when I was a kid, my parents limited me to one hour of TV per day unless there was a Baltimore Colts game on, in which case I could watch with my Dad and older brother. I knew other kids with similar limits. It seems like parents in the early days of "screen time", understood it's potential impacts pretty well. We understand them now too, but are mostly powerless to deal with it, given how ubiquitous screens are now...
-Ray