From a teacher. Something to think about.

[Mark Wainwright]

Yesterday, I shut down class about 5 minutes early and told my students I wanted them to just sit and talk to one another. Several of them immediately opened their laptops and began navigating to their favorite computer game.
I said, "No, no laptops. I want you to have face-to-face conversations right now."
After a collective groan went up, I observed something both wonderful and alarming. For the next few minutes, a couple of tables came alive with conversation. They looked at each other in the eyes and talked with great enthusiasm and interest. It was beautiful to watch and listen to.
However, many students were deflated. They did not know what to do without some sort of entertainment from a device. A couple of them put their heads down and avoided eye contact with anyone. I went around the room to those students and tried to engage with them. Some of them mustered a few words, but most didn't know what to do.
I share this story as a wakeup call for parents, grandparents, and guardians. It's tragic to me that a large percentage of today's youth do not know how to have real conversation, but it's not their fault. It is our responsibility as adults to lead by example and hold our kids accountable. Unplug every day, talk, and listen to your children. Getting lost in a device does not help them cope with and overcome the things they're going through mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. All it causes is isolation and depression. They need relationships; they need you.

 

[70duste]

so true!!! how many times do we go to public places and see kids and parents on their phones at dinner or anything else like a family get together ? i work at a school district and see this happen all the time. its a shame..

 

[barbee6043]

At that tragic news conference Tx governor Abbott held yesterday, he noted that an 18 year old has been legal to buy a "long rifle" for the last 60 years, but not until just a few years has Tx. experienced school shootings. Why???

 

[RON REAGLE]

I am trying to help raise a young man who is constantly attached to some kind of electronic screen. We have tried "no electronics Monday" just to have one day a week where he isn't staring at a screen. We as a society are going to be in REAL TROUBLE as the youngest generation (and I mean 2-3 year olds) are already addicted to screens. The Chinese and Japanese are TEACHING their kids how to build and design technology WE LET OUR KIDS USE THEM LIKE MINDLESS DRONES. The lack of basic social skills in young kids is only the beginning.

 

[diymirage]

my kids go to private school and the use all sorts of archaic mediums, these big heavy paper things called "books"
they know how to use this little stick that if you press down on it it leaks ink out and you can write with it...i think they call it a fountain pen

for a while i had my 2 oldest in my sundayschool class and when one of them would write on the board, the only other kid in class who could read it was their sibling...because they would write in cursive

At that tragic news conference Tx governor Abbott held yesterday, he noted that an 18 year old has been legal to buy a "long rifle" for the last 60 years, but not until just a few years has Tx. experienced school shootings. Why???

i could tell you but we'd be in for a ride

 

[toolmanmike]

i could tell you but we'd be in for a ride

View attachment 1715933242

 

[Treblig]

I tagged you on the " I've done this" post!

 

[No name needed]

The country is full of Functional Illiterate People.
Some I've met have more common sense then Self Righteous People.
Education only carries you so far.

 

[jos51700]

I'm currently on a construction site. Plenty of young people working but it's kinda like the farm boys saving WWII. A few of the strong are going to have to carry the weak.

 

[Mark Wainwright]

so true!!! how many times do we go to public places and see kids and parents on their phones at dinner or anything else like a family get together ? i work at a school district and see this happen all the time. its a shame..

They call it a cell for a reason.

 

[Mark Wainwright]

At that tragic news conference Tx governor Abbott held yesterday, he noted that an 18 year old has been legal to buy a "long rifle" for the last 60 years, but not until just a few years has Tx. experienced school shootings. Why???

They can't buy beer but can buy a gun. We had a guy yesterday in Toronto riding a bike around with a rifle by a school. The police were called and the school went into lockdown. The guy got into a big hassle with the police and was shot dead. No muss, no fuss, no trial, no jailtime on the publics dime. Perfect scenario and the perp the only one dead.

 

[barbee6043]

Back in the 1960s. Georgia. At 18 there, I could legally buy a gun, alcohol, and get drafted and sent to Nam to die. Most states required you to be 21 to buy booze but old enough at 18 to die.
All the details of what and how it all went down at Uvalde is still unclear.

 

[diymirage]

Back in the 1960s. Georgia. At 18 there, I could legally buy a gun, alcohol, and get drafted and sent to Nam to die. Most states required you to be 21 to buy booze but old enough at 18 to die.
All the details of what and how it all went down at Uvalde is still unclear.

 

[69moredoor]

I have a 16 year old son
Like most his age, he loves his tech. I have to walk a fine line. He is starting career shopping. He takes programming classes and currently that’s his career interest. I definitely TELL him not to do what my job is

I expose him to cars/tools/outdoor activities/firearms/etc

I actively try to find balance with tech to foster career choices vs becoming a well rounded man

I guide but let him choose. He currently only wants to work on his car (99 Cherokee)but will help me with mine with prodding. One thing I do realize is most parents of fathers don’t teach how to be a man. They let society and phones. One of my sons favorite thing is to hang out with me and my guy friends. He hangs out with a bunch of non-beta 40 somethings. He thinks we are all crazy but he learns how men interact with each other. How they pick on each other mercilessly and don’t get upset, but laugh. He learns how people talk and interact. None of my friends are shy. All will start conversations with strangers.
His friends in school? They do most communications via phone
He gets exposed to both and can choose his path. But I will guide as best I can..
A lot of people are too busy working for the next shiney thing and missing out on raising their kid.
I’m doing my best and taking it seriously. He is most important. Raising him is paramount. Provide? Yes of course…but being an example is just as important

 

[Treblig]

Back in the 1960s. Georgia. At 18 there, I could legally buy a gun, alcohol, and get drafted and sent to Nam to die. Most states required you to be 21 to buy booze but old enough at 18 to die.
All the details of what and how it all went down at Uvalde is still unclear.

Things have changed a lot since then (60s).................................we never went around slaughtering large numbers of kids in schools, or churches or malls or grocery stores. My Dad had lots of guns in the house but we (me and my brother) never touched them unless my Dad was present and watching us as we cleaned them or if we out hunting in the brush. The thought of taking one of my Dad's guns out of the house never ever crossed our minds! We would have been beaten to a pulp.

 

[harrisonm]

My wife and I often go out for a late breakfast or an early lunch after church. I wish I had a dollar for every time I saw a table with a parent(s), and a few teenage kids where the kids are on their phones the entire time. Absolutely no talking taking place. When they get up to leave, the kid's meals are frequently untouched. I am 71, we obviously did not have cell phones when my kids were young. But if we did, I will guarantee you that my kids would not have been sitting at the table glued the their phones. If they had phones, they would have been in my pocket or mom's purse during the meal. What is going to happen to the world when these mind numbed kids graduate and ALL want to work from home, order food online, order clothes online, order furniture online, order booze online.......

 

[Jeff Seighman]

I have family and friends get pissed at me because sometimes when they call, I don't immediately pick up, sometimes I just don't want to talk or I'm outside with my cats or working on my car and don't take my phone with me, when I'm in my car my phone is off. I'm 64 and I survived without a phone glued to my ear and that's the way it's going to stay. If they don't like it, tough ****!

 

[Mark Wainwright]

Back in the 1960s. Georgia. At 18 there, I could legally buy a gun, alcohol, and get drafted and sent to Nam to die. Most states required you to be 21 to buy booze but old enough at 18 to die.
All the details of what and how it all went down at Uvalde is still unclear.

That was just insanity and why did it take over an hour for the backups to come.

 

[Mark Wainwright]

They can't buy beer but can buy a gun. We had a guy yesterday in Toronto riding a bike around with a rifle by a school. The police were called and the school went into lockdown. The guy got into a big hassle with the police and was shot dead. No muss, no fuss, no trial, no jailtime on the publics dime. Perfect scenario and the perp the only one dead.

Update on this story. The guy had a BB gun. So be it, the police told him to drop the gun and he wouldn't so they shot him dead.
As my retired cop friend says "You're better to be tried by 12 then carried by 6".
The school where my grandson goes had a lock down today as well as 4 other junior schools and two high schools. They found a gun in the area is all I know. He said the ambulance showed up at his school because one of the teacher had a heart attack. Hope they catch the dumbass and throw the book at him.

 

[Mark Wainwright]

I have a 16 year old son
Like most his age, he loves his tech. I have to walk a fine line. He is starting career shopping. He takes programming classes and currently that’s his career interest. I definitely TELL him not to do what my job is

I expose him to cars/tools/outdoor activities/firearms/etc

I actively try to find balance with tech to foster career choices vs becoming a well rounded man

I guide but let him choose. He currently only wants to work on his car (99 Cherokee)but will help me with mine with prodding. One thing I do realize is most parents of fathers don’t teach how to be a man. They let society and phones. One of my sons favorite thing is to hang out with me and my guy friends. He hangs out with a bunch of non-beta 40 somethings. He thinks we are all crazy but he learns how men interact with each other. How they pick on each other mercilessly and don’t get upset, but laugh. He learns how people talk and interact. None of my friends are shy. All will start conversations with strangers.
His friends in school? They do most communications via phone
He gets exposed to both and can choose his path. But I will guide as best I can..
A lot of people are too busy working for the next shiney thing and missing out on raising their kid.
I’m doing my best and taking it seriously. He is most important. Raising him is paramount. Provide? Yes of course…but being an example is just as important

Good for you. Letting him make his own decisions is excellent. Forcing him to a area that he has no interest isn't good and will never get ahead. Too bad other parents aren't thinking the same way. Might be a better world.

 

[Mark Wainwright]

I have family and friends get pissed at me because sometimes when they call, I don't immediately pick up, sometimes I just don't want to talk or I'm outside with my cats or working on my car and don't take my phone with me, when I'm in my car my phone is off. I'm 64 and I survived without a phone glued to my ear and that's the way it's going to stay. If they don't like it, tough ****!

You're absolutely right Jeff. We are addicted to these dam things. We'd get a lot more done without them constantly ringing.
Kids today don't know how to communicate face to face because of no verbal interaction.
They can't add in their head, they can't write in cursive and don't get to play using their imagination. Take their electronics away and they are totally lost. Really sad.

 

[barbee6043]

The grand kid that is 2 1/2 probably has 200 toys, all sizes and prices. If he did not have those he would go outside and play with dirt, rocks, sticks, dog turds, what ever and be just fine!!
Parents are 95% of the kids problems.

 

[retroron]

I'm not a political person and I believe in the second amendment blah, blah, but for the life of me I don't know why anyone needs a AR15 style weapon. The last time I checked deer and elk weren't armed. And, I used to hunt and I still have an .06 and a couple shot guns.

 

[diymirage]

I'm not a political person and I believe in the second amendment blah, blah, but for the life of me I don't know why anyone needs a AR15 style weapon. The last time I checked deer and elk weren't armed. And, I used to hunt and I still have an .06 and a couple shot guns.

what in the world do deer have the do wit the second amendment?

when the founding father wrote it they hadnt just gotten back from a hunting trip, they had just overthrown the worlds most advanced army


why did Rosa Parks have to sit on the front of the bus ?

it was her right, there is no need to give a reason to exercise it

 

[Mark Wainwright]