Katherine Johnson Martinko seeks to issue “a call to action” and offer “a nonjudgmental example of what’s working for [her] family” when it comes to kids and screens. Childhood Unplugged succeeds in the former, not so much the latter.
I found loads to agree with in the facts and people cited by Johnson Martinko. “In 1971, 80 percent of 7- and 8-year-olds walked to school, either alone or with friends, but by 1991, less than 10 percent did—and were almost all accompanied by parents. Now it’s worse. Two-thirds of 10-year-olds have never been to a shop or park by themselves.” This is bad. “Time spent on screens is time spent not doing other things.” True fact. “When it comes to fostering creative play, screens get in the way.” There are some exceptions, but as a rule, yup. “As far as developing resilience and capability goes, screens become a crutch for children.” Abso-f*@!ing-lutely. I also fully agree with her Lenore Skenazy quote saying we can’t take independence, exploration, risk, and play out of our kids’ lives and then sign them up for extracurricular activities to try to put back in the benefits of those things. The French and Dutch studies she cites showing that surveillance poisons adolescent-parent relationships made perfect sense to me. Since all of this is true, it is “OK to push back against technological creep and not resign yourself to the inevitability of it just because everyone else has.”
But Johnson Martinko veers into zealotry with statements about creating humans with “a shallow online existence” through “a strange shell of childhood that has had the life sucked out of it … a dehydrated skin of an experience.” Unlike many free-range and low-tech advocates, she fully embraces intensive parenting, even taking multiple shots at “baby containers,” like bouncy seats and strollers, and encouraging parents not to use their phones during newborn feedings. She underestimates the role of privilege in producing a screen-free childhood, and she overestimates the risk to kids of posting online, trotting out the tired and disproven specter of a college admissions officer combing through a teen’s social media feed.
And yet, there’s a lot of value here. Johnson Martinko points to a podcast episode suggesting we ask of each type of tech: “What does it amplify, what does it amputate?” When we can hold out no longer, go with a “dumb phone,” she recommends. “As for social media … [s]ign them up, but from a computer, making it the only place they’re allowed to access it.” She says we should teach our kids not to phub, relax curfews, “[r]esist the urge to provide reminders for deadlines,” and advocate for more recess and “less tech in the classroom.”
So if you read Childhood Unplugged, do it for inspiration and commiseration, but read critically, taking that which pushes your family toward habits that are healthier for everyone—and leaving the rest.
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