This really puts things in perspective, and it's eye opening as to why things have changed over time regarding our mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. When God & family goes down our priority list everything else follows.
Social media is like eating nothing but sugar. The body starves to death looking for real sustenance. Real friendships. Real life. You can't find the meaning of life on Facebook. There's an epidemic of loneliness in our population today. Social media has done more to harm kids and adults than just about anything. Just my opinion, of course. I haven't watched TV in over 35 years so when I see it now I'm astounded at how stupid it is. That being said, I'm sitting here reading John's post on my laptop and when I'm done, I'll go back to watching the footage of this year's Iditarod. (It's how I end my winters. If I can't be running it, I can be watching it.).
That was a dramatic learning experience. Only "friendships" remained consistent until "on line" became available and all the other categories tumbled. When our surroundings are confined, we truly appreciate friends, even though there might only be a few. I always told my children that they should always have at least one true friend they could talk to - and not just one's parents. Why? Because thinking and thinking about problems can create "rabbit holes" for one's thinking, and we can imagine realities that are just not so. I used the term "screwball" as to what one might become, but there are an increasing number of dangerous screwballs who are threatening our society, and you will notice that they are either loners or the opposite of a screwball, a follower of an extreme thought group, one that makes one feel a special fellowship (as opposed to personal friendship). If you have a true friend you can say to a friend "Hey, Joe, I've been thinking that "such and such" is going terribly wrong, and that maybe I should "jada jada." A true friend might say "Come on, Jack, that's stupid. ..." Suddenly, you are popped out of your rabbit hole.
Should we really have so many "on line" friends when we are young and have not come close to sorting truth from lies and reality from temptation? Chicks in a nest can't tell that those eagles on high are not really friends. They need protection. Our teacher unions are not set up to protect our kids or even to provide quality in their education. Suppose every public school classroom had to have its classrooms videotaped, with parental access within 24 hours? How quickly could that expand into "gradeless" classrooms with the important educational topics taught by experienced teachers, with each set of students displaying similar aptitudes when entering into each of those classes? The best teachers can be easily rated by how well their students advance in relative performance during a single year. (The instant cry that I have heard is that "the teachers with the obviously better students will always rank higher." Not so. Better students almost invariably have better personal motivation, and that teacher still has to be skilled and knowledgable enough to improve their results.) The teacher with poorly
performing students will be spending more effort on improving motivation, and even expending more effort with parents, and has the opportunity for greater relative improvement in performance (and a bonus for onesself). ... Bill Lynch (bandglynch@gmail.com)
Regarding the video and it's suggestion of social media replacing perhaps more valuable uses of that time, we know that "screen time" has been increasing over at least the last 2 decades. As child I and my sister were allowed 1/2 hour a week of TV (that was in the 50s.) Today I use the computer a lot but I find, through this winter, for example, that I have been watching instructive videos regarding, primarily, information I need to become a competent off road motorcyclist which incudes riding skills and motorcycle maintenance. Also, a good bit of time is going into increasing my geography knowledge of the world. Early in my time I did a solo touring bicycle ride around the world (2-1/2 years, 1978 - 2000) meeting an estimated 10 new people each day and having to buy food and find my way around in 12 languages of which I had one, English, plus high school French--which turned out to be very valuable and you can bet I got better at it-- the others learned on the fly as one does, so my greater appreciation for the planet began. I can't travel abroad at the moment (life has gotten in the way) but through the motorcycle traveler videos I've been throughout most of South and Central America, the Middle East, Russia, The 'Stan's, Asia including a good bit of China, Mongolia and South East Asia more of Australia than I'd visited earlier. I'm learning. My only comment is that I think the "screen time" and that used on social media should be examined more closely, not pigeonholed. Not all use of that media is the same, the values potentially varying greatly. And, of course, Critical Thinking applies as we broaden our experience becoming life long learners and become, as we age, solo and sometimes lonely travelers into each our own universe of the expanding mind.
I was born in 1951 and I remember the days of black and white TV. I don’t think that color TV is an improvement. The main reason for that is because content has not improved.
John does a great job with his views on critical thinking. I wanted to add the following from Thomas Sowell and Gemini.
“Our whole educational system, from the elementary schools the universities, is increasingly turning out people who have never heard enough conflicting arguments to develop the skills and discipline required to produce a coherent analysis, based on logic and evidence. The implications of having so many people so incapable of confronting opposing arguments with anything besides ad hominem responses reach far.” Thomas Sowell
From Gemini: This quote from economist Thomas Sowell critiques modern education for producing individuals who lack critical thinking skills, opting for emotional, ideological, or ad hominem attacks over logical, evidence-based reasoning. He argues that a lack of exposure to opposing viewpoints prevents the development of necessary intellectual discipline.
Key aspects of this critique include:
Lack of Intellectual Diversity: Schools often fail to expose students to enough conflicting arguments.
"Dumbed-Down" Education: Instead of teaching how to analyze, education often results in people repeating slogans, venting emotions, and making bold assertions.
Superficial Knowledge: Many individuals with advanced education are unaware of their own ignorance because they have absorbed popular, rather than rigorously analyzed, ideas.
Implications: The inability to confront opposing views with logic leads to a societal shift towards ad hominem attacks—attacking the person rather than the argument.
Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, emphasizes that true education should provide the tools to evaluate, analyze, and reach conclusions based on evidence, rather than just promoting ideological conformity.
Thanks John for the post. Speaking of critical thinking - I thought it suspect that this video had no title or sourcing on it, so I explored the comments section on the YouTube page and apparently this is not what is described. It is not how all Americans spend their time - it measures the forums where couples have met and gotten together over time. If you read the comments and follow the thread you’ll find the same - and here is the link for the actual chart and sourcing. FWIW
You've just shown the import of Arnold Toynbee's work on Civilizations. They all rise and fall the same way, usually between 250-300 years. When civilizations become affluent then persons get entertained with their possessions and fall away from church and family. Then moral decay sets in and civilizations start giving up their freedoms, and demise follows. UNLESS we bring back Classical education that builds virtue while teaching students HOW to think and HOW to learn; not WHAT to think and WHAT to learn. From such engagement entire families are transformed by their students.
John Droz does great work explaining science, the importance of energy and energy by-products and what is happening with society. This article about how we spend time is a good example. Yes, we have dramatically changed how we spend time in the last hundred years.
What is just as amazing is how polarized Americans have become. You either share my political beliefs or you are nothing, just my inferior enemy.
How did America come to this? What does it say for the future?
The most disturbing change is Church dropped from 10% to 2%. Isn’t that the most significant loss? The internet has far more influence on our loss of direction than we realize.
Neighbors dropped from 11% to 1.2%! Isn’t that much the same problem? Communication with humans one on one is out, and GOD is being pushed out. What we need is a redirection of priorities.
For those in our age group, a lot of those changes were evolutionary. School, college and co-workers disappear in retirement. Family and friends are scattered across the country or have passed away. For some of us, the internet is school and college and work. In a broad sense, you and I are co-workers. Overall, the changes are a mixed bag.
This really puts things in perspective, and it's eye opening as to why things have changed over time regarding our mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. When God & family goes down our priority list everything else follows.
Penny: exactly.
Social media is like eating nothing but sugar. The body starves to death looking for real sustenance. Real friendships. Real life. You can't find the meaning of life on Facebook. There's an epidemic of loneliness in our population today. Social media has done more to harm kids and adults than just about anything. Just my opinion, of course. I haven't watched TV in over 35 years so when I see it now I'm astounded at how stupid it is. That being said, I'm sitting here reading John's post on my laptop and when I'm done, I'll go back to watching the footage of this year's Iditarod. (It's how I end my winters. If I can't be running it, I can be watching it.).
Nadia: Good analogy about sugar...
I'm just glad I found your posts. Always thought provoking and very worthwhile reading. Thank you!
Nadia: Much appreciated!
That was a dramatic learning experience. Only "friendships" remained consistent until "on line" became available and all the other categories tumbled. When our surroundings are confined, we truly appreciate friends, even though there might only be a few. I always told my children that they should always have at least one true friend they could talk to - and not just one's parents. Why? Because thinking and thinking about problems can create "rabbit holes" for one's thinking, and we can imagine realities that are just not so. I used the term "screwball" as to what one might become, but there are an increasing number of dangerous screwballs who are threatening our society, and you will notice that they are either loners or the opposite of a screwball, a follower of an extreme thought group, one that makes one feel a special fellowship (as opposed to personal friendship). If you have a true friend you can say to a friend "Hey, Joe, I've been thinking that "such and such" is going terribly wrong, and that maybe I should "jada jada." A true friend might say "Come on, Jack, that's stupid. ..." Suddenly, you are popped out of your rabbit hole.
Should we really have so many "on line" friends when we are young and have not come close to sorting truth from lies and reality from temptation? Chicks in a nest can't tell that those eagles on high are not really friends. They need protection. Our teacher unions are not set up to protect our kids or even to provide quality in their education. Suppose every public school classroom had to have its classrooms videotaped, with parental access within 24 hours? How quickly could that expand into "gradeless" classrooms with the important educational topics taught by experienced teachers, with each set of students displaying similar aptitudes when entering into each of those classes? The best teachers can be easily rated by how well their students advance in relative performance during a single year. (The instant cry that I have heard is that "the teachers with the obviously better students will always rank higher." Not so. Better students almost invariably have better personal motivation, and that teacher still has to be skilled and knowledgable enough to improve their results.) The teacher with poorly
performing students will be spending more effort on improving motivation, and even expending more effort with parents, and has the opportunity for greater relative improvement in performance (and a bonus for onesself). ... Bill Lynch (bandglynch@gmail.com)
Bill: I would agree that it is a dramatic learning experience.
Regarding the video and it's suggestion of social media replacing perhaps more valuable uses of that time, we know that "screen time" has been increasing over at least the last 2 decades. As child I and my sister were allowed 1/2 hour a week of TV (that was in the 50s.) Today I use the computer a lot but I find, through this winter, for example, that I have been watching instructive videos regarding, primarily, information I need to become a competent off road motorcyclist which incudes riding skills and motorcycle maintenance. Also, a good bit of time is going into increasing my geography knowledge of the world. Early in my time I did a solo touring bicycle ride around the world (2-1/2 years, 1978 - 2000) meeting an estimated 10 new people each day and having to buy food and find my way around in 12 languages of which I had one, English, plus high school French--which turned out to be very valuable and you can bet I got better at it-- the others learned on the fly as one does, so my greater appreciation for the planet began. I can't travel abroad at the moment (life has gotten in the way) but through the motorcycle traveler videos I've been throughout most of South and Central America, the Middle East, Russia, The 'Stan's, Asia including a good bit of China, Mongolia and South East Asia more of Australia than I'd visited earlier. I'm learning. My only comment is that I think the "screen time" and that used on social media should be examined more closely, not pigeonholed. Not all use of that media is the same, the values potentially varying greatly. And, of course, Critical Thinking applies as we broaden our experience becoming life long learners and become, as we age, solo and sometimes lonely travelers into each our own universe of the expanding mind.
I was born in 1951 and I remember the days of black and white TV. I don’t think that color TV is an improvement. The main reason for that is because content has not improved.
Bill: There were some interesting programs on then — like Rod Sterling...
Paul: Yes, there are some good uses of screen time. That said, the evidence is that few people are going to the extent thst you did.
John does a great job with his views on critical thinking. I wanted to add the following from Thomas Sowell and Gemini.
“Our whole educational system, from the elementary schools the universities, is increasingly turning out people who have never heard enough conflicting arguments to develop the skills and discipline required to produce a coherent analysis, based on logic and evidence. The implications of having so many people so incapable of confronting opposing arguments with anything besides ad hominem responses reach far.” Thomas Sowell
From Gemini: This quote from economist Thomas Sowell critiques modern education for producing individuals who lack critical thinking skills, opting for emotional, ideological, or ad hominem attacks over logical, evidence-based reasoning. He argues that a lack of exposure to opposing viewpoints prevents the development of necessary intellectual discipline.
Key aspects of this critique include:
Lack of Intellectual Diversity: Schools often fail to expose students to enough conflicting arguments.
"Dumbed-Down" Education: Instead of teaching how to analyze, education often results in people repeating slogans, venting emotions, and making bold assertions.
Superficial Knowledge: Many individuals with advanced education are unaware of their own ignorance because they have absorbed popular, rather than rigorously analyzed, ideas.
Implications: The inability to confront opposing views with logic leads to a societal shift towards ad hominem attacks—attacking the person rather than the argument.
Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, emphasizes that true education should provide the tools to evaluate, analyze, and reach conclusions based on evidence, rather than just promoting ideological conformity.
Thanks John for the post. Speaking of critical thinking - I thought it suspect that this video had no title or sourcing on it, so I explored the comments section on the YouTube page and apparently this is not what is described. It is not how all Americans spend their time - it measures the forums where couples have met and gotten together over time. If you read the comments and follow the thread you’ll find the same - and here is the link for the actual chart and sourcing. FWIW
https://youtube.com/shorts/_0gh-Nt9AnE?si=UerNyzm6mdc9H1u4
Chris: TY. I saw several versions of this video, so was not sure which one to cite!
You've just shown the import of Arnold Toynbee's work on Civilizations. They all rise and fall the same way, usually between 250-300 years. When civilizations become affluent then persons get entertained with their possessions and fall away from church and family. Then moral decay sets in and civilizations start giving up their freedoms, and demise follows. UNLESS we bring back Classical education that builds virtue while teaching students HOW to think and HOW to learn; not WHAT to think and WHAT to learn. From such engagement entire families are transformed by their students.
Marty: A spot-on assessment.
People must realize this or our kids are toast. Thanks Marty
John Droz does great work explaining science, the importance of energy and energy by-products and what is happening with society. This article about how we spend time is a good example. Yes, we have dramatically changed how we spend time in the last hundred years.
What is just as amazing is how polarized Americans have become. You either share my political beliefs or you are nothing, just my inferior enemy.
How did America come to this? What does it say for the future?
John: TY for the kind words. We need to think about where we are spending out time, just like we need to think about what we eat, etc.
The most disturbing change is Church dropped from 10% to 2%. Isn’t that the most significant loss? The internet has far more influence on our loss of direction than we realize.
Neighbors dropped from 11% to 1.2%! Isn’t that much the same problem? Communication with humans one on one is out, and GOD is being pushed out. What we need is a redirection of priorities.
Jim: Yes. The family decline is also disturbing.
John,
For those in our age group, a lot of those changes were evolutionary. School, college and co-workers disappear in retirement. Family and friends are scattered across the country or have passed away. For some of us, the internet is school and college and work. In a broad sense, you and I are co-workers. Overall, the changes are a mixed bag.
Ed: TY for your perspective. IMO we have evolutionary as well as revolutionary changes...