Editorial
Electronic Babies
Virtual Reality as an Opiate of the People
There is a February 2015 posting by Chris Rowan, a "pediatric occupational therapist" (people who did this used to be called "parents"), on the HuffPost blog site—an unexpected venue for writings critical of the stuff of modernity—titled "10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12." It is no surprise that the author wants the government to get in on the banning. Her ten reasons, however, which she says are "research-based," make more sense, concentrating on the tenderness of the developing mind and its susceptibility to formative influences it should only be allowed to handle with the objective and critical faculties of later years.
There is evidently much disapproval of her article from academics who don't think that enough of her wares have been purchased in their shop; viz., there is not enough actual proof in the extant research for her assertions—more and better studies are required to connect the dots she lays down so emphatically. One finds numerous examples of the widespread but rarely admitted premise of the modern academy that no one is entitled to an opinion on anything important unless it is certified by what the smartest professors (but not the dumbest ones) are thinking at present.
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S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
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