I Am A Strict Mom

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The other day I mentioned that I was considering letting my thirteen year old get a cell phone. After reading [b]Ross Douthat's[/b] recent column on the need for a temperance movement to resist the [i]“tyrant in our pocket”[/i] I have changed my mind, and for the time being she doesn't need one – at least not until Verizon, et al start offering [i]“great 'voice only' plans for minors.”[/i]

As a member of the school board of her Catholic school I have always been resistant to expending precious money on electronics. [b]Douthat[/b] has convinced me to keep digging in my heels:

[i]“Then there are the starker steps. Get computers — all of them — out of elementary schools, where there is no good evidence that they improve learning. Let kids learn from books for years before they’re asked to go online for research; let them play in the real before they’re enveloped by the virtual.”[/i]

Our family is going to be ahead of the curve:

[i]“I suspect that versions of these ideas will be embraced within my lifetime by a segment of the upper class and a certain kind of religious family. But the masses will still be addicted, and the technology itself will have evolved to hook and immerse — and alienate and sedate — more completely and efficiently. But what if we decided that what’s good for the Silicon Valley overlords who send their kids to a low-tech Waldorf school is also good for everyone else?”[/i]

See [i]“Resist the Internet”[/i] by [b]Ross Douthat[/b] @ [i]The New York Times[/i] (March 11, 2017) [c=#BF0000]http://nyti.ms/2nPb4kF[/c]