Yeah, I see plenty of middle aged and older folks staring at their devices as well, but there is a noticeable imbalance, especially as people get younger. It's also important to consider how the past 2.5 years of covid and the subsequent restrictions at schools have impacted the participation in sport. But even before covid, youth participation in sport has been declining, down about 8-10% in the decade before covid. There are number of reasons for the decline though, not just phones.
I understand why you feel that these comments may be unfairly ragging on kids, but there has definitely been a shift in the way kids/youth socialize today vs a generation or two ago. Of course that's not the case with your daughter tho Andrew, but she is fortunate to have a parent with a strong dedication and passion for physical activity that not every kid has. And she is still a bit on the young side compared to pre-teens and teens. But if you compare your daughter to most other kids her age, is she representative of that cohort or is she more of an outlier in terms of her participation in sport?
I think my comments are fair as my work puts me in a space that makes it is easy to observe the behaviour of a lot of school aged kids. I also get to observe many adults at the same time, including a larger proportion of older adults due to my work location.
Society is always changing, but technology has brought about some fairly rapid and distinct change over the past decade or so. It's only been 15 years since the first smart phone came out which seems like ancient times considering how much we rely on them, and right now I don't think that's a good thing for anyone, but especially not for kids as they're simply too undeveloped to handle the effects the technology has on their brain's behaviour.
Edit: some evidence on the decline of youth participation in sport.
[https://www.utoronto.ca/news/wake-covid-19-u-t-researcher-finds-steep-decline-youth-participation-sport](https://www.utoronto.ca/news/wake-covid-19-u-t-researcher-finds-steep-decline-youth-participation-sport)
Jan. 13, 2023, 10:47 p.m. - Mark
Yeah, I see plenty of middle aged and older folks staring at their devices as well, but there is a noticeable imbalance, especially as people get younger. It's also important to consider how the past 2.5 years of covid and the subsequent restrictions at schools have impacted the participation in sport. But even before covid, youth participation in sport has been declining, down about 8-10% in the decade before covid. There are number of reasons for the decline though, not just phones. I understand why you feel that these comments may be unfairly ragging on kids, but there has definitely been a shift in the way kids/youth socialize today vs a generation or two ago. Of course that's not the case with your daughter tho Andrew, but she is fortunate to have a parent with a strong dedication and passion for physical activity that not every kid has. And she is still a bit on the young side compared to pre-teens and teens. But if you compare your daughter to most other kids her age, is she representative of that cohort or is she more of an outlier in terms of her participation in sport? I think my comments are fair as my work puts me in a space that makes it is easy to observe the behaviour of a lot of school aged kids. I also get to observe many adults at the same time, including a larger proportion of older adults due to my work location. Society is always changing, but technology has brought about some fairly rapid and distinct change over the past decade or so. It's only been 15 years since the first smart phone came out which seems like ancient times considering how much we rely on them, and right now I don't think that's a good thing for anyone, but especially not for kids as they're simply too undeveloped to handle the effects the technology has on their brain's behaviour. Edit: some evidence on the decline of youth participation in sport. [https://www.utoronto.ca/news/wake-covid-19-u-t-researcher-finds-steep-decline-youth-participation-sport](https://www.utoronto.ca/news/wake-covid-19-u-t-researcher-finds-steep-decline-youth-participation-sport)