I have noticed that anywhere I go where waiting is involved. Almost everyone is on their phone. It truly is an addiction. Try looking around in a waiting room at the Doctors, waiting on a meal at a restaurant, waiting at a tire shop, etc. In particular, people don’t talk to each other anymore. They “reach out” to total strangers, trying to validate their existence with folks that really don’t give a damn whether they live or not. It is truly sad. I am as guilty as anyone, but as the author is saying, I am trying to refocus away from phones, tablets, etc. As a recovering phone addict, it is difficult to learn how to ‘communicate’ without them.
Worse. Here in the "low income" city at least, even tossing a football or shooting hoops, youth need to stop and answer or check their phones. In addition, more are staying in to play video games rather than playing with friends outside, let alone shoveling snow as the adults do when needed. Very rare among the young. Soon, alarming reports of juvenile obesity. Wait: it is already here:
The [CDC] study is the largest tracking to date on the rate of weight gain in children and teens.By the numbers: The average body-mass index increase for children and teens approximately doubled between 2018 and 2020. About 22% of children and teens were obese last August, up from 19% a year prior.
- Children who were a healthy weight were gaining an average of 5.4 pounds a year last year, two pounds more than before the pandemic.
- Weight gain from children with moderate obesity increased from 6.5 pounds a year to 12 pounds after the pandemic began.
- For kids with severe obesity, the anticipated annual weight gain went from 8.8 pounds to 14.6 pounds.
The big picture: Heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of death in the U.S. last year despite hundreds of thousands of lives lost from COVID-19.
- These chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity are caused by diet-related factors and are often preventable. - https://www.axios.com/2021/09/17/obesity-in-children-increasing-alarming-rate
If it rings, dings, or pings, MUST. ANSWER.PHONE.