I remember as a child we had a whole neighborhood of kids to play with. You didn’t want to be inside because it was hot and mom would find chores for you to do. We had run of the entire block. Football, baseball, Frisbee, built kites, we were socialized. Nowadays, kids aren’t. They stay inside cause its hot outside, the have 500 TV channels internet, videogames, and are disconnected from each other. They have no longterm friendships, they are essentially strangers to each other.
Perhaps some of the difference is that when I was a kid, the less "social" kids did not have modern distractions, and I suspect many(?) of those kids turned to books. I well remember THAT, as my parents bought us kids many books that were a good influence -- I have even managed to hang on to most of our old set of "Ted Scott Flying Stories", and I guarantee those were a lot better influence on me than most of what kids find on the Internet, in video games, in most pop music, on TV, etc...
They’re also too busy to have friends. Kids in our neighborhood are never around — always absorbed into some sport or dance thing, or scouts ....can so and so come over? No, he’s got a 5-day scout jamboree coming up ....
Precisely.
Amish adopt a new technology only after long and deep consideration of its full effect on their lives and families, as relates to faith, temptation, righteousness.
Typical Americans are heedless with things shiny and new. To our and our children’s detriment. Repeatedly. Continuously.