50 Comments

1. Stephanie Abreu:

Mr. Malone- Writing this piece with you was so much fun! Your style is phenomenal and I love reading your work. Thanks for coming to Res and helping us learn more about tech. — Stephanie

May 15, 2009 - 6:56 am 2. Pajamas Media » The Technological World Through Young Eyes:

[...] Read the rest of the story here. [...]

May 16, 2009 - 12:33 am 3. Delia:

Mr. Malone,

“You take the good, you take the bad, you take the happy, take the sad, the facts of life!” LOL!

Tech in whatever form is [indeed] a reflection on us…only the mirror’s ‘back atchya’ is instantaneous.

Unfortch, the children of today growing up in the ‘digital’ world have some very hard lessons yet to learn. I can’t imagine growing up in an age where my every idiotic mistake could be taped on a cell-phone and posted on youtube of all things. Good gawd! Thank heaven’s for small favors that I was born in the internet dark-ages. ha-ha!

Love the article. Thank you for the smiles.

May 16, 2009 - 3:59 am 4. G Alston:

Whatever. Interview _normal_ teens at a non-catholic school and you will get a different answer. Of course the religious school kids will answer like that. That’s what they’ve been programmed to do.

It’s no secret that side by side snapshots of same age teens that go to public school vs catholic school will show that the catholic kids are socially retarded.

May 16, 2009 - 8:37 am 5. msmalone:

G. Alston: Do you REALLY believe that? Have you gotten out much here in the 21st century? I’ve got one son in public school and one in Catholic school(and I’m Presbyterian), and I can honestly say that I can’t see any difference between the two — except that the Catholic school kids have more sports and are better dressed. Perhaps you should revisit your prejudices . . .or the scars from your childhood.

May 16, 2009 - 9:06 am 6. G Alston:

#5 — Perhaps you should revisit your prejudices . . .or the scars from your childhood.

I have a child that age in public school; her friend goes to a catholic school. I speak from my experience.

On the plus side the catholics have a better organised sports system. Academically they appear equal. Where the catholic kids are subpar is socialisation.

May 16, 2009 - 9:21 am 7. Colette:

If she’s socially retarded, why is she your daughter’s friend? What a ridiculous generalization to make based on your extremely narrow range of observation.

May 16, 2009 - 9:28 am 8. Delia:

4. G Alston:

“Whatever. Interview _normal_ teens at a non-catholic school and you will get a different answer. Of course the religious school kids will answer like that. That’s what they’ve been programmed to do.”

WTF is a ‘normal’ teen? You mean the ones who have learned how to put a condom on a banana or roll a joint?

“Programmed”? Liberal teachers are ‘programming’ children with their spasmodic indoctrination like gang-busters! Here’s a prime example: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-chimp-cartoon-when-race-becomes-monkey-business/

A ‘teacher’ on that topic’s thread was actually discussing the ‘victimization’ of black people over a political cartoon in her class room! -And, when I busted her on it she had no response to counter me with.

Thank the good Lord I was able to home school my daughter! She recently got her GED and rated in the 90th+ percentile for all subjects. -And, she has no political affiliations, she’s a free-thinker and she’s MY LIVING ANGEL.

May 16, 2009 - 9:32 am 9. newton:

# 6

I’ve seen kids at Catholic and other religious schools. Apart from rigorous academics and uniforms, I see very little difference from those at the public schools. Socialization? They have their little groups, too. They go to movies, the fast food… just about the same.

The real difference? The mountains of homework that pay off in the form of admissions to the colleges of their choice.

As for your prejudice against them – why the hell do you have a child in a Catholic school? If you care so much about “socialization”, there are plenty of public schools, in which there’s no lack of social groups – the only real thing about government schools. As for their education, I cannot vouch for them.

May 16, 2009 - 9:39 am 10. Delia:

7. Colette:

“If she’s socially retarded, why is she your daughter’s friend? What a ridiculous generalization to make based on your extremely narrow range of observation.”
~

Wow. That was succinct! I wish I’d have said that! Good one, Colette. Seriously, girrrrrrrrrl! If the Catholic schooled ‘friend’ is so ’socially retarded’ then what business does that child have being ‘friends’ with G Alston’s ’supposedly’ superior child?

You know what children learn from being schooled with other children? Drugs, Sex and Rock-N-Roll. Ain’t life grand? Truth is, you put your child amongst a cess-pool of other children from all backgrounds and your child is [no doubt] going to be affected. You can be the best parent on earth but if you put your child amongst children who have the worst parents on earth…well, good luck with all that!

May 16, 2009 - 10:27 am 11. Delia:

P.S. -Which is why 0bama will never allow his daughters to attend a public school.

May 16, 2009 - 10:29 am 12. G Alston:

#7 — If she’s socially retarded, why is she your daughter’s friend?

Lacking in knowledge about many things doesn’t make her a bad person. I said merely that in an agewise comparison, she’s behind socially. And keeping this in context (rather than making idiotic assumptions about your intentions) that skews the article’s conclusions.

#8 — You know what children learn from being schooled with other children? Drugs, Sex and Rock-N-Roll. Ain’t life grand?

I raised a number of children. They went to public schools. All but one have degrees in the sciences. All are good kids and able to think and do for themselves. My last one would like to be a doctor. And she’s fairly expert at playing guitar in a rock band. Oh my.

May 16, 2009 - 11:34 am 13. Delia:

12. G Alston:

“I said merely that in an agewise comparison, she’s behind socially.”

Your B.S. is showing. I grew up in public schools and I was painfully shy and withdrawn, constantly teased because I was ‘poor’ and didn’t have the right ‘clothes’ and an outcast except for my other ‘outcast’ friends. To say that public school is the ‘end all/be all’ of socialization is pathetically evil at worst and ignorant at best. You want to know what public schools teach kids as far as socialization?
Here ya go:

1). ‘Cliques’ If you’re not ‘in’ one you’re ‘out’ in the social b.s.

2). Money. If you don’t or can’t afford the latest/greatest clothing/gizmos, you’re a ‘nobody’.

3). Sex. Everyone is doing it! Why isn’t your kid? Ugly? Homely? Frigid?

4). Teachers. They write crap on a chalkboard and hardly engage students or help them understand any more.

5). Interaction. There’s hardly TIME for interaction between students any longer except for a short lunch break and then the ‘cliques’ go to their own circles so big whoop!

6). Fresh air. Being stapped to a desk for almost a whole day as a child is UNHEALTHY. At a time in your life when you should be enjoying your young, creak-free body, the last thing you should be doing is being stuck at a desk in a musty room.

7). Parents are lazy. Face it. You could have afforded to have ‘less’ in life and given your child MORE by home schooling but you didn’t and your sorry excuse for ’socialization’ is a bust.

Get over yourself.

“And she’s fairly expert at playing guitar in a rock band. Oh my.”

Good on her! I’m proud of my child too.

May 16, 2009 - 11:55 am 14. Juvenal:

Having taught college freshmen at a public university, I can tell you that there’s a WORLD of difference between Catholic-school graduates and their public-school counterparts, and it’s got nothing to do with social adeptness.

The Catholic school (and other private school) kids are much better prepared academically. I have a feeling that the kids Malone spoke to are only able to reflect on their experiences with technology because of the balance and academic rigor that being educated in that environment gives them. I asked my students to write about their experiences with technology, and anything coming close to the astuteness and intelligence of these 8th-graders was completely beyond most of the 18-year-old products of public schools that I had. And the private school products were probably better adjusted socially as well, overall.

If G Alston had said that homeschooled kids were socially challenged compared to others, he might’ve had half a point. But while that may be, kids who were homeschooled were far, far ahead of ANY of the other kids academically in my experience.

A good book to read on the effect technology has had on college students is Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation.

May 16, 2009 - 2:03 pm 15. Morton Doodslag:

Common decency, along with the 100% likelihood that these students would be reading this article (see post #1 for proof…), should have convinced G. Alston to moderate his language and ludicrous mean spirited assertions.

I’m surprised by these conclusions. The comments about technology as an addiction, and the detachment from reality which technology engenders are especially troubling. When added to the relentless negativism and pessimism of the current crop of adults ( apocalyptic global warming, shows like “After Humans” on National Geographic, the ecological fanaticism and extremist zealotry of Al Gore, et al), I’m sad for these kids. On some deep level it seems like we are failing them with our good intentions.

May 16, 2009 - 2:29 pm 16. AP:

How do kids saying that “spending hours on Facebook is bad” equate to social retardation?

May 16, 2009 - 3:49 pm 17. Gozer the Carpathian:

My baby girl is only 5 months old so I have no clue where she’s going to go. I’d like her to go to Private school but I may not be able to afford it when the time comes. (Heck they might not exsist who knows?) I grew up in public school, and my wife went to public school in Australia. Yeah, I bet we’d be called “Socially Retarded” as well.

Hell what does that even mean?

Does that mean you don’t know how to talk to other kids? What shows are on TV? What music to listen to? What Facebook pages to go to? What the hell is Socially Retarded?

May 16, 2009 - 4:40 pm 18. G Alston:

#14 — Does that mean you don’t know how to talk to other kids? What shows are on TV? What music to listen to? What Facebook pages to go to? What the hell is Socially Retarded?

Sorta/kinda all of the above. Example:

Many of the parents intend to protect their children, so they disallow MTV etc in their homes. So what invariably happens is that these kids go to their friends homes and gobble as much MTV as they can. Whether it’s my house or the neighbour kid down the street, doesn’t matter. Because the parents deny it (MTV, various web sites, etc.) they’re a bit out of the loop.

Thing is, add up a great number of restrictions from the parents and the kids are no longer on the same page as their contemporaries.

Is it the word “retarded” meaning “behind” that you guys are all up in arms about? Are you all so illiterate that you think retarded equates to “stupid”? Do you think I’m calling catholic kids dumb? No. I’m saying that they’re socially behind their peers in public school. That anyone could even question this is incredible; it’s such a well known phenomenon that it ought to be etched in stone somewhere by now.

May 16, 2009 - 5:03 pm 19. Savannah:

Um that’s not necessarily true. Most Catholic school kids are right on par with the public school kids. I would know. I am one. Us private school kids aren’t “socially behind” (whatever the hell you mean by that). I go through just about the same problems as my public school friends go through. Peer pressure, drugs, alcohol and even sex. So unless you went to a Catholic school, don’t speak for others. Get your facts straight. From what I see, these are all stereotypes. Im 14 years old and I think this conversation is absolutely STUPID.

How about we all agree to disagree and put and end to this “retarded” controversy. Everyone will be happy.

May 16, 2009 - 6:31 pm 20. myth buster:

Alston, considering what passes for socialization in most public schools, is that necessarily a bad thing? I was fortunate enough to attend a high school large enough that everybody can fit in with some group. When there are 4,000 students, being popular isn’t that big a deal since there are still bound to be hundreds of kids in your own class who have never heard of you.

May 16, 2009 - 7:25 pm 21. "Social Retardate":

G Alston:
How can you possible call us Socially Retarded? You say that you speak from your own experiences when using a term such as that one to describe catholic school children, but you admit that “your experiences” consist of one friend of your daughter. This is absolutely a false representation of us catholic school students. As we all know, all schools educate many different types of children. The difference between smaller catholic schools such as Resurrection and public schools consisting of larger, less connected communities besides the fact that we learn about our faith rather than blindly following it, is that we are obviously more protected as well as a tighter-knit a community as a whole.
To address your second point, we are not “programmed” in any way shape or form to be against any facet of our society. On the contrary, our individuality is both encouraged and developed in our years at Res just as much as in any other public school. While developing the concept that technology is hurting our youth, the benefits of new technology, namely computers, TV, and cell phones, were not enough to outweigh or justify the disadvantages and harm that they were committing against our nations youth. These new technologies may be helpful to the degree of being essential to a degree, but they are too easily abused, and the evidence is all around us. Our nation’s obesity rate is on the rise, and people use social networking and I.M’s as a substitute for face-to-face conversations.
If you wish to let our nation’s children, the children of the future, become just another statistic, that is your choice, but if your view of a normal child is one that cannot face the facts and cannot see the negative impact of technology on society, then I am proud to call myself a social retard and an abnormal child.

May 16, 2009 - 7:28 pm 22. "Social Retardate":

Dear G Alston,
How can you possible call us Socially Retarded? You say that you speak from your own experiences when using a term such as that one to describe catholic school children, but you admit that “your experiences” consist of one friend of your daughter. This is absolutely a false representation of us catholic school students. As we all know, all schools educate many different types of children. The difference between smaller catholic schools such as Resurrection and public schools consisting of larger, less connected communities besides the fact that we learn about our faith rather than blindly following it, is that we are obviously more protected as well as a tighter-knit a community as a whole.
To address your second point, we are not “programmed” in any way shape or form to be against any facet of our society. On the contrary, our individuality is both encouraged and developed in our years at Res just as much as in any other public school. While developing the concept that technology is hurting our youth, the benefits of new technology, namely computers, TV, and cell phones, were not enough to outweigh or justify the disadvantages and harm that they were committing against our nations youth. These new technologies may be helpful to the degree of being essential to a degree, but they are too easily abused, and the evidence is all around us. Our nation’s obesity rate is on the rise, and people use social networking and I.M’s as a substitute for face-to-face conversations.
If you wish to let our nation’s children, the children of the future, become just another statistic, that is your choice, but if your view of a normal child is one that cannot face the facts and cannot see the negative impact of technology on society, then I am proud to call myself a social retard and an abnormal child.

May 16, 2009 - 7:44 pm 23. Juvenal:

After reading that last comment of his, I’m convinced: G Alston has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.

May 16, 2009 - 7:58 pm 24. Evan:

To G Alston:
How can you possible call us Socially Retarded? You say that you speak from your own experiences when using a term such as that one to describe catholic school children, but you admit that “your experiences” consist of one friend of your daughter. This is absolutely a false representation of us catholic school students. As we all know, all schools educate many different types of children. The difference between smaller catholic schools such as Resurrection and public schools consisting of larger, less connected communities besides the fact that we learn about our faith rather than blindly following it, is that we are obviously more protected as well as a tighter-knit a community as a whole.
To address your second point, we are not “programmed” in any way shape or form to be against any facet of our society. On the contrary, our individuality is both encouraged and developed in our years at Res just as much as in any other public school. While developing the concept that technology is hurting our youth, the benefits of new technology, namely computers, TV, and cell phones, were not enough to outweigh or justify the disadvantages and harm that they were committing against our nations youth. These new technologies may be helpful to the degree of being essential to a degree, but they are too easily abused, and the evidence is all around us. Our nation’s obesity rate is on the rise, and people use social networking and I.M’s as a substitute for face-to-face conversations.
If you wish to let our nation’s children, the children of the future, become just another statistic, that is your choice, but if your view of a normal child is one that cannot face the facts and cannot see the negative impact of technology on society, then I am proud to call myself a social retard and an abnormal child.

May 16, 2009 - 8:23 pm 25. WhyamInotsurprised?:

GAlston – You must be laughing your ass off that you can “instigate” the responses you’ve generated here! You use inflamatory words like “retarded” and then give your definition as a defense against the responses. You are a clown.

Personally, as I read the comments of the “kids” I found them to be very insightful. This tells me that somewhere, somehow, they are “thinking” about what their lives are comprised of. These kids are a cut above from the average teen. If missing out on some MTV is your definition of “retarded,” so be it. They express their thoughts in very eloquent terms, no slang, ebonics rap-crap, so that their intelligence shines.

I admire their intelligence and their ability to express profound ideas. Your judgement of them is kindergarten stuff.

May 16, 2009 - 9:13 pm 26. Self-hating Boomer:

Michael, this is marginally on topic, but it really irritates me when silicon people refer to electronic technology or information technology as “technology”, as if all of the other technology from wheels to rockets doesn’t exist. It’s at best highly inaccurate, and at worst, egotistical.

A related error that people in the media do all of the time is confuse science with technology, as in “scientists invent new…”. Scientists don’t invent squat, never did , never will. In fact much technology (for example cooking) is more alchemy than science.

I think it would be a lot more professional to use accurate terminology, and refer to information technology as information technology. Or at least I would expect that from someone inside of the industry.

/rant off

May 16, 2009 - 9:19 pm 27. Newton:

At what point does the labeling, generalizations, and stereotypes end? Catholic schools, or private schools for that matter, don’t preach that the Internet/technology is a dark and lonely cyberspace. Unlike public schools, technology is rather encouraged and is actually provided for the students that attend Catholic schools.
So what you’re saying, G. Alston, is that staying up until 3 a.m. on the Internet or on the computer is completely healthy? But since Catholic school students say differently, it automatically means that public school kids are better because they love the Internet?
In no way has religion influenced the students’ beliefs about technology. Even if it did, why are you putting down a devout Catholic? That is their lifestyle and ultimately their choice, so discriminating and jumping to conclusions makes you – G. Alston – the social retard in this situation.
I’m sorry if you think public schools are superior than any other schooling systems, but calling 13-14 year olds “social retards” isn’t doing anything to prove your point. It just proves that you are a lonely, sheltered 50 year old loser who preys on those who express their thoughts and opinions.
So can someone tell me why religion and views on a particular topic seem to perpetuate “social retardation”?

May 16, 2009 - 9:26 pm 28. Evan:

WhyamInotsurprised:
FYI, four of the comments on this article were made by kids who I know and also attend Resurrection and don’t particularly appreciate being called socially retarded. Secondly, our writing style is eloquent – if it doesn’t make me sound full of myself – because Mr. Malone came in for an hour every day of the week to teach us certain writing techniques while developing this article and listening to our personal opinions…see the first comment.

May 16, 2009 - 9:35 pm 29. msmalone:

Self-hating Boomer: The simplified nomenclature is a residue of my many years as a newspaperman. Writing for the San Jose Mercury-News — that is, the home paper of Silicon Valley — I was repeatedly told by my editors that while half of paper’s readers were Electronics Engineers, the other half had never heard of the term ‘IC’. So, the first time I used that term in a story (and you can imagine how often that happened when you are covering the semiconductor industry), I had to write out “Integrated Circuit” and explain how it was a computer chip. I still find myself doing that out of habit. As for the use of ‘tech’. . .come on, that’s standard usage for ‘high technology’, which in turn is synonymous with digital electronics. I’m sorry that doesn’t include rocketry in everyday usage, but there you go. As for scientists versus engineers, you and I both know that even in electronics companies the folks in the R&D labs, usually PhDs in solid-state physics, etc. are typically called ’scientists’, while the application and design guys are considered ‘engineers.’

As for G. Alston: Dude, you’ve been p0wn3d – and by a bunch of eighth graders. If those eloquent comments from the students at Resurrection don’t convince you that they are the furthest thing from ’socially retarded’, nothing will.

– Mike Malone, editor-in-chief

May 16, 2009 - 10:09 pm 30. Annapurna (a.k.a. "Savannah":

WORD. ^^

May 16, 2009 - 11:50 pm 31. Delia:

“p0wn3d” indeed!

Them thar Catholic school kids make me feel socially retarded now! Have pity on me. I was public sk00led.

May 17, 2009 - 5:09 am 32. Stephen:

Actually, Mr. Malone’s “six broad catagories” are much more interesting than these postings which are a poor excuse for “comments” on the actual article, which appears to affirm Point #1. Are any of you concerned that point #1 may actually affect your kids (or your)lives? What can be gleaned from the article? Other than discussing whether or not Catholic school kids are less adept socially than are home schooled or public school kids? I guess nothing. Point #1 appears to be a good starting point for getting my grans out the door and into the real world. Observing real ants at work in the fields may be a better education than observing them at work on the computer screen – or is it? Its also a good point for myself. I’m responding, wasting my time, procrastinating about lots of things I should be doing. But it is fun.

I’m going out into my fields to watch some birds and listen to the freedom calls of the circling hawks – maybe I’ll learn something today.

May 17, 2009 - 5:52 am 33. baluc/ka:

Mike, great article.

I’m impressed with the students’ introspection and insight about the breakneck pace of technology in their daily lives.

I don’t remember having profound thoughts at 13. Then again, things were a lot slower.

When I was that age in 1981, the Atari 2600 and the Mattel football handheld videogame were the coolest things ever. But I wasn’t glued to them.

Nor did I think of their ramifications.

Too bad the blog got hijacked over Catholic vs public school vs homeschooling issues. Nevertheless those were interesting posts as well.

May 17, 2009 - 6:25 am 34. Instapundit » Blog Archive » MICHAEL S. MALONE: Technology Through Young Eyes….:

[...] MICHAEL S. MALONE: Technology Through Young Eyes. [...]

May 17, 2009 - 7:42 am 35. tm:

The kids are alright. This is good news.

May 17, 2009 - 7:54 am 36. Sol:

Is it just me, or could three-quarters of the dangers of Internet technology mentioned here have equally applied to TV and video games a generation ago? And at least with Facebook, etc, they are wasting their time communicating with other people…

May 17, 2009 - 8:22 am 37. Peg C.:

G. Alston, as a product of 12 years of private school, I perceived the remarks by the kids quoted in this piece as unusually astute, insightful, and morally and intellectually advanced compared to “normal” kids. “Normal” kids do not possess the vocabulary, critical thinking skills or emotional understanding and self-perception that these kids demonstrate.

Get your bigoted head out of your dumb butt. You have beclowned yourself.

May 17, 2009 - 8:23 am 38. Vadept:

Does this survey really mean that technology is bad, or that it’s losing the PR game? If you asked them whether industry was bad, I bet the numbers would be even more extreme against industry, yet clearly industrialized nations are better off than unindustrialized nations. Yet the media constantly pumps anti-industrial messages into us, and so do our parents. The same applies to technology.

May 17, 2009 - 8:52 am 39. Stacey:

Mr. Malone, thank you for the time and research that went into this article. As a mother of two private-schooled–soon to be home-schooled black children(5 & 10), I am dumbfounded that terms such as socially retarded or socially immature are still in use. There have been too many years of fast, force-ripened kids who have no concept of responsibility, self reliance, discipline or discretion. If vomiting every private thought via Facebook, MySpace or Twitter; being up to date on the the latest garbage music, awful movies, celebrity hook-ups; enjoying a peer conversation with sentences such as “Like I am like so hurt that you you would like say that about me…” qualifies as socially astute, I’ll be satisfied with my little “retards.” Sheesh!

May 17, 2009 - 9:24 am 40. phil:

G Alston:

“Thing is, add up a great number of restrictions from the parents and the kids are no longer on the same page as their contemporaries.”

Hmm. My 17 yr old daughter goes to a small public high school, maybe 1100 kids. Over the years I have seen her friends sort of split into various social groups that I have figured out are based on their “social” behavior. Drinking, getting high, sexual behavior, etc. I figured this out, by the way, by spying on their Facebook pages. (remember, kids, we’re not as dumb as we look) These are mostly kids from upper middle class to wealthy families who will virtually all go to the colleges of their choice.

Which “page” that her contemporaries are on should I have her turn to? The oral sex page? The get high at lunch page? The “sure you can go to Cancun with your boyfriend and I’ll pay for it” page. There are plenty of public school parents, who might otherwise be very liberal, who have the stones to “just say no” to their kids.

And just because she doesn’t have a date yet for the prom next year doesn’t make her socially retarded, no matter what she thinks

Peace.

May 17, 2009 - 9:41 am 41. J:

“Yet, when asked to weigh the benefits of having high technology in their lives versus the costs – intellectually, emotionally, socially – of that technology, the class voted 31-3 negative . . .a ratio so extreme that it argues against an aberration and towards a larger question about the overall impact of technology on the lives of our young people”

It more likely demonstrates that these kids get a constant (inaccurate) message about how simple and peaceful life was before (insert technological advance) came about, and have no concept of what their life would be like without it. My guess is if they compared themselves to a control group that lacked the technologies they criticize, their attitude would change in a hurry.

For example:

“the students did admit that the Web and cellphone can save time that used to be burned up driving to the store or library, few felt that these gains exceeded the many hours wasted on text or web surfing”

The reason you have hours to waste texting and web surfing is because your parents’ technology assisted productivity is such that you don’t have to spend that time on an activity like (to take an admittedly extreme example) subsistence farming. I wish schools would teach kids that the fact they even have “hours to waste” is a luxury.

GA – not to pile on, but I think you might have a sample size problem.

May 17, 2009 - 9:51 am 42. Tim:

“Whatever. Interview _normal_ teens at a non-catholic school and you will get a different answer. Of course the religious school kids will answer like that. That’s what they’ve been programmed to do.”

While I do not have an antagonistic attitude towards my Christian peers… that’s pretty much spot on in one sense. Those childrens’ responses sound exactly like the sort of canned responsed that kids get drilled into them in *most* schools today, including public schools, right along with all the other tripe.

Modern technology is simply a means of communication. A few of those means will turn out to be fads or gateways to other, more effective means, but in general they are here to stay.

I’m old enough to remember a time before cell phones and PC’s; my younger peers are not. For either group, we’ve reached adulthood expecting to be able to contact any of our friends at virtually any time.

For older generations, that sounds horrible – they want privacy. I don’t want privacy, I want a certain piece of information and I’d prefer to have it now, not 2 days or weeks from now, and I choose my friends such that I actually like talking to them.

Gone are the days of “friends” that you don’t actually like that much who stop by for coffee every other week; people my age and younger form strong networks that stay together for years across long distances. Right this minute I could pull out my phone and call up a half dozen people scattered all around the US and strike up a conversation as if we’d last talked yesterday; I could use instant messaging to add a further 3 or 4 dozen to that number. Many of these people I have not seen in person for years, yet we speak regularly. We meet up to catch dinner or go do something when possible – keeping track of “your people” is now very simple.

May 17, 2009 - 10:22 am 43. outNow:

Re: Private vs. public school students:

Unfortunately, too many people are willing to voice cetainty from one datum, and causality from correlation.

And even if you have more that one story

“The plural of ‘anecdote’ is NOT ‘data.’

Either cite research, or stop deneralizing.

As for technology savvy, my 5th-grader and my 8-grader (both in Catholic school) were issued laptops as part of their curricula. NONE of the public schools in the area can say the same.

May 17, 2009 - 10:24 am 44. Delia:

39. Stacey,

Can I just say ‘for the record’ that you are feakin’ AWESOME?!

I home schooled my daughter when the ‘idea’ of doing such a thing was considered ‘loony’. Now, my daughter has her GED [top 90th percentile] and she plans on taking College courses.

Your children will do wonderfully under your loving tutelage! Don’t be intimidated. There is such a wealth of information availabel via the internet that I didn’t have when I taught my daughter. I wish you all the best.

May 17, 2009 - 4:15 pm 45. Delia:

“availabel”

Grr.

Available.

Yeah. I can shhhhhhpell.

May 17, 2009 - 4:16 pm 46. Roga:

First of all, I don’t know too many 13 and 14 year olds who are happy about *anything*.

Second, I wonder if this is some reflection on the education system of this country. These students have the greatest learning and communication tools in the history of mankind, and all they can think to do with them is waste time. Luckily, after only a millenia, we’ve figured out how to make “books” and “paper and pencil” into positive teaching tools, or these kids would be stuck with oral tradition.

Finally, the whole sentiment of the students is alarming and discouraging. Technology has done in 300 years what religions, governments, and other institutions could not do in the 30,000 that preceeded. Kids seemed to be getting indoctrinated to thinking that material things = bad. Why has no one told them that if they lived in the 50’s their moms would have few options for employment, they would probably be sharing their room with all their siblings, their grandparents would probably be dead by now, and they would have to actually buy their music?

May 17, 2009 - 10:35 pm 47. Res-4:

G Alston…
Say we catholic school kids are socially retarded as you make us out to be. I don’t care what you meant and what you meant is not what i am addressing. What i want to remind you is that if we are so socially retarded why did you take the time out of your life to tell us that we are just that? So really what you are is just a bully, catholic school or public school, bullies are all the same where ever you go. They are not fond of letting other people feel positive so their mission is just to bring people down?
And also, if your child is in public school and your child’s friend is not and you think that your kid is socially superior, have you considered that the cause of that is you, rather than the school that your child attends?
And yeah, you got owned. Also I would like to personally promise you that I would be using many colorful words if my comment didn’t represent my “socially inept” school. Yea… we actually know those words!

May 18, 2009 - 3:24 pm 48. CH:

GAlston:
you are wrong and you are seriously mistaken if you think that Catholic school students are socially behind. I go to Res and know that a few of these 8th graders used to go to public school and moved to a catholic school because it rocks!!!!!

May 18, 2009 - 6:40 pm 49. Stephanie Abreu (one of the socially retarded catholic kids..):

Mr. Alston

In an effort to help you understand the purpose of this article, allow me to explain. The reason for writing this piece was not to appear socially retarded. The purpose was to show people that not all teenagers think technology is a net positive. If you think we were out for attention or seeking controversy then you are the socially retarded one.

If you honestly can say that you know all Catholic school kids based on one child- then you need to go back to preschool. Didn’t anyone teach you that being bias against students of a private school is really shallow? Well allow me to teach you a lesson. Private school kids are no more or no less than public school kids. Generalizing our population is like calling all African Americans “gangsters”, it is like calling all people of Latino origin “illegal immigrants”.

If we are so socially retarded, how did almost every student (with the exception of 3/4) get accepted into some of the best schools in California- Bellarmine College Prep., Archbishop Mitty, St. Francis Mountain VIew, Notre Dame San Jose, Presentation High School….?

You tell me how socially retarded we are now!

May 18, 2009 - 7:37 pm 50. BURN.:

Everyone here who has commented with ’socially retarded’ remarks just got burned.

May 18, 2009 - 10:25 pm

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