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What do you glean from FACEBOOK?

You might think glean is the wrong verb to associate with FACEBOOK; however, we really do learn, discover, or find out about news or new ideas, usually little by little on FACEBOOK. Of course there are always the items that go “viral” – the cute puppy YouTube video, a horrific accident, a national or international event…but for the most part people will sign into their FACEBOOK profile and browse their newsfeed and maybe, just maybe click on a link that one of their friends considered noteworthy.

What you decide to click on usually is determined by what stage you are in your life. Your age will influence your curiosity factor, just as how you make your living or your hobbies. This week one of our associates brought two items to our attention. How did she learn about these? FACEBOOK!

Both have to do with childhood and we thought as we welcome the spring season why not ponder childhood and child rearing.

If you grew up in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, then be grateful…

This is a clever YouTube video that looks back on how childhood “used to be”…you might relate to it. It will make you smile and you may even stop to think about how really different childhood is these days.

If you are having trouble viewing the video, you can see it here.

10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12

That is a headline that will grab your attention if you have children or grandchildren…or if you are an educator. This article was written by Cris Rowan for the Huffington Post. Ms. Rowan is a pediatric occupational therapist, as well as a biologist, author and speaker.  We hope you will take a few minutes and read Ms. Rowan’s article. She offers some interesting insights, supported by research, including the suggestions from the American Academy of Pediatric and the Canadian Society of Pediatrics that infants up to the age of two (2) should not be exposed to any technology!

For sure, Cris Rowan has started a conversation. She published her article on March 6, 2014, people can comment via their FACEBOOK profiles. To date there are 517 comments. We were interested in Rowan’s item #5 – Mental Illness:

Technology overuse is implicated as a causal factor in rising rates of child depression, anxiety, attachment disorder, attention deficit, autism, bipolar disorder, psychosis and problematic child behavior (Bristol University 2010, Mentzoni 2011, Shin 2011, Liberatore 2011, Robinson 2008). One in six Canadian children have a diagnosed mental illness, many of whom are on dangerous psychotropic medication (Waddell 2007).

For the record, it only took five (5) days before the Huffington Post published David Kleeman’s rebuttal to Rowan’s article: 10 Reasons Why We Need Research Literacy, Not Scare Columns.  The conversation continues…

Children do suffer from mental health issues…how much handheld devices contribute is a question that will be argued for many years. The one thing we know for sure is that mental illness can not be ignored. It needs to be treated.