Post B2Xk7cmaAaeGlViL8C by ChasingWaterfalls@spinster.xyz
(DIR) More posts by ChasingWaterfalls@spinster.xyz
(DIR) Post #B2XZCGeilV4W5n34N6 by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T10:32:20.849006Z
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/22/how-screen-time-affects-toddlers-were-losing-a-big-part-of-being-humanAt Stoke primary school in Coventry, there are many four-year-olds among those starting in reception class who can’t sit still, hold a pencil or speak more than a four-word sentence. Lucy Fox, the assistant headteacher and head of foundations, is in no doubt what is causing this: their early exposure to screens, and a lot of it. When the children experiment with materials and creativity, and make things in the classroom, she says, “We notice a lot of children will cut pieces of cardboard out and make a mobile phone or tablet, or an Xbox controller. That’s what they know.” At another school in Hampshire, a longtime reception teacher says in the last few years she has noticed children getting frustrated if activities aren’t instant and seamless – something she thinks comes from playing games on a phone or tablet. There is a lack of creativity and problem-solving skills, noticeable when the children are playing with Lego or doing jigsaw puzzles and turning the pieces to fit. “I find their hand-eye coordination isn’t very good, and they find puzzles difficult. Doing a puzzle on an iPad, you just need to hold and move it on the screen. They get really frustrated and I feel like there are certain connections the brain is not making any more.”There is also something of an attitude shift, she says – a kind of individualism that she’s convinced comes from playing alone on a device. “We are having to model to children how to be with others, how you work as a team, how you share things, because they’re so used to having their own time, doing their own thing. We’re losing a big part of being human, and if these young children don’t get all those skills, they’re not going to pick them up later on.”
(DIR) Post #B2XZEu9srlqpBdsl4i by Flick@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T10:37:35.272422Z
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@HebrideanHecate God, that’s depressing: We notice a lot of children will cut pieces of cardboard out and make a mobile phone or tablet, or an Xbox controller.
(DIR) Post #B2XZl8CoAtMo1IcJ1c by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T10:43:03.300251Z
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@Flick Isn't it :blobsad: When I was at GP appointment yesterday a young woman came in with a little girl about 10 months. At least she didn't do the whip out a phone when sat her on the floor, but she didn't speak to her at all. I did, because she was making gestures to me with her rattle, and the older man across the floor, then she crawled as if to do a runner out the door as Dr called me, no response from mother. They just don't seem to realise that speech and interaction matters, I find it all extremely weird.
(DIR) Post #B2Xaau3w0HavDL9Xqy by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T10:46:22.219140Z
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@Flick I remember, about maybe 10 years ago, someone saying to me that speech therapists could take their pick re work, the demand for them had increased to bonkers levels, kids not being spoken or read to and delayed speech etc on back of it.
(DIR) Post #B2XeRPtzAaPIsqEPR2 by Gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T11:35:52.004837Z
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@HebrideanHecate “We are having to model to children how to be with others, how you work as a team, how you share things, because they’re so used to having their own time, doing their own thing. This is obviously caused by parents continuously parking their kid in front of a device. They're using the devices as a mobile, and much more effective, playpen where the kid can be plopped so the parent won't need to interact with it. Yes, I'm perfectly happy to blame the parents.
(DIR) Post #B2Xg5j5JMtMlunJWDY by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T11:44:16.448312Z
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@Gnomeshatecheese Absolutely, there is some shocking parenting going on out there, at all levels of society, in many different ways, many of the parents are as screamingly entitled as the children are too.
(DIR) Post #B2Xg5k7pV0yV8tV2mW by Gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T11:54:20.800403Z
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@HebrideanHecate I also think that this "we mustn't blame parents/mothers" is part of the problem.Sure, don't attack them like a pack of rabid dogs on social media, fine. But as per usual, a good intention has been taken to extremes to where there are people seriously now saying that no blaming should take place, that "all" parents/mothers are just trying their best. Well I'm afraid that sometimes "doing their best" just isn't good enough. That would not be an acceptable excuse for habitually breaking the law, or not showing up for work. Why would it be an acceptable excuse for anything else important?
(DIR) Post #B2Xk72rHjd1HLfdaSm by FeartnTired@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T10:58:10.881262Z
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@HebrideanHecate @Flick they can't take their pick of work - no-one is hiring. friend of a friend just graduated and there are only 3 vacancies for SLT in the whole of Scotland. She (the SLT looking for work) was criticised for not being willing to move - she has a family and her husband has work, the assumption you can't get work from where you live, that it's reasaonable to have to uproot your whole life for a year placement is nuts. It's one of the disciplines that makes a huge difference to quality of life (like Podiatry) that they are cutting funding for as it's seen as non essential. Not just children either, but post stroke, disabled people of all ages, dementia, the whole thing.
(DIR) Post #B2Xk7cmaAaeGlViL8C by ChasingWaterfalls@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T10:54:52.296876Z
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@HebrideanHecate @Flick People want kids but they don’t want to parent.
(DIR) Post #B2XkA92bCm9XOMPKkq by Flick@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T12:39:58.801213Z
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@ChasingWaterfalls @HebrideanHecate Or give birth…
(DIR) Post #B2XkTqpOd7gOhHd2pc by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T12:00:59.389471Z
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@Gnomeshatecheese Himself sees it all the time at work now and for the last dozen years + they have been increasingly more stupid as they arrive in 1st year, more needy, dependent, badly behaved and absolutely bloody pandered to in every conceivable way, and completely unwilling to try anything off their own bat. Whiny immature and increasingly violent from a very young age from what I am hearing from those in younger years education. It doesn't seem to matter what they do the default of the parents is MY child would NEVER do that, and if they did well so what, it doesn't matter that much, both sexes. A lot more of this appalling mothers re my son is forever perfect thing too, which I never saw when I was young myself. Our parents would have throttled us right royally and nobody thought the sun shone out our arses either. You knew if you pissed around you'd catch hell.
(DIR) Post #B2XmuTLAGRZRZwJGmu by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T13:00:55.409579Z
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@Flick @ChasingWaterfalls Like some sort of trophy toy show off with on SM but nah to the effort.
(DIR) Post #B2XxTrhofJhYp7Q7VY by HebrideanHecate@spinster.xyz
2026-01-22T14:03:38.579675Z
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@Gnomeshatecheese The niece of a friend of mine is training to be a primary teacher at the moment, horrified by behaviour in class, extremely violent, don't understand what NO means and there is someone employed purely to change nappies, many parents attitude is that's your job to teach, not mine.