I was already wondering what's going to replace those dreaded "killer games" as the boogeyman.
And it's not like it's new. Somehow I can even imagine some Mesolithic father looking with worry at his Neolithic son who keeps polishing his tools long after they have reached a "good enough" state. But not quite as far back, can you imagine that what we now consider "classic literature" was once thought to ruin, twist and wreck young minds? Tom Sawyer was such a mind wrecker. But people who read it grew up and they didn't turn out to be lazy idiots, so a new boogeyman was needed. And as time went by, various things got the blame. Radio, swing music, TV, beat music, rock music (interestingly it really used to be music a lot in the not too distant past), D&D, horror movies, computer games ... did I forget something important?
Now, what do they all have in common? One, and only one, thing: They were at the time when they were demonized new technologies, discoveries or developments that were gladly embraced by the young generation but poorly understood by their parents. As these young people grew up, this boogeyman could no longer be kept alive simply because those that do the demonizing now knew that what used to be demonized was not a problem at all. But no worries, new technologies, new trends, come and young people will pick them up so you can be scared of something your kids like and you don't understand, too!
It's never been the technology. It's always been the kids. It's not the phones that turn our little angels into antisocial monsters. They ARE antisocial monsters. Think back to your time at school. And if you can't think of any antisocial assholes, well... maybe a mirror would help.
