The Kids Are All Wired
Our peek over the shoulders and into the minds of the multitasking generation connected with e-mailing, IMing, Web-surfing youth who defended their do-it-all-at-once lifestyle as the new norm. But some readers cautioned that kids need to unplug once in a while to preserve their humanity
TIME’s report on my generation’s multitasking [March 27] hit the nail on the head. I can get so absorbed in Facebook, e-mail, TV and iTunes that when I’m home from college, I forget I have a family downstairs. By the way, I turned off my TV and shut down my computer in the middle of reading your article, and I will be mailing it home for the rest of my family to read.
ANDREW MCCORMACK Woodbridge, Va.
It’s always a little funny to read what adults are saying about us kids. I’m a 17-year-old who does not own an iPod, has been on MySpace.com only once and has to be reminded by my mother to bring my cell phone anywhere. Who IMs their friends before school to ask what they’re wearing? Maybe my friends and I are way behind the times, but we prefer to hit the snooze button in the morning and handle technology after 3 p.m. Then again, I realized I was reading your article while waiting for my e-mail to load, downloading homework assignments and renewing my library books online. At least I read the whole article.
MICHELLE QUACH Anaheim, Calif.
Your story was right on target. While reading it I was listening to music on my computer, checking my e-mail, befriending people on Facebook and trying to decide how long it would take me to get to my next class–all with complete comprehension of what I was reading. Our generation’s ability to multitask should be looked upon as a gift, not a weakness that inhibits achievement.
MATT REDMON College Station, Texas
My children are as adept as the rest of their cohort at multitasking, and they persuaded me, reluctantly, to IM them while they were away at college. But even among this wired generation there are dissenters who actively crave unplugged quiet time. Our daughter left her cell phone at home when she went to college, hasn’t had one for the past two years and has no interest in having an iPod. Her favorite version of multitasking? Knitting while reading a 19th century novel.
MERRI ROSENBERG Ardsley, N.Y.
I have an Ipod and a Myspace account, I chat online, and I can play online games for two hours without realizing it. But my mother and I have a very good relationship because, when she comes to talk to me, I disconnect myself and listen. When she comes home, I leave my room to hug her and say hello. And I am grateful that my mom sets rules and curfews and disciplines me the way she does. Parents may hate it when they have to discipline their children, but rules really do help in the long run. Parents need to act more like parents and not buddy up so much to their kids. Sometimes it is good to be a crazy old fogy.
RACHEL POINTER Tempe, Ariz.
Your article on multitasking teenagers was fascinating. Although I sometimes sit down and just read for several hours, I find that I write better papers and do better work when I am juggling several things at once. I think being a teenager is about finding whatever works for you. It’s not about setting guidelines and limits but finding the balance that enables you to blossom.
JONATHAN KIMBLE Mercer Island, Wash.
I’m not the least bit surprised that members of the younger generation spend their time e-mailing, instant messaging and listening to iTunes while watching television, downloading files and trying to work at the same time. What shocks and alarms me is that I do too! I owe whatever success I’ve had in this life to my ability to focus and concentrate. But at age 53, I find that ability has all but disappeared.
RICHARD ARMSTRONG Washington
Questioning the War
I commend TIME for the forum of views on the Iraq war, “Was It Worth It?” [March 27]. While the question may not have immediate relevance to our policy options in Iraq, it provides an important framework to evaluate future actions. I was disturbed, however, that none of the experts you gathered weighed the cost of the war abroad against investments at home. Had the U.S. taken the billions of dollars spent on the war and instead invested them in a moon-shot-style program to gain energy independence, would such a war even have been necessary? What about investments in education and port security and in shoring up Social Security? I am no expert, but it would be nice to hear those issues debated by those who are.
JULES KOPEL-BAILEY Princeton, N.J.
Iraq is a strategically important country in the Middle East, a region whose resources the whole world depends on and one that is rife with ruthless dictatorships that spawn much of the world’s terrorist activity. So was the war worth it? That depends–is human freedom worth it?
GARRY CHAPMAN Oklahoma City, Okla.
Your “Wide Array of Experts and Thinkers” was largely characterized by hand-wringing, worrywart American élites (save for Tommy Franks) who opined that Iraq is a disaster. Those who live in the Middle East and have a direct investment in democracy, however, see the value of the U.S.’s hard-fought quest to stabilize Iraq, defeat Islamic terrorism and bring liberty to oppressed peoples. Our Founding Fathers would be proud of the latter and disgusted by the former.
KELLY WOOD Bozeman, Mont.
I have one question for George W. Bush & Co. Why did they choose Iraq and not Saudi Arabia–one of the worst offenders regarding human rights–as a location for implementing democracy in the Middle East? American troops have been stationed in Saudi Arabia since 1990, and I cannot understand why, over the past 15 years, they have not pressured the Saudis toward democracy. Twenty-six million Saudis are controlled by 7,000 members of a dictatorial royal family. I suppose it is secondary to the oil needs of the U.S. that King Abdullah adopt democratic reforms.
KRISHNADAS MUKUNDAN Etobicoke, Ont.
The Price of Victory?
I broke down while reading “One Morning in Haditha” [March 27], the story of the Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. Marines. Military excesses should never be covered up and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The lives of the children who lost their parents are permanently devastated. Rather than paying the relatives of the victims $2,500 each, the U.S. government should work with nongovernmental agencies to see if those innocent children could be adopted into Western homes. Victory in Iraq seems hardly worth it, when the very people who are to be protected by U.S. forces are slain under questionable circumstances.
REX S. ARUL Smyrna, Ga.
Why doesn’t TIME try to show some of the many positive things resulting from the war in Iraq? In various parts of the nation, life is vastly improved over what it was under Saddam Hussein. You go out of your way to publish negative photographs and editorials. Your articles are so slanted, it’s ridiculous.
DAVID PROTHERO Irwin, Pa.
Your account of the alleged massacre and ensuing cover-up at Haditha was the latest appalling example of the plague this war has become. Like the Vietnam War, it seems to taint the reputation and humanity of all it touches. We’re a long way from Iwo Jima.
MICHAEL BURNS Elkton, Md.
Momentous Design
Re your Milestone on the death of Oleg Cassini [March 27]: When Jacqueline Kennedy selected Cassini to design her wardrobe, it was a rare event, of note not just in the fashion world but also in politics. As a team they turned elegance into power and made our country the epitome of grace and style.
PATRICIA DIMASSA-RIDA West Haven, Conn.
Protecting Poultry Workers
While I was pleased to see your reporting on how U.S. poultry farmers are guarding their flocks against avian flu [March 20], I was disappointed that the story did not mention the thousands of poultry workers, growers, chicken catchers and processing-plant workers who, through intense daily contact with the commercial birds, are in the gravest danger. No U.S. agency is discussing the day-to-day contact that poultry workers have with potentially infected birds. To avoid an outbreak of avian flu, growers, poultry companies, unions and the government must work together to ensure that workers have proper protection.
MARK LAURITSEN UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION Washington
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