It’s pretty easy to imagine the trends we’ve seen from smartphones (alienation, anxiety, reduced reading comprehension and persistence) compounded dramatically by LLMs.
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I will say: the single experience I have had most inverse to the atomization of smartphones (and LLMs) is having a kid. Today we did soccer practice, ran into @chase13.bsky.social & his kids at Costco, played with a new little friend in the sandbox, and watched soccer while having a bubble fight.
“Costco Saturday at noon? But it’s so crazy!”
Uh yah I have two toddlers it was an adventure, samples, and killed two hours. That’s a feature not a bug.
All of these were either directly catalyzed by or deepened by the fact it was me + 1. Being a parent forces socialization in a way I haven’t experienced since college. It’s been a fascinating experience.
Hold onto this. Around ~9 they become less tolerant of being drug around. Best two parenting choices we’ve ever made: no phone (just a gizmo watch) until driving, and no Xbox unless it’s a holiday from school (hubby takes it to work.)
I don’t think anyone will be Weird about this but standard disclaimer: please don’t read these posts with an implicit “and that’s why you should have kids!” because there isn’t one there. I’m just reflecting on my life not suggesting how you should lead yours.
The best conversations I’ve had with my 11-year old have been on the chair lift at our local ski resort this winter. (He clearly treasures it too; he gets annoyed if I let anyone else sit with us.) Rather than sit in silence we talk about all kinds of stuff. It’s been great.
Yeah like I’m not going to pretend I don’t use my phone around her but there is a constant pull to interacting with other humans (because I’m moderating hers, modeling for her, or just not being negligent) that directly competes with Phone.
also: occasional plug for subscribing to the physical paper. At breakfast I read the comics and the Celtics article to the kids (ok, the 6 year old, the 2 year old just wants to feel included) while my wife reads the front page and it's news content but in a format we feel good about modeling
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Uh yah I have two toddlers it was an adventure, samples, and killed two hours. That’s a feature not a bug.
^ to your point that the equation changes
Yes thank you I know she’s 1 plenty of shoes are dropped
Hahaha