Walking With Coffee – R.J. Cirillo

A Tale of Two Kiddies

Ok, full disclosure:

I grew up on a block in Brooklyn during the 1950s. In the age before playdates, I was let out at the age of 5 to roam one side of the block between 4th and 5 avenues.  (just for the record I have no issue with parents using playdates in a post-Etan Patz world.). To entertain myself I was given a red rubber ball manufactured by the Spaulding company.  On the block they were known as “spalldeens”.  My friends and I spent hours just bouncing this thing around. With games like punchball, kings, hit the penny, off the point, we spent the hours between school and the call for dinner.

 When we were a little older and allowed in the street , stickball took over, played between moving and parked cars. I can’t say how this affected the brains of kids who grew up in this era, but I know the Surgeon General at the time didn’t come out with a proposal to put warning labels on “Spalldeens”.

     That happened last week when Vivek Murthy, the current Surgeon General, came out in favor of warning labels on smartphones used by children.  Apparently studies show hours spent staring into these handheld portals is having a damaging effect on kids. Mostly in terms of social interaction and long-term alienation.  I see kids 3,4, and 5 doom-scrolling on their devices. And I have to admit I find myself watching reels of mountain goats scaling sheer cliffs, street vendors in India selling cobras, cats on pianos, the secrets of the pyramids, anything and everything in 15-second bits.

      We’re not going back to the “spalldeen”, I know that, but where are we heading? Wait. gimme a sec, I’ll google that!