An Army of Normal Folks - Don't Make Your Babies Bots

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

For "Shop Talk", Coach Bill reflects on an Army member's email about cell phones and young kids. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Kortney. Welcome to Shop Talk number 34. Welcome into the shop. Actually 35. It's 35. 35. Hey everybody, welcome to Shop Talk number 35. Welcome into the shop. Welcome in Alex. How you doing today? Good. I'm glad I had this finger. Yeah, well, you shouldn't be falling down breaking fingers or whatever it is that you

did with that finger. Everybody everybody Alex has a broken finger today's shop talk number 35 is don't let your babies be bots that's the title of it pretty good title i'll take it you like that i'm actually going to listen to you this time and use that i just just came up off the top of my head don't let your baby be bots by giving them cell phones Don't let your baby be bots by giving them cell phones and having them use them all over the place like a bunch of robots. Right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. But turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight.

I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Astead Herndon. But we're also gonna have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr. and Charlemagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. So whether you're obsessed with the news

or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Arnold Schwarzenegger is many things, actor, bodybuilder, governor. But did you know that he was once a director? And that the only film he has ever directed is a 1992 made for TV remake of the 1945 Christmas classic, Christmas in Connecticut.

So these things don't happen. Nobody calls the biggest star in the world and says hey they want to direct your TV movie. On our Revisionist History Christmas special this year we are telling for the very first time the absolutely wild, really very funny story behind the making of the most improbable Christmas movie of all time. The first thing out of his mouth is, so what have you guys been doing since Commando? Clearly not going to the gym. Along the way, we're gonna meet outlaw country singers, Cary Grant's ex-wife, the bestselling author

of Tuesdays with Morrie, all of them leading in a very bizarre twist to billions of dollars in tax implications. You can hear it starting December 18th on the Revisionist History Podcast. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everybody, welcome back. Shop Talk number 35. Don't let your babies be bots. Inspired by Sandy Groger. Groger or Groger? What do you think? I don't know. I've not met her. Sandy Groger.

Groger. Groger. Hey Sandy, thanks for sending this. An email she sent. Another Shop Talk idea. Actually, read the whole thing, it's so good. Okay. Dear Bill, I wanted to first take this opportunity to thank you for your podcast. I first learned of you while listening to an episode of Micros, the way I heard it when he introduced you and your movie. I was fascinated, so the first thing I did was Rent Undefeated.

Great movie by the way. I then went and followed your podcast on Spotify. You can follow our podcast on many things including Spotify, iHeart, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts. I can honestly admit to being current and up to date with all of your released episodes, which is a great testament to the engaging and informative nature of your podcast. Seriously, Sandy, thank you. That's really kind of you to say. While all of the stories are inspiring,

some of them hit me in my heart a little bit more. I've begun volunteering for the local chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace. I'm looking into other volunteer options. That made my day. I have an idea for one of your shop talks. Can we please tell parents stop letting their kids have devices at a young age? There are times that prudent and judicious use of an electronics device can be beneficial or at least not harmful to a child's development,

but this should be rare not the norm. Oh Sandy, you're starting to speak to me girl. I see so many kids addicted to phones and iPads. Their parents are so very proud of how smart they think they are because they can quickly scroll through and find their favorite app or video. They can navigate the screen like an IT expert and can build elaborate structures on apps like Minecraft. Yet these smart, end quote, kids enter kindergarten, many of whom have never held a crayon, opened a book or stopped a physical block.

Kids who grow up with a device always or often in their hands don't know how to handle boredom, don't have a sense of environmental curiosity, don't play with manipulative toys and don't get outside and get dirty. As a pediatric occupational therapist, I see the ramifications when they enter school. There are so many more referrals for delays in fine motor skills and handwriting than before the days of electronic devices. Kids not only don't hold their crayons or pencils well, they can't even hold them at all. They have not developed the foundation of fine motor skills, and they also have not learned patience and delayed gratification.

They have significant sensory processing issues since they haven't experienced the world with all of their senses to be able to interact with and integrate. While many of their parents are also seemingly addicted to their own device, at least these parents grew up before the widespread use of these phones slash tablets and learned at a young age the foundation of fine motor skills. Kids today are not getting the building blocks and will continue to struggle with not only academics but also daily life skills. While I could go on and on about how technology dependence is putting our children behind, I'll leave it at this. One young kindergartner was handed a book on the first day of school.

His teacher tells me that he tried to quote open it by tapping on a picture on the first day of school. His teacher tells me that he tried to quote, open it by tapping on a picture on the cover. Likely thinking it was an icon. This is truly sad. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your podcast. Sandy, thank you for your letter. And I now am going to talk about Don't Make Your Baby a Bot. Man, do I have a lot of thoughts about this one. The first is I am really tired as a side note of being in a restaurant and looking at a family of four sitting there ordering food together and then all four of them looking down at their stuff.

four of them looking down at their stuff. Lisa and I didn't buy cell phones for our children until they reached eighth grade. And I'm not even sure if that was too early or not, but that's when we decided to do it. But we had a rule. Whenever we got to dinner time, we said stack them. And mine and Lisa's and all four kids' phones got stacked in the middle of the table right next to the mashed potatoes or green beans or whatever, and were not to be touched until supper was over. Because while Sandy's points are really well taken, I don't think those social interaction that she's talking about in school in her letter, I don't think it social interaction that she's talking about in school in her letter. I don't think it's just at school.

Looks like it's in families and everywhere else. So as I read this, I started goofing around trying to find any content relative to this. And ironically enough, I did find something. It's a story about, what school system is this? Marina Del Rey. Where? Marina Del Rey. California.

Uh-huh. I'll be damned. The people that make the phones are now banning them. That's great. Well, I'm sure you heard this before. People like Tim Cook and Steve Jobs and other people in Silicon Valley would not allow their kids to have phones. Yeah. Either.

So the actual makers of all the social media companies. Everybody in the shop needs to hear what Alex just said. The very people who made and designed these phones won't even let their own children and social media, the founders of social media companies. So in the school system. children and social media the founders of social media companies too so in this school system these the kids when they show up have to put their phone in like a gray pouch right and that right Alex that's right all right now who keeps the pouch is a pouch stay with the school or how's it work you know I don't know you

just have me pull up that article. It doesn't matter. Basically the kids can't have their schools. They're phones. They're put in a pouch and they're unusable. And this is Marina Del Rey, California. All right. So six months after this has been going on for two years, I think a Marina Del Rey. So six months after they started the absolutely no phones in school, principal Dudley says the entire school culture has changed. Bullying has decreased and fewer kids are being referred to the office. Dudley adds that students are improving academically. You know, the smart kids that Susan talks about? They're improving academically.

Their scores on state standardized tests improved from the beginning of last school year before the ban was in place to the end of the school year when the campus was phone free. Teacher Asha Nash says she's no longer using valuable class time to hound students about their phones. Says they're even checking themselves out in the mirror less. It's beautiful. I feel like the kids are actually engaged. And they seem, this is crazy, happier. The other thing I read is, the hallway in between classes, check this out Alex, the hallway when classes are switching is exponentially louder

because the kids are actually talking to each other. Is that not interesting? Social interaction because you're headed and buried in a screen. Guys, if you're listening to me, Susan is clearly more than just a person writing a letter. She gives far too much documentation and my guess is she's some type of educator administrator. I don't know. She's a, it says in there. Oh, what's she saying? She's, um, like a psychologist in the schools. It's in there. Oh, oh, I'm sorry She's a pediatric occupational therapist. She's a lot more than a teacher and everything She's like just to be fair to you

We took a like a 20 minute break there to talk about your work we did so you know in between when I read the letter and right now I had a Disaster happen at work and now I'm getting back to it. But yes, she's a... Susan's a pediatric occupational therapist and she sees fine motor skill delays, she sees people tapping on the front of books to quote open it and then these folks and Marina Del Rey, once ban sees happier more engaged smarter better tested and kids more engaged with less bullying what else do we need to hear folks your children don't need cell phones at an early age. It is prohibiting their growth. It is prohibiting their ability to interact. It is prohibiting their ability to grow. Not long ago I did a shop talk on

let your kids skin their knees. You know what? They're never gonna skin their knees if they're at home on a phone. They don't have a phone, they're gonna go outside and interact with kids, and then they're gonna skin their knees, and then that shop talk makes sense. So Susan asked that I did a shop talk on the danger of making your babies bots,

and it really is detrimental. And what happens to the future of the quote army of normal folks engaging in community if they don't know how to engage unless it's through a screen? How do you develop interpersonal relationships? How do you have the patience to invest time when you are so used to having immediate gratification

provided by a phone, how do you fail? How do you learn from the failing? Babies are not supposed to be bots. Babies are supposed to be nurtured, learn how to interact, have interpersonal relationships, talk, smile, and not be buried in a phone. I'll be honest with you, I don't know what the right age is to give your kids phones, but I know it's not kindergarten. I think Lisa and I would probably have delayed the phone to softwares now. If we had to do over again when our kids were coming through, they're 29, 8, 7, and 6 now, so

the whole phone thing was kind of new when they were coming through. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do 8th grade anymore. I'm pretty sure I would, you know, driving age maybe. And if you're concerned about their safety and how do they get in touch with you and all of that? Well, the school has answered that as well. They have... You call the front office, it's not that hard. They have, yeah, I was about to say, they have this thing called a hard line.

Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. And when you dial a seven digit combination, it picks right on up. A couple of things, this is usually you hard line. Yeah, it's itching and when you dial a seven digit combination, it picks right on up. A couple of things. This is usually you on Shop Talk mostly, but a lot of listeners may know about Jonathan Haidt is big on this topic. And I wasn't aware of this. I'm just reading this article that he mentions about wait until eighth. So there's a whole parent movement out there of getting people to wait at least until eighth grade. Well, I guess we did that right. Yeah. Yeah, I did high school and I thought it was good. But Jonathan often talks about parents

needing to have a pact together because one of the big arguments is these kids are left out if they don't have a cell phone, but all their other friends do. And so you need to have a pact with a couple other families and that's all you need. It's really like creating an army of normal folks who are just joining together and saying hey together we are gonna do this that our kids are not gonna have cell phones until eighth grade or high school. And you know what if kids can't have their phone in school and they're used to not being able to use it in school like these kids at Marina Del Rey then not getting it till eighth grade won't be that big a deal because they're not like

ostracized for not having a phone at school. I mean it all works together this idea of this pact of parents. I love it. You just need a couple good friends right? If you just have a couple other families in with you on this pact you're good. That understand what they're doing to their kids with these things. Yeah. Well everybody, shop talk number 35, don't make your babies bots. There's tons of information on the internet. There's a great story from Sandy or great letter from Sandy to support what we're saying. If you're a grandparent, talk to your children about what they're doing with your grandchildren. If you're a parent, think about what we're saying. And if you're young and listening to me and you have

that phone, think about putting it up every once in a while and just having a conversation with a human being, witnessing facial expressions and hearing laughter rather than emojis. You might experience some sensations that that phone can't give you. It just won't vibrate that into your brain. That's Shop Talk number 35. Don't make your babies bots. Guys, if you have any ideas for shop talk, you can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.us

and I will respond. If I think we have something to add or to offer or to comment on like we have today, I'll do it. If not, I'll just respond and thank you for the idea and tell you, I don't really feel comfortable talking about it because I will sound more like an idiot than I normally do. If you like this thing y'all please rate us, review us, subscribe to the podcast, tell folks about us, share us with friends and on social and all that stuff. This is Bill Courtney at Shop Talk number 35. Don't make your babies bots. That was kind of a weak ringing.

Was it? Yeah. Like you're tired at the end of the day. Is that better? Yeah, that was better. We're leaving. It's the end of the day. Y'all, we'll see you next week.

Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlamagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well.

I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Arnold Schwarzenegger is many things, but did you know that he was once a director and that the only film he has ever directed is a 1992 made-for-TV remake of Christmas in Connecticut. Nobody calls the biggest star in the world and says hey they want to direct your TV movie. On our Revisionist History Christmas special this year we are telling the really very funny story behind the making of the most improbable Christmas movie of all time.

The first thing out of his mouth is, so what have you guys been doing since Commando? Clearly not going to the gym. You can hear it all right now on the Revisions History Podcast. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.