Hanna Rosin has another programmatic article out in The Atlantic, “The Touch-Screen
Generation.” It’s partly based on Rosin’s observation of her own kids growing
up, and one could expect her to be slightly worried about all that
touch-screening going on. This would only demonstrate, though, that you don’t
know her. Rosin has opted to impose no limits on the use of touch-screen
devices by her children. The younger one, her 4-year-ol son, is practically
growing up with the technology, and she is happy that the tablet eventually became
just a regular part of his toy rotation. Is Rosin’s blasé attitude evidence-based,
a reflection of credible scientific research into the effects of touch-screen
gadgets on the minds and brains of the young? Perhaps, since she quotes several
researchers sounding progressively unconcerned as the article unfolds. I have a
hunch, though, that her laissez faire attitude stems from something else –
Rosin’s apparent inability to cringe from anything.
As I said, you must be familiar with Rosin, or at
least some of her work, to appreciate the angle from which she is approaching
the latest big issue. Four years ago she made, again in The Atlantic, “The Case Against Breastfeeding.” She argued that some
insignificant benefits for the baby, like a slightly stronger immune system or
higher IQ, should not be used as a stick to beat reluctant mothers into
breastfeeding their babies (or by semi-reluctant mother to beat
themselves). She concluded that the only
legitimate reason to make this sacrifice was that sensation of the “warm baby
skin” against hers; and the thought that there was a limited window of
opportunity for her to enjoy that feeling. Then, last September she lobbed
another bombshell on the printed and virtual pages of her feisty magazine. In
her much-discussed article “Boys on the Side” she argued that, “to put it crudely, feminist progress right now largely
depends on the existence of the hookup culture.” How so? By allowing young
women to receive a superior education and kick-start their professional careers
before they are dragged down by a husband and kids. Now, it seems, the
increasingly ubiquitous touch screens are the next major phenomenon Rosin cannot
generate much anxiety about.
There is, by the
way, a new study of the use of all sorts of media by first-year female students
at a campus in the northeastern United States. They logged on average about 12
hours per day. Among all the media varieties, only reading newspapers and
listening to music were correlated with GPA in a positive way. If you ask
Rosin, this would again be nothing to worry about, and no excuse for alarmist
hand-wringing. Rosin, however, is not the most unanxious female journalist
around these days. Out of the geeky circles represented by Jane McGonigal and
her sister, that title should probably belong to Virginia Heffernan (who last
year followed her heart from the NYT to Yahoo). So I am tempted to call this
no-worry disposition the Rosin-Heffernan syndrome.
