"screen time screen time screen time screeeeEEEEEEEE" before the smartphone, kids were so bored they'd play with explosives, vandalize local infrastructure and harass old people for entertainment.
fund libraries. fund makerspaces. fund youth sports. enable kids to actually go places without having to ask someone to drive them everywhere. excessive reliance on digital spaces is a symptom of having nothing else to do.
We need third spaces that do not require money.
We also need to allow children and esp teenage children to exist in public without seeing that as threatening or criminal. Loitering is a fake crime. Teens making noise by riding bikes or skateboarding outside is not a crime. People sitting on their front stoops hanging out IS NOT A FUCKING CRIME. Someone sleeping in a park IS NOT A FUCKING CRIME. Some kids fooling around in the bushes IS NOT A FUCKING CRIME. Black and brown kids EXISTING OUTSIDE IS NOT A FUCKING CRIME.
PEOPLE EXISTING IN PUBLIC IS NOT A FUCKING CRIME.























