As a father of one son and three daughters, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver deserves ridicule for idiotically naming them Buddy Bear, Petal Blossom Rainbow, Poppy Honey Rosie and Daisy Boo. But Jamie gained partial parenting respect when he made the news by confiscating his schoolgirl daughters' cellphones. They are now the only ones in their classes without them.
I say partial as his expressed reason was to protect them from cyber bullying. This seems mainly a girl thing, thus the prohibition wasn't applied to his son. But my word, there are lots of other justifications for keeping teens' cellphones rationed, plus weaning them off computer obsession, as epitomised by a letter I received recently from a now retired newspaper editor friend.
It comprised a single line, "Albert was right. It's here", and included eight captioned photographs. The first showed Albert Einstein with his accompanying quote, "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots".
The remainder showed groups of teens in different settings. Two entitled "Out on an intimate date" showed couples in a restaurant, all engrossed in their phones. Another captioned "Having dinner with your friends" had four teens at the table, heads down, gazing at their phones. "Cheering on your team" was a young man at a football game staring at his phone, "A visit to the museum" had three girls sitting on a bench in an art gallery with their backs to the paintings, heads down reading their inane messages. "A day at the beach" revealed four teenagers, similarly with backs to the sea, intent on their phones and, finally, "Enjoying the sights", this four teens in a coupe, all but the driver glued to their phones.
These photos came from America. I know that, as the male in the restaurant shot was wearing a baseball hat, a barbarous practice prevalent there, even in quality restaurants. Also, American art galleries, as on the Continent, are called museums, plus the football match involved Michigan.