Screened Out

Over the decades, numerous factors have incurred the wrath of moralists for causing psychological disturbance in teenagers: horror comics, rock and roll, "video nasties" and shooter games have all been accused, at one time or another, of upsetting that adamantine emotional stability which characterises a normal adolescence. Given that the life chances of today's teenagers amount for the most part to poverty followed by climate-induced demise, it is only natural that society's more responsible elements should nowadays be worrying about excessive access to little glowing screens. Although a new study has discovered little or no correlation between use of digital technology and mental health problems in teenagers, the discussion will certainly not end there; it would never do for the moral reformers to be deprived of their purpose in life until that happy day when humanity learns to dispense with such stabilising paedagogic aids as bullying, ostracism and family values.