Screens, Teens and Covid 19

This is another in a series of essays on device and screen management last year, in 2016 and in 2014, Trying to keep up with both the changes we see in screen content and access modalities, platforms and devices as well as the changing needs and desires of our kids.

And there you have it,

Life happened. Despite all efforts to limit screen time, ensure quality content, negotiate on various screen plans and try to keep up with the shifting sands of what my teenage boys are accessing, two events came at us sideways since March. One is a consequence of our less than normal lives of drifting about the planet perpetually nomadic as expatriates, the second was (and still is) the event known variably as 'the pandemic', Covid, Corona, C19, ergo the Virus. I'll call it Covid, because a corona is a rainbow ring of gaseous plasma around the sun (or a beer), C19 is too science-like and a bit contrite and 'the pandemic' gets one's heart beating faster in a bad way.

We lead international lives and this Covidic summer we left Yangon, Myanmar our home for 4 years at the end of an international posting and hopped across to Korea, skipped over the big pond (Pacific) to western Canada, hunkered down in the province of Alberta for 2 weeks quarantine had a visit with a friend or 13 or 14, then moseyed over to Toronto and skadaddled across the other big pond (Atlantic) to Switzerland where we find ourselves settling in close to Geneva in France. Covid quarantine robbed us of 2 weeks in Canada, and with uncertainty and different stages of 'reopening' travelling about for visits was not in the cards this time, friends being responsibly cautious as to who could walk in the front door... and there we were like aliens in a way, landing from a different planet such as the other side of the world might be. 

As with many of us with teens, hand held screens have been central to our children's lives since the emergence of the iPad, the first and only hand-held web-enabled device accessible then for middle class kids all over the world fast forward to now when kids as young as 9 sport smart phones with more computing power than I had in a computer in my first job. This over the course of 10 years, 2010 - 2020; my kids are now 14 and 15.5yrs old... not hard math.

Our kids, and so we as parents are the pioneers of this new high speed connectivity everywhere modality of entertainment, communication, education, networking, artistic creation, connection it spans so many aspects of modern-day life. For my parents it was television... pshwaah I say, that was kindergarten stuff, now we're in the post-grad school of dealing with media and its content, and supporting our kids to make good choices; back in the day the dinner table debate was whether to mute the adverts during Bewitched or MASH or Hogan's Heros, the Flintstones, Sesame Street, or not... ;-) -- easy street.

March 18, 2020... that was the day it all changed for us. The day my teenage sons stayed home from school and being on screens for obscene amounts of time became legitimized as the online classroom went live. This was in Myanmar, in Yangon an emerging city still with not a lot of opportunities for teens, distant from beach or mountains for weekend trips, and a climate that drives you indoors to air conditioned luxury and your high-speed internet connection. It stayed that way for the months of #stayathome through pre-monsoon which is easily the worst time of year when it has been dry for months and the heat steadily builds, farmers burn off their crop stubble, the air is 45C and brown. Then the rains came in June and with them came the end of school. While it has to be said their British international school did a stellar job with the online classroom, even when 95% of the teachers absconded back to their home countries (or some to tropical islands in Thailand or Cambodia), they barely skipped a beat and launched into online learning full on, full-time.

Any home screen-limiting policies went out the window that day and I think for many parents, while relieved that school continued it was a bit of a two-sided coin; on the one hand their kids were being schooled and on the other their kids were being further inculcated into their various other worlds. Minecraft, Fortnite, Twitch, YouTube, Instagram that's what mine are into...if you can't say what yours are into then probably it would be good to find out. The usual axiom if you want to curb a behaviour is to attend to your own same behaviour first; you can't tell someone to stop smoking if you're a smoker and likewise with screens. What Covid brought was a denial of any strategy to put down our devices, when parents too were at home to work and everyone was on their screens and often at night depending on where your time zone landed you. I am working on an online Doctorate programme and much admin for my Wellness business is online. Am I on a screen too often. Definitely.

We were in our last weeks in Yangon, a 4 year posting coming to an end. While the 'stayathome' ended in mid-May and we left at the end of June, monsoon had arrived and so our departure was a bit soggy and sad. I blogged about our 5,4,3,2,1 trip across Asia and the Pacific  it was quite a trip, there are pictures there too ;-) 

We arrived on continent number 2, North America and found ourselves in a 2 week quarantine, of course with high speed internet. The online fun continued and we had a huge extended back-yard in the adjacent walking paths in Calgary, Alberta. We all took turns going for covid-safe but covert solo masked walks in the brilliant early summer sunshine, Canadian Rockies beckoning, Alberta blue skies stretching out far, full moon shining absolutely beautiful. Wearing masks outdoors still has me baffled. The rest of the time in quarantine... you guessed it, the boys (and me) were on our screens. Crazy stuff, never ends. We didn't travel much in Canada on this trip, normally we go on a visit-orgy to friends across the west but this year, as things were just starting to re-open it wasn't the time to be staying with friends. At ages similar to mine (57) many are caring for aging parents or were planning on visiting them after a long absence due to lock-downs or lock-ins and couldn't risk having us around. Pity though since we hadn't been to Canada for 4 years and have friends scattered hither and yon in western Canada with great lives and are fun to visit... you know who you are. Our last visit with you was when we moved from Kathmandu after 3 years there, who knows when the next one will be. 

A notable exception was stay at my great friend Karin's place in Banff, never felt welcomed as much as I feel there. And on this occasion again her door was open for me and the boys. We had a great few days in Banff, did 5 hikes and had spectacular weather. It may have been a bit of a shock for the boys, from being screen-bound for months suddenly we were free and out in the Rocky Mountain alpine.

I admit that the general lethargy of covid inspired couch time combined with travelling with 2 teens who were reticent anyway to visit yet another friend of Dad's who they didn't remember but of course remembered them, and who I think were tired from their school year meant that inspiration and enthusiasm had to come from one source... moi. And I was tired too. The cumulative busyness required to organize the trip and leave my flat, my business, the few solid friendships, stress around the unknowns we had been facing with the departure paradigm for many months funneled as we got closer to the end, and an awareness that the coming move was going to require considerable energy reserves as well meant that we were okay hunkering down and we just didn't travel. Missing friends but resting and readying for re-establishing in a new place yet again.

Our final leg in mid-August was to Europe, the third continent of our journey. It took us across Canada via Toronto (we didn't stop) and onward to Switzerland though we are settling in France just across the border from Lake Leman and Geneva.

The Swiss had just released their first list of 'banned' countries and mercifully Canada was not on it. Goddess bless Canadians for behaving themselves, masking when asked and being respectful and responsible enough to curb the curve for the most part, at least enough to bring the numbers into a statistically acceptable place. The screen dream continues in travel and the boys transcontinental travel is now about making sure they have internet access and the devices are fully charged! It is on their first trip to Ecuador in 2008, ages 4 and 6 in an effort to keep them awake at Schipol airport until the 11pm KLM 13hr flight to Quito I gave them a game boy each. Indeed I was the one who tipped them into the hand-held screen rabbit hole. All my fault ;-).

Habits have settled in. For example my eldest (15) started watching streams on twitch.com in Edmonton in July where for entertainment 1000's of people watch gamers doing what they do best... game play for hours and hours... My son has seized the day and 'hatllama' was born and now he is a streamer too... (cut to Supertramp 'nothing but a dreamer' right?), check him out, tell your kids, he broadcasts on twitch.com at 7:30pm (Central European Time) nearly nightly. My hope is that he is happy doing this, and he seems to be... and then my hope is that he will start to make some money from this, chalk it up as a success, and move on; it takes up a lot of his evening! His 'following' is growing slowly. But now he HAS to be on screen at 7:30pm so homework and dinner revolves around it (eyes rolling). 

My youngest (at 14) has become obsessed with YouTube though to give him credit he seems to be watching some fairly intellectual content at least of late... he did go through a phase of US-origin brain numbing content which was quite distressing. Rather than go out and play, they go to their rooms and screen despite urgings to the contrary... it's all a bit worrying and my eldest son's PE teacher on his initial assessment says his cardiovascular fitness (and flexibility) need improvement.

So it's not all bad news about devices and screen time. I've been poking around at my basic premise that screens are evil and kids need clear guidance to reduce their screen time... turns out I'm not entirely correct. The recent report from Commonsense media 'Tweens, teens, tech and mental health: Coming of age in an increasingly digital, uncertain and unequal world' suggests that it is more the content and quality of the media kids are accessing than the amount of time they spend on their screens. I think we all have experienced the phenomenon of not knowing what our kids are talking about, and for sure they are absorbing a huge amount of content we know nothing about. Try as I do to keep up, dinner table conversation between my sons escapes me entirely sometimes. Monitoring content for quality is another issue and discriminating between what is quality and what is not can be hugely divergent between the middle-aged father and his 2 adolescent sons. What is interesting is that we all zoned out to junk TV and its advertising and so I wonder is some of what they do the same as that? Should I worry? 

What is of concern of course is the amount of time spent indoors, the amount of time eyes straining to look at small back-lit screens, the bent-neck syndrome that structurally closes the esophagus. In the Wellness work I do this area is where the 'Spirit' element resides (5 Element theory), where self-esteem, self-confidence and self-worth are seated and certainly as many critiques agree these are areas that are affected in young people today likely because of too much time spent online. Not to mention how the forward bending head, means you go around looking downward not upward and outward, not aware of your surroundings and what is going on. And when you meet people your eyes are not meeting theirs, yours are looking down, and maybe theirs are too, kinda sad when you think about it.

Covid then has put the kaybosh on my efforts to get screen-time under control during #stayathome in Myanmar or in quarantine and in a cautious Canada we were kept indoors and online more than I ever wanted during our time there. Now we have done the Atlantic hop to the France/Suisse border region, newcomers and without friendships in their new schools the boys are finding it hard to break into established social circles. They find easier social solace in adjusting their lives to when their friends in Myanmar, Japan, Australia (or closer, in the UK) are online and free to game or message, or talk on discord.com.  Who can blame them right?

Though sort of concomitant there is a certain laziness that has crept in as well, it is easier to go online than go for on a bike ride... and we all know that the less you use a muscle (for example) the harder it is to get that muscle active and pumping again. My sons were long-time in the tropics and too long in cities at a critical age, adapted to the slower pace, and then the heat and rain and less active opportunities in urban Yangon gradually wound down their energy and drive to get into sports. Now here where people are up and at 'em, out biking and hiking and climbing, etc...(and ski season is coming) there is a distinct preference to stay indoors and online even when the sun is shining which is a great pity given we are located on the slopes of the Jura mountains in France and within sight of the French and Swiss Alps.

Anyway, change is the only constant and certainly this change and in all our children this time of their lives is one of incredible change so 'this too shall pass' and we will see what the future holds for them, because it is coming fast. My advice? Know what your kids are doing online, know what content they are browsing, know who they are gaming with, remind them that balance between downtime, screen time, physical exercise, family time needs to be in their thinking, check out their posture and act if you see things going awry. This phase too shall pass and it is only a question of good shepherding them through because after this... they are largely on their own and hopefully will have absorbed some of what you gave them from a place of love.

 

55 Reflections: meanderings of a globalist

Yes, I just turned 55! Whew...


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1. The oldest person in the world died recently at 110yrs old, wow, so I'm half way there.

2. I'm 40 years younger than my Auntie Margaret who while 1 generation away from me is actually 2 generations older right? My eldest son is 43 years younger than me, he could also be my grandson.

3. I was born in 1963 as the jet engine was taking off (literally) for commercial passenger transportation. To emigrate to Canada in 1967 we had to fly from the UK via Gander, Newfoundland (bless) and then go through immigration at the Port of Montreal and then fly on to Edmonton in Alberta. (my Mum did this on her own with a mountain of baggage, 3kids under 4yrs old and my brother who was a very helpful 10yr old!) This year I flew from Singapore to London in one hop on the Dreamliner. Cool right? Yet it has to be said that jet travel hasn't changed much at all in terms of what it actually is. Sure it is more efficient in fuel consumption because planes are lighter and so they can fly higher, further, faster but they still burn fossil fuel in a turbine driven internal combustion engine. Thing is though they still transport us in a linear dimension from a to b over a continuum of time. Why is that I wonder? (hint: big oil)

4. All said, air travel is the miracle of our time imho, the way planes now fly at over 10,000m, at over 1000km/h, catching the jet stream, soaring over the poles... its all quite sick. Airports still suck... been to CDG in Paris or LHR or UIO (Quito) lately? Chinese airports like in Kunming… sheesh!  On the bright side there are airports like Changi in Singapore, the KLM terminal at Schipol and the new Indian airports which are beginning to help ease the pain, otherwise they are still like big bus stations and I'd still prefer teleportation from one couch to the next.

5. Music has gone wobbly, in the '60's it was fine, there were recognizable genres and some amazing innovations in Jazz, Hip Hop, Reggae, Rock n Roll, Punk,  etc... there has been a serious splintering a new genre every new album, electronic music has opened up a new esoteric (psychedelic) world and soon every band playing original songs will be its own genre if not already... does our understanding of 'what is genre' get wider or narrower?

6. Access to Music and music storage has changed incredibly in my lifetime from the radio, to vinyl records 45's, 78's, to 8 tracks, to cassettes to CD's, USB storage devices and now...  you can store your music on a cloud and still play it in your car... what’s the next thing?

7. Plastic has become the most evil thing on the planet, and it is really evil. Plastic came into common use in the 60's and every piece of plastic produced then and since then still occupies the planet... 8.3billion tonnes https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40654915. This is sick and it is now entering the food chain in a manner that will shout at us through our bodies and their illnesses. The consumption of fossil fuels is what will kill us and the planet.... oh yes, doncha know, plastic is made from oil and gas... google it.

8. My generation bears the blame for not waking up soon enough to the excesses and indulgences that we have enjoyed through our childhood and that have brought on the destruction of our ecosystem. We (and while we can blame corporations and Keynesian economics),we are culpable because we have ignored the warnings on global climate change passed down very clearly from the Earth Summit in Rio in 1990, 38 years ago. We have known things were going badly awry and we haven’t acted with nearly enough urgency not on an individual, collective, governmental (dare I say corporate?) or regional level to stop it. Government, big oil and corporate media share the same bed.

9. We figure we are the smartest beings on the planet, and yet we are the only species to engage in activities that are destroying it, Initially (the agricultural revolution) and later in the industrial revolution we didn’t really understand the science and anyway the population pressure didn’t really present our activities as much of a problem… now and for decades we have understood it and still we didn’t act, how smart is that?

10. Technological advances in the computerization (now the digitalization) of everything have been simply amazing, has it been a good thing? Or has it moved too fast? As we head into the kind of scary age of robotics I'm not very convinced we are ready for it.

11. Miniaturization has really taken hold, back in the day at my University the computer was in one big ventilated room, the work-stations, monitors and keyboards in another with cables connecting them all. It's a good thing everything has become smaller, carrying around a desk-top sized computer in your pocket is just not convenient. The question though is when miniaturization leads to skin and iris implants and the opportunity for constant monitoring of our everything… have we reached the moment to stop?

12. Unprotected sex is dangerous these days, has been for a while, though it hasn’t been like that forever. The sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s changed it all in the Western countries from whence I come. The condom, well its still the condom after all these years ‘bagging it’ is the same as it ever was. Flavours have changed, bumps, ribs and dots in various combinations but otherwise, a rubber is still a rubber. And still it is as disliked by men and women alike.

13. Being a man has never been harder, roles back in the day were well-defined (by other men) until women finally got involved, now the role definitions in many societies are changing forever, the process resulting in seeming unending social tumult as we roll from acceptance to rejection to acquiescence to what?... to embracing a more balanced understanding of our gender equality and living in peace and harmony? Really?

14. There are too many people on the planet, and the educated and wealthy few of them use up resources at a prodigious rate as well as create the waste that is choking the planet and retain the lion's share of the wealth. There is something deeply wrong and quite disturbing with this picture that has evolved during my tenure here on earth. The disparity of wealth continues to grow incredibly rapidly, no end in sight and no divine intervention to get the top 1% (or 10%) to realise that unless they spend and spend fast to support those down the line, we are all doomed. Whether you have an excess of $1Million or $100Million who needs excess?

15. Transportation remains pretty similar to what it was post steam turbine invention. Internal combustion engine, 2 or 4 or more wheels, close the door and broom broom... not very interesting. What happened to folding time on itself, teleportation, beam me up Scotty? Very, very unimpressed here.

16. Vaccines were heralded as amazing and who knows how many lives have been saved because of them, and now as well clinical treatments became better, and better understood and people are saved clinically. But things have become carried away and... its not clear how vaccines are good all the time and everywhere; from the debate about interfering in natural selection, the debate about their efficacy vs harms (autism, allergies), the debate as to whether they should be mandatory (shock/horror) and follow the 'protect the herd' formula. Is it black and white, or a murky shade of grey?

17. What to say about world peace? Politics have gone stupid-as. Seriously, led by the USA, the corporate takeover of politics or shall we just say the dominance of economic interest is very clear and 'people first' the underlying principle of any good governance... well you don't see it often. I had considered at one point of going into community level politics, but these days I am given pause when I see the nonsense that people engage in for their own self-aggrandizement or that of their business interests. It simply isn't worth the effort and the stress and grief. No wonder politicians are generally poorly equipped to govern, they are not the sharpest pencils in the box, the sharp pencils are running corporations that run the politicians.

18. Traffic patterns mirror society. Ever noticed that? How the traffic moves, how people react in their vehicles, the rules that are in place and how they are enforced are reflections of how a society functions, how well it is organized, how people treat each other, their levels of tolerance, etc. From Kabul to Kathmandu, Edmonton to Yangon I've been checking this out... blogworthy!

19. Taking off is more risky than landing.... a metaphor for life if ever there was one. How hard is it to bring about change? Get it off the ground? That is when all risk is taken on board? How many of us don't make changes because we don't like risk taking? And yet how many of us need to make the change happen? Landing... pishaw, how hard can that be when you have gravity on your side ;-)

20. We live in an era where a quick comeback can land you in a deep pile of doo-doo that you never expected.... people have a bit of a hard time taking a joke in these days of ultra-neo political correctness.

21. I'm single again! Single with kids and co-parenting. How does that feel? I don't know yet so new it is. More to follow but there is a lurking sense of liberty in there somewhere. Perhaps as I travel from East to West and back again this summer I'll feel it better. For now the transition isn't easy and finding the right place to be, the place that fits not an easy ask. For now it is a transition.

22. Back in the day, as a man, you could compliment a co-worker on her new hairstyle, or something she is wearing just as an off-the-cuff remark (and maybe even a wink)... these days, well, you gotta take care with that one... or youtoo could get the label... just sayin', the remarkable absence of men's voices from the #metoo discussion itself speaks volumes.

23. In just 3 generations (often only 2) we have forgotten how to grow food; how many people's parents grew some food of their own, how many don't grow their own food?

24. In just 2 generations (often only 1) we have forgotten how to cook our own food; how many people go out to eat at least once/day or buy pre-packed ready to cook meals (often re-heated in a microwave).

25. Food. Don't get me started... we have to recognize and realise and analyze and accept that the food we buy whether in the fresh market, in the super market or that we put on our plates is not what it used to be. Food has been adulterated, it has been tampered with genetically, it has been sprayed and messed about with and in ways we have no idea about. As I understand it, the manipulation of food production (glyphosate spraying, fertilizing, GMO, pesticiding, corporate farming, etc) is in the interest of producing enough to feed the world, when actually what we have is a distribution problem, is disingenuous. And we are poisoning ground-water sources and the oceans It smacks of corporate interest and is symptomatic of the takeover of yet another industry by the economically powerful and wrong-minded prioritization of commerce to serve profit not people. How did we let this happen? In 2 or 3 generations we have lost small holder farming, naturally organic growing and with it our food-connection to mother earth.

26. Travelling by plane is an economic privilege; some would argue it is a necessity because of where they live and for their work. But is it? Travelling by plane is also the single best way for an individual to deepen their carbon footprint and therein lies the conundrum, stepping into my footprinte would be a bit like falling into a rabbit hole, is that deep.

27. Where do I come from? Oh, you mean my Race? Ethnicity? Nationality? Identity? Residency? or do you mean did I just come from the pub? Please be specific, your question needs to reflect the intention, what information are you after, what is behind your enquiry. 

28. Where am I from? Having not lived in Canada now since 1997, have visited a few dozen or two times and still identify as Canadian and am a citizen as well as the UK from whence I sprung into the world. I am of Indian bloodline yetwas adopted early on and brought up by British parents. Where am I from? For my sons' that is another question, they have never had a sense of home identity, never lived in Canada or France where their Maman is from. Kasem at 11 has lived in 5 countries, where is he from? He is born in Malaysia but doesn't even have the right to citizenry there. The trendiness of being Third culture kids pales in comparison to this phenomenon that of ‘Multi-culture kids’ which is what mine are. Most importantly is this going to be a confusion as they grow into their years of establishing their identity or will they simply evolve into being global citizens of no fixed address and that will be okay?

29. Nothing is as it seems. Never forget this and you won't ever be disappointed.

30. People are not who you think they are, they are as complicated or as simple as you give them the perceptive space to be.

31. The vast majority of International schools are built on a business model. Be conscious of this all ye who are seeking one for your children. This is the lens to see them through when various quirks and twerks reveal that their prime motivation is to make money. Perhaps I am jaded, where my kids go to school in Yangon this has been clear, only skillful management can add the depth of quality to this equation without affecting the bottom line.

32. Once your kids turn 12 they pay adult fare to fly but on the majority of airlines still have to travel as unaccompanied minors with additional surcharges. There is something wrong with that. Either raise the age of paying an adult fare or get rid of the extra charges. The most important thing for an airline is weight, all their costs are fixed and it is with the weight that they play with their profit margin per flight. So how is it that a 30kg 12 yr old with hand baggage pays as much (or more if unaccompanied) as an 85kg adult with 23kgs of checked baggage and 7kgs of hand baggage? The whole air travel pricing system needs to rethink around who they are using as their profit centres.

33. $75 is today's price for 1 barrel (159L) of Brent Crude oil and the price is subject to global market forces which as we know affects the cost of petrol, of manufacturing and of goods... according to this article  https://interestingengineering.com/japanese-invention-converts-plastic-into-oil it takes 1kg of plastic to make 1L of crude oil, quick bit of math.... thats about $31/L. Some would argue that we need to reduce fossil fuel emissions not increase them but while we are ramping up and bringing down renewal clean energy costs, wouldn't this be the way forward? And who better positioned to bring this one in... than big oil. Government plays a role, for every barrel pulled from the ground one has to be made from Plastic... or you lose your exploitation rights. If you agree and if you have stocks in big oil? SPEAK UP, its the ultimate CSR, or remain part of the problem (see 48 below).

34. Speak up, the silent majority has to speak up. It isn't enough any longer to stay quiet in the corner nodding. If you see an injustice, say something, if you aren't actively involved and contributing to the solution... then you're part of the problem (see 49 below).

35 Balance is the key, at the individual level and on up through families and communities we have to find a balance everyone has yin and yang and yang has dominated for so long from left-brain oriented schooling to decisions based on economics (or politics!) not people... the state of the planet is the evidence, we bought into Keynesian economics and 'ran with the ball' and look where we are, loads of indulgent and wasteful prosperity but much more degrading, unsupportable, poverty. WE ARE OUT OF BALANCE.

36. Time for change

Men need to change up and accept women as equals. Salary disparities and unequal partnerships and everything in between need to be corrected. How long have we been talking about this? Weren't they burning bras in '66?  The shift has to come and it needs to come quickly, really frigging fast actually. You know I almost want to say, if you're over 50 and in a power position and you still think with your penis and don't know what I'm on about... step aside brother, you're done. Let us move on. 

37. WATCH the documentary: 'Occupy Love'

38. VOIP is amazing. Skype was the early-comer to voice over internet protocol (I know right ;-)) and I was as impressed then as I am now with all the copy cats... I mean free video telephony? Here in Myanmar people have gone from no access to telephony to deep penetration of smart phones with 4G in 4years... it is not clear yet how well this is going to go over in a society still very entrenched in tradition including how they communicate with each other and within communities. I have no doubt it will have far-reaching impacts both positive and negative.

39. WATCH Carl Sagan..

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWPFmdAWRZ0&feature=youtu.be.

40. I need to recognize the patterns in my behaviour that do not serve me well or serve well those around me. I need to recognize them, identify the source of what causes them and change up in order to move on into a better place. We all have our shadow side, reconciling with it takes work. Do the work.

41. You need to love your work, or do you? Is it enough to love the fact that you have work? Is that where most people are at? For any reason besides loving it, they go to work and believe they are happy. Is it delusional to think you have to love your work because thats the premise I work off, why else would I spend 40+hours a week of my life engaged in something I didn't like to do?

42. What is clear to me these days is that having a job where the work day is more or less defined for you (a regular job) is akin to a luxury because why, because what could be easier than having someone prescribe when you should work, how long and even on what. For some a luxury, for others like a shackle. Hats off to entrepreneurs and the self-employed to innovators and inventors, you have to figure it out for yourself, lately I'm discovering this latter is much harder.

43. And then we have to wonder, about work and how we got to where we are in the world today... are we better off or worse when we have less time to spend with our families and friends or hanging out in nature. Pre-industrial revolution and still in many parts of the 'less industrialized' world, work is around food production and distribution (including selling and buying), then it became around manufacturing. The different work ethics that evolved apparently suits the culture, apparently. But it could be this isn't true and it could be that the tensions in our societies are rooted in the simple fact that people have to work too much to support their families. Middle class North America... can't survive without a double income? Japanese salaryman spends 16hrs a day including their commute. The poor work themselves to death, often literally.

45. Global circumstances at the time of writing are sadly grimmer than usual, actually I'd suggest that since what the Vietnamese call the American War we seem to be spiralling back into an era of chauvinistic nationalism for which World War II was fought and for which peace was won and institutions like the UN set up to prevent. What happened? And who let these idiots out of their cages (don't get me started)!

46. And then again, there is the notion (is it a Universal truth or a cop out...) that you shouldn't worry about that which you cannot change and its corollary that if you can change something then what have you got to worry about, go ahead and change it. The fact is that we are often in a position to change things or participate in a change movement... and then decide not to do so for any number of reasons; thing is, and you know who you are, some of those reasons are not very good ones.

47 Tied in to the above is the decision not to take in too much world media because of its negativity and its impact on our psyche and some people make the choice to ignore the world outside their particular bubble. But if we don't know about issues for example those around social justice, or around voting and we can be part of changing things for the better then how will they ever change if we don't know about them.... hmmm do we live in this world or don't we. Do we have a responsibility for seeing to it that a dictator who is undoing all the good work and ruining the environment for us all is unseated? Does voting mean we agree with the system and therefore we shouldn't vote?

48. If you're not part of the solution then you are part of the problem, just sayin'.

49. In matters of injustice if you remain silent then you are complicit in it. This is fact.

50. Have you discovered yet the 'Heart of Yoga' practice, discovered yet the beauty of the basic Tai Chi Chuan 24 movements, discovered how to move energy with the Qi Gong practice of the microcosmic orbit? You haven't? I invite you to please do so. Don't delay, find a conscious movement practice that works for you. Especially if you're over 50!

51. Did I mention finding balance yet?

52. Democracy doesn't work very well as we are seeing. 'Nuff said.

53. Did I mention balance in the context of managing our lives? It is all about balance, the framework I subscribe to is one where our body system can become out of balance, and needs realigning, rebalancing and recharging. We have to be able to flow otherwise we invite ill-ness (as opposed to well-ness) and dis-ease as opposed to ease. Which would you prefer... (please don't mind the following shameless advertisement).

54. I am at a bit of a loss turning 55 that many people of my age cruise along perhaps happy, perhaps thinking they are happy, perhaps not happy, perhaps not aware they are not happy, perhaps unhappy and unaware they can do something about it, perhaps unhappy and aware that they must do something about it but don't know what to do... whatever the case may be, the common element is that we want to be well. That is a human thing. Be well, visit my website and find out how... https://www.elementalwellness.life/

55. Don't ever, ever forget to breathe: https://imgur.com/gallery/DqK7H0S