Why does it have to be black or white...

Have I mentioned that I very much do not enjoy the new back end of blogger? I keep almost starting new blogs when I just want to start a new blog post. It is fairly annoying. Of course, if I posted more often, some of you may be saying, I would be used to it by now and shush up.

For the record, I have been blogging, but I've been doing it with paper and pencil, retro style. Eventually I will probably share some of those things over here, but they are not all about me being cranky, although they sort of are, because let's face it: inevitable.

I will tell you what I am cranky about right now: people's inability to use common sense when reading articles. I came across this article about teens and physical activity versus technology this morning.   These sorts of articles are published constantly, either condemning technology or promoting it and the reactions are always extreme and I find it so irritating. Here's the thing that I don't understand. Why does it never seem to occur to people that the answer is not "we must take our children away fro the internet because otherwise they will be fat and sad" or "we must let our children use technology or they will fall behind and be stupid and the whole country will fall into ruin" but "maybe we should strive to find a balance for our children that includes technology and activity."

I mean, is it that complicated? Am I naive to believe that children can do sports AND use a computer? It seems simple enough. I've seen it happen. My niece can shoot a basketball and use the remote. I don't understand the problem.

Or maybe I do understand the problem and it goes back to the people who want to ban books from libraries because they don't think their children should read them. Rather than making sure they know what their kids a r reading, they just want those books taken away from everyone. If you put your kid in a sport, then that's all you have to worry about. If you plunk them down in front of a computer, you're good to go. If you need to try and find a balance for your kid (or for yourself) that takes a little more effort.

Of course this is not just to pick on parents, because I know some great parents and some terrible parents. This seems to be a wide spread problem where people are unwilling or unable to realize that the world is not made up of absolutes. You CAN eat cookies and carrots.  You CAN exercise and take naps. You CAN dress nicely and comfortably. Sometimes you can do these things at the same time (granted, that does not include exercising and napping). You don't have to pick one or the other and then live your life, sometimes miserably that way, forever. I wish that the people who read (and sometimes, those who write) articles would acknowledge that.