I never saw a kid rip out an Atari 2600 and play it through dinner at Bennigans.
That's only because the technology didn't exist. LOL
I can't tell you how many times I requested to go to dinner at this one specific restaurant because they had a cocktail Phoenix. I would literally play it the entire time we were there with the short exception of the 6 minutes it took me to wolf down my chicken tenders and fries (because nuggets weren't a thing yet). :-)
I'm not arguing the points made earlier in this thread. There will definitely be some social damage resulting from kids unable to tear themselves away from their screens. I'm merely saying that kids (and parents) today are not that different from kids 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago. The technology has certainly changed, making these diversions far more accessible.
And lazy parenting will always be lazy parenting - it just looks different today. How is MOM going to keep her kids off the tablet when she hasn't put down her own phone in 10 hours from checking how many likes her last Facebook post received?
Steve
MM