My life would be utter agony without my imagination -
—— Anne in “Anne of Green Gables”
As the New York Times reported in a front page story last Sunday, screen time in now taking over kids’ lives. School is on line. Kids can not socialize in person so they talk to their friends through X-box. Harried parents trying to work and be teachers at the same time increasingly depend on the babysitting provided by the coveted PS-5 (for those who can get it and afford it), Roblox, and Fortnite. Sports are canceled. KIds and adults are stressed. And cunning video game developers lure kids in with incentives for continuous play - rewards, upgrades, and the virtual “community” the games offer.
I saw one teenaged boy I will call Miguel last week. He was sent to me by a fellow pediatrician to see if I could help him with his OCD. He had a habit of wringing his hands, and pacing, and pulling his hair. He was also anxious and depressed. He also could not get to sleep, despite numerous medications prescribed by a psychiatrist. He was “seeing” a school counselor via zoom, but the school counselor mostly ended up talking about his personal problems.
Miguel remained sitting with his down coat on, and a Red Sox ball cap as his mom told me about how she tried to juggle work and motherhood, and teaching. I had her leave the room so that 15 year old Miguel and I could talk privately. He told me that he had learning disabilities that kept him on the screen for a couple of hours after on line school was finished. Then he played video games, until dinner which his grandmother made. The family watched TV during dinner. Then they watched a movie. After that, Miguel retired to his room where he played more video games. By then it was midnight. Sleep was difficult after that. He also suffered from sleep paralysis, a condition in which a person awakens in the middle of the night not being able to move. Sleep paralysis is usually associated with panic, anxiety, and sleep deprivation.
Miguel had his eyes focused on a computer screen from the moment he woke up until the time he “tried” to go to bed. Miguel is not alone. During the pandemic, computers have become the lifeline for all of us - the source for work, for most kids, and many adults, the source for socialization (“zoom cocktails”), news, arts, music, recreation, and even meditation and yoga (through apps like Aura and programs like Yoga with Adrienne).
What is the antidote?
Last night, my wife and I began to watch the Netflix series “Anne with an E”. It is based on the classic “Anne of Green Gables”. The year that our soon to be former President was elected, we decided to take our summer vacation in our neighbor to the North. We decided to go to Prince Edward Island. We enjoyed the quiet beauty of the beaches and the bluffs above them, the quiet ponds, the farms that extended back over rolling hills from the sea. As it happened, the little cottage we rented was right next to “the Lake of Shining Waters” and the home featured in the 1934 book and the new Netflix series.
The orphan Anne Shirley reminded me of some of my young patients who had parents who were hooked on drugs, homeless, and/or abused; many of them had been in foster homes. The most resilient of them were like Anne. They used the power of their Imaginations to help them cope. Many of them would draw - cartoons which could be violent, to mirror the trauma they had suffered, or quite beautiful, to reflect the life to which they aspired. For others, music or poetry or the world of books were the imaginative tools they used to survive. Notice I do not write “escape”. These interests and skills, these strengths, helped them adjust and sometimes even to thrive in a very challenging world.
If life was grim, hard, or boring, they could fantasize a different life, not just as a form of escape, but as a route to a better future. It is not surprising that there are four other “I” words which are synonyms of “imagination”: ingenuity, insight, inspiration, and intelligence. Other synonyms include: wit, thought, resourcefulness, and vision.
The Reverend Martin Luther King, whose life we celebrate today, was an examplar of all these qualities. He could imagine a world of racial and economic justice and equality, and, of course, was exceptionally eloquent in expressing what he imagined, and particularly courageous in leading others to that “promised land.” One can not have a dream without a powerful imagination.
Dr. King once related the story of how he had to sit in the back of the bus on his way to the Booker T. Washington High School, on the other end of town from his neighborhood.
He explains, “I would end up having to go to the back of that bus with my body, but every time I got on that bus I left my mind up on the front seat. And I said to myself, "One of these days, I'm going to put my body up there where my mind is."
HIs mind was imagining a time in the future when blacks and whites would be treated as equals, all of them sitting together in buses, schools, theaters, and lunch counters. Later his body was to realize that dream.
What do Dr. King and Anne of Green Gables have to do with the an antidote to screen addiction?
It is this: We must join our children in seeking out the quiet places, which nourish the soul. We must find those places which cultivate the imagination.
These locales are often places of natural beauty. I was fortunate enough today to escape to Notchview, a large tract of hills and forest owned by Massachusetts Trustees of the Reservations in the hilltown of Cummington. Though only 45 minutes from my hometown, which is currently snowless, Notchview was blessed with about foot of newly fallen snow. A light drizzle of snow continued all afternoon when I was there.
MIles of newly groomed Nordic ski trails lay before me. Though the parking lot was crowded on this national holiday (a lot of families had the right idea, and they were all wearing masks), when I escaped to my favorite backwood trails, I was alone. After humping up Bumpus trail to Bates Field, with what is on clear days a panoramic view of many miles of hills and forest, but today was a pleasantly grey mist of suspended snow flakes and remains of an apple orchard surrounding the Pierce Shelter, I skiied down to the ungroomed but certain to be quiet Whitman trail. It went up and down through a birch and spruce forest. Then, after a short jog, I climbed up the steep Judges Hill.
At the summit, I could see a mysterious old stone foundation, through the snow laden boughs of spruce trees. The branches overhung the trail like the ceiling of a cathedral. There was not a sound. I snacked on the snow on the spruce. At that moment, it was the most peaceful place on Earth.
I could understand why Anne Shirley insisted on renaming the Avenue, on which she and Mathew rode in the buggy on the way from the train station to her new home the White Way of Delight, so called for the blooming cherry blossoms that cocooned the roadway and the elation she felt at being adopted. Similarly, I thought, Judges trail or hill was inadequate to describe the beauty I experienced. Maybe I’ll name it that Perfect Spruce Way on MLK Day.
A young person, or an old person, need not be a cross country skier to escape the screens. The outdoors is right out the front door for everyone. In my practice, I make sure to encourage kids to go outside, in their yards; or if they have not yards, find a nearby park. If there is no safe park within walking distance, I strategize with them to find family members - like a grandparent or aunt - who can take them to one.
I also encourage kids to re-learn the lost art of being bored. To stare out a window. To harness their imaginations.
Yes, I often teach them relaxation breathing, meditation or self hypnosis. Or encourage yoga. These are great ways of having kids building friendships between their minds and their bodies. But these practices are not necessary.
They can play. They can make pretend. They can color, draw, build models. They can sing, make music, or dance. (I see many girls, especially black or latinex, whose parents lack money for dance classes, but who love to dance in their rooms). They can help dad, or mom, repair bikes, appliances or cars. They can do martial arts. (One mom with hardly a dime to pay for furniture had a big heavy bag in her living room, which her kids practiced kicking). They can help cook. They can pray. The can get involved in community service, politics, or help to fight against climate change and for environmental justice.
And above all: they can dream. Like Dr. King - about making their worlds and our world a more just, peaceful, and sustainable one. Or simply about making their lives more interesting, freer, and delightful .