[dopeboy]

I don't think the author should be using the "we" pronoun. He's welcome to talk about himself but it's a step too far in generalizing that everyone has those behaviors and tendencies.

Second, he needs to take a deep breath and relax. There is a balance that can be achieved through focus and discipline. How about changing the discussion to educating parents on these distractions and nipping the false sense of anxiety at the bud? How about having a psychology class in high school that confronts these desires and shows how artificial they really are?

[ickwabe]

As indicated at the bottom of the article, this is only the first chapter of a book in which he does offer solutions and strategies. http://www.raymundtamayo.com/p/simplify-life-and-make-it-cou...

Regarding use of "we". Clearly (at least to me) he is referring to societal trends that are fairly common. Not a specific groups of "we"s. So clearly there are plenty of folks who are not effected by these challenges. It's fairly pendantic to get hung up on this word.

[voidz]

I guess one of the things that occurs when one becomes aware of realisations like his, is the idea "oh my god, it's not just me, it's everyone!"

This happened to me too, years ago. And then I realised, "wait a minute, maybe I am just focusing on that side of my life." And of course on the side of life where more of like-minded people can be found: the Internet. And thanks to this realisation, the idea that everyone is like this, waned.

I do agree with what you're saying - not everyone is like this. I for one am not, I keep focusing on my belief that being in contact with others is not something you do with gadgets - it's what you do with focus. So I don't put much value in the technology, and the older I get, the less importance all this tech has to me.

But that's just me, and I do still often feel like the odd one out. And not only that: I'm also really disciplined in the pursuit of my idea, that the less you have, the more value the things you do have, are. Most of them immaterial too.

[crpatino]

I think the author is perfectly entitled to use "we" for the phenomena he is both experimenting first hand and observing around his environment. I can say his experience seems uncomfortably familiar to me, and have talked with more people (both online and face to face) that see the same things and share the same concerns. So, there is a non trivial number of people inside that "we". If you don't experiment this problem in person, you might as well count your blessings.

Your point about there being a balance... it might be correct on the individual level. However, you cannot deny the problem at the society level. A large number of people (maybe the majority) never learn how to focus, because they grow up in environments that do not promote formation of discipline - either they are left to do as they see fit, or they are told what to do all the time, but only rarely are held accountable to own up the consequences of their own actions until very late in their upbreeding.