ChristiTutionalist Politics | Christian Perspectives on Constitutional Issues

CTP (S3EJanSpecial1) Kids, Screens, And The Cost Of Isolation

• Joseph M. Lenard | Christian Activist & Author in Politics • Season 3

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CTP (S3EJanSpecial1) Kids, Screens, And The Cost Of Isolation
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond 
We trace how kids’ mental health and learning have shifted since lockdowns and why face-to-face school still outperforms screens, even as some students benefit from remote tools. Practical steps for parents, tutors, and communities help rebuild social skills, language, and daily habits.
• why suicide risk eased but long-tail effects remain
• how COVID remnants shape schools, health rules, and routines
• when remote learning helps and when it harms
• speech and language delays from limited facial cues
• tech as a tool versus a babysitter
• widening gaps between well-resourced and struggling schools
• faith, duty, and caring for the vulnerable with balance
• parent involvement in health, habits, and motivation
• tutoring as targeted support and accountability  
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SPEAKER_00:

Hello, welcome to another episode of First 2 Shorts Podcast. I am your host, Joseph M. Water, at L-E-N-A-R-T at the Francis Now let's run without. Thank you for tuning in. As Brandon used to say on his show. Let's get on with the show. Hello, everybody. I just wanted to let you know this brief intro. I'm gonna double up two a week for the rest of January. They get caught up on a few interviews I've recorded lately. They're kind of piling up. They're going a little too far in the future. I don't want to keep people waiting that long. So for the rest of January, I'll do two during the week rather than one midweek drop on Wednesday. So Tuesday and Thursday, the rest of January. Anyway, let's let's get some guests on, as Graham Norton currently says, and I'm borrowing. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Christ to Shaw's podcast. Joining me today is Gabrielle Critchlow. And of course, if you're viewing behind the scenes, you can see her name already in the lower left corner there, but I'll put it in bigger, bolder letters in post-production in the scroll on the bottom of the screen. Welcome to the show, Gabrielle. How are you? I'm well. How are you? Like I always say, could be better, could be worse. Right? Of course. Take it one day at a time, as I also like to say. Yes, yeah. All right. Worry about today, today, tomorrow. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Yes. You're here. We're gonna talk mental health and mainly regarding kids because uh we we met the A pod match a service, and part of the back and forth that we had was I had said how concerned whether during the lockdowns, the Wuhan hysteria and the lockdowns, suicide rates among so many groups shot way up, but mainly among our kids, because they some that felt isolated then were obviously even more isolated by the hysteria and the lockdowns. Have have those rates come down at all? Have we re have our kids recovered from the damage we did to them yet?

SPEAKER_01:

So I just let me just say as a disclaimer, this is purely my opinion.

SPEAKER_00:

Um before you answer that, I didn't ask the usual. I need to ask the typical for, yeah, where where are where were you born and raised and where are you now? And we need that nitty-gritty first.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, well, I was born in in Trinidad and Tobago. Um, and I came to America when I was three years old. Uh, so now I am in the state of New York, and I have been here ever since.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh at least you're not in the state of Missouri, like I like to joke, the state of misery. And my audience knows I can't pass on the stupid pun. So now back to the serious topic. Indeed. Have our kids recovered?

SPEAKER_01:

I would say slightly. Um, so in regards to the suicide rates, I think, in my opinion, it has come down a lot, especially now that things are slowly returning to normal, uh, with you know, kids going back to school in person, with kids being able to congregate with other kids again, um, which started happening around 2023, I want to say. Um, so the suicide rates have come down as we've started accumulating ourselves around each other again. Um, but in terms of have we f fully recovered? 100%, not really. I don't think we fully recovered as a society, um, let alone our children. Um, like even with schools, um there every year there's an outbreak. So, you know, with flu season around I want to say September, October, November. Now COVID is part of the flu season. So, you know, I would even go as far as December. So from September to December, um, I would say it's cold season, flu season, now it's COVID season, right? So now we have that to deal with. And you know, we're we still have their, they're still making us get booster shots every year. So the COVID prevention is still a part of our society now. It hasn't exactly gone away, even like going to the doctors, for example, they may still make you wear a mask. Um, and then you still have like people that choose to wear a mask in their everyday life, not necessarily someone in the professional field. So because we still have those remnants of COVID, it does trickle down to the kids. And even, you know, like I said, even with schools, you know, there is remote remote learning still exists, right? Um, so in case and there's still like if one kid gets COVID, like the school will shut down, right? So um they'll they'll tell the child to, you know, stay home and then they alert all the parents. So either the school shuts down or they'll just put everybody on alert. Hey, a kid was tested positive for COVID, so just FYI, right? So I think because we still have those remnants of COVID, um, and I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon. Yeah, the the kids still feel it, right? They still feel um, you know, now classes are on computers now, and there's this move to digitize everything. So um because of all the the changes in the educational system, there's more of a a push to digitizing everything, and there's more of a push for things being on computers and teaching on computers. So because of the changing landscape in education, and even in our society, with again with the doctor's offices, still having to wear a mask, still having to get COVID boosters. Um, you know, and of course, you still have the paranoid, anxious people like I don't want my kids around a crowd of people. We still have those remnants and they feel that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, even though now all these years later, we know the Wuhan hysteria is mainly and always has been a threat to those who have comorbidities. Uh, I know a few people that died through complications, like one was a nurse and she had asthma, so she had a comorbidity. And indeed, catching COVID caused the issue with the asthma. They combined, and she literally drowned in her own, you know, drowned in her own bed due to pneumonia. It wasn't the COVID that killed her, it was the complications uh with her asthma that brought her. Yeah. So uh it doesn't affect the kids as much, but and even all these years, hundreds of years of mask science, the COVID particulate is smaller than even an N95 mask that protects against. So wearing these cloth masks are a placebo, but if it helps make some feel better, then uh okay, knock yourself out. But yeah, I want to go back to uh schools and and society in general. FaceTime, the computer version cannot and will not ever replace actual teacher to student actual face-to-face time and socializing of our kids actually being in the same place, being face-to-face than FaceTime on the computer. It's a totally different socialization, and many of them lost several years of that development.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I I'm sorry, my phone is ringing in the background, but um, but um so I I apologize for that. Yes, it doesn't place in person, it really doesn't. I mean, there are pros and cons. I will say that I wouldn't completely knock knock down FaceTime and you know, but uh but it's better than no contact. Right, right. And then there are some students who have special needs, for example, like those with um with autism, or those with physical disabilities, or you know, those who are um who may be blind or or mute or or deaf. Like they're gonna be able to do that. Yeah, like more yeah, like every everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's not a one-size-fits-all.

SPEAKER_01:

It's not like some people need more hands-on, more physical contact in terms of learning. Um, but there are some kids that may do better on the computer, right? Um, so maybe those who may be anxious or well, maybe who have been diagnosed with generalized anxiety, I'll say that. Or, you know, there are some kids with autism that might actually do better on a computer, right? With someone teaching on a computer. So there are benefits as well as detriments, but yeah, I think overall, it it doesn't um it doesn't replace face-to-face contact.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for every rule, there are exceptions, but we for thousands, or if you want to go and say millions of years, humanity as creatures has been an interactive species. That's the rule, but yes, there are some exceptions.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, absolutely, and uh and I do think that because kids are we've been moving into a digital age for a while now, definitely beyond before COVID. Um, I think since the internet was born. I think uh we have definitely been moving into a digital age, but particularly with children, particularly with schools. Um, like there's more we're introducing tablets into the schools. Um which blew up more dull during COVID, but it it showed up before, and then there's all um like the assisting technologies, um, like you know, talk to text, uh dictation, you know, recording classes, trans transcriptions, right? So all of these things happened before COVID. Um, Zoom happened before COVID, it just blew up because of COVID, right?

SPEAKER_00:

So these things are I'm a former IT guy, so I'm obviously I've seen this stuff coming from from uh up close and personal insight from the inside. Uh everything is great as a tool in its proper place, but not as a crutch as a babysitter, right? Oh here, here, you know. Let give that as an excuse to then not have to interact. Uh so yeah, it can be a great useful tool if we don't use it as an excuse uh for other things we can and could and should be doing. Uh you f I I am I making sense in that?

SPEAKER_01:

Like definitely when it comes to babysitting, and I have to admit I'm I'm guilty of that. Um, you know, when it comes to babysitting my niece and nephew, it's like here, just watch the TV or just just go play on the tablet, right? Um, but then by doing that, it's it's already addictive, already, right? So it's just throwing them into the into the addiction button.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, what they're doing on it matters. Yeah, if they're doing something constructive or if they're indeed mindless video games that addict them and keep them distracted from reality. The like you said, upsides and downsides to everything, and we as parental units have to make sure we're aware of what they're doing digitally.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. And we don't, and a lot of times we don't really know what they're watching, right? Um, and then just and then because we're kind of throwing them into these electronics, we are we're breaking the the communication, and there's a disconnect now between trying to relate to one another, right? And kids, they're not really picking up social cues or or looking at facial expressions, right? And so there's that there's that disconnect there. Um I remember someone telling me because of because of all the mask wearing, a lot of kids now have difficulties with speech because they're not reading lips. Um, so there's a lot more of that happening, and so there's a lot of speech difficulties because of all the mask wearing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we have varying accents and whatnot, including regional. At times you need them uh facial and as you said, lip cues. Uh, you may not hear the word clearly, but if you're having that real IRL in real life face-to-face, you can kind of see the mouthing and grasp the con uh context of the word and know what it is, uh, rather than if you were on the phone and only hearing the word and it's like, what? What was that? I I didn't quite get you.

SPEAKER_01:

You're the way that we form our lips around certain words, you're mimicking that with your own lips, right? So if you're not really seeing it because of all the mask wearing and you're young, right, you're gonna end up mispronouncing words, right? Or hearing words that uh may not make sense to you, like, wait, what? So I think and a lot of those speech difficulties have been coming up, right, as of late, uh, because of that. So there has yeah, and that's very big in terms of kids and trying to uh develop their vocabulary and and understanding what it means in context and and things like that. So uh there are there's gonna be long-term effects uh because of COVID, and it's gonna be a while uh before I mean we're we're on our way, but it's gonna be a while before we completely back.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, our education system has been on the decline and pathetic for so long now. Our kids were already generation to generation getting worse regarding language to begin with. And now, as you're saying, without without that visual cue, there's even greater language barrier. Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and I think with with COVID, it it already exposed the the school system already with all of its flaws. Um it just exacerbated it. Um, you know, especially with the with the the the wealthy poverty distinction. Um it definitely made that worse, right? Um, because of course, you know, COVID it in terms of what schools did, schools in wealthier neighborhoods, they were able to get more access to resources, but then you have the schools in poorer neighborhoods that you know had to struggle. So of course there's that wealthy poverty gap uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. As Jesus said, the poor will always be among you. That wasn't an economic or governance statement. It was there are some who always choose to do the least possible in everything and therefore don't quite get as ahead as they may otherwise be able to if they exerted themselves. But now, uh throwing everything out the window, a a complete non-sequitter, right? For those viewing on video, I can only see the top of your shirt. So I'm curious, what does your shirt say?

SPEAKER_01:

So um it's um so there's a um actually no, so I went to a family reunion last year in Trinidad, and um it's it's like a big event that we had, and we made t-shirts. Ah it says, Remember where you came from, and there's a big tree, and then it says, Um, well, everything's backward on video, sorry.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's uh No, I can see I can see it from way, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, Crit Critchlow Millington Family Reunion 2024. Family is everything. Wonderful. Uh

SPEAKER_00:

I'm glad I asked. Uh but I forgot where I did want to go next. Uh with the schools and yeah, I mean I um we could talk for 30 years on that alone and the medical issues alone and and whatnot here. But uh I do you have a website for people to go to?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So I tutor. Um so if you you know for those watching or listening, if you are looking for tutoring services for your child between um third grade and twelfth grades, and then even early college, depending on where you are in college, my website is www.astepahead tutoring services.com. So we provide a step ahead tutoring services.com.

SPEAKER_00:

That's kind of long, I gotta be honest with you. That's a little long.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh but just a step, just you're moving a step ahead, right? So a step ahead and then tutoring, and then yeah, it is it's long.

SPEAKER_00:

I will get it to it will fit on the screen, it'll just have to be a smaller font than someone who is a shorter website, but we'll we'll get it on there. Uh I remembered where I was gonna go. What I forgot now. I've forgotten. Oh, the the the uh haves, have nots divide has always been there. And it's sorry, it's unfortunate part of human nature and the way the planet is. There's always good, right? Those with means will always have access to more. And yeah, uh it's a if if you're on the upper side of it, it's great, obviously. But if you're not, then you know, but it's a part of reality we either have to accept and do our best to work within, or we're just gonna be miserable our whole lives. And you know, claiming victimhood and blaming others doesn't really help ourselves when we're doing that. You know, I'm not saying any particular person or whatever is, but there is that is part of human nature, and accepting our lot in life and doing whatever we can to improve it. I don't know where I'm going with this, but I'm just reacting off of what you said. Your thoughts, your additional thoughts.

SPEAKER_01:

I do understand that. However, there tends to be a favoritism to the ones that have, right? So yes, it is a part of it is something that we we have to accept as part of our society. There's gonna be those who have and those who have not, because there are more people than there are resources. However, I think there needs to be more of a favoritism towards the ones who have not, right? Because the ones that have there is a privilege, right? And it's a it's a privilege to be able to have access to more resources. And so if if we had more government funding and they funded more public schools, right, then that would address a lot of the issues that schools are having today.

SPEAKER_00:

And then also with teachers leaving in droves, well, I'm not I'm gonna push back because uh every year funding goes up and our schools get worse and our kids get dumber. The issue is not funding, it's a will to actually educate rather than indoctrinate, is my take on it. And of course, with the United States, I mean, there's a reason why you want to be here and not somewhere else. Never before in the course of human history have people had an opportunity to lift themselves up through the wonders of our particular governance and uh economy. So, yeah, again, Jesus said the poor will always be among you. There will always be some who choose to do little. Uh, but I get it, indeed, there are those who are held back. Uh I don't deny that as part of our reality, though, either.

SPEAKER_01:

And I understand that, but how you treat the poor is it shows a reflection of who you are.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. This is a Christian show. Jesus said you are to be your brother's keeper and to take care of widows and orphans through biblical community, God-given free will. I am to want to do that. The Bible also makes the distinction between those who are unable to help themselves versus those who are unwilling to help themselves, hence the poor will always be among you, versus stealing from somebody to give to another and pretend you've done something when you've not given your blood and treasure in the process under biblical community and free will. That is true.

SPEAKER_01:

And even looking at, and I know there's a parable in the Bible, like there was a young king that came to Jesus and said, What do I need to do to get to heaven? And Jesus said, Get rid of well, he listed a bunch of things, but then the last thing he said was get rid of all of your riches. And what did the king do? He sulked and walked away, right? So I mean it's a parable, but basically the Bible has mentioned Yeah, you know, like the Bible has mentioned several times about you, you know, you're not gonna take your wealth with you when you die.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

So there's uh you know what what how what does it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his own soul?

SPEAKER_00:

Amen. I've quoted that that indeed true. There's so many things that you can if you need to take them all in the full context as opposed to some who just pick and choose one thing or another. And indeed, uh but also it doesn't say God helps those who help themselves. It doesn't say that, but much implies such that you can't help others if you don't help yourself also first, right? I can't help feed the poor if I'm not able to take care of myself and have enough to then help feed the poor with.

SPEAKER_01:

You have to help yourself before you help other people. You can't be on the poor.

SPEAKER_00:

Right? Like on the plane. What do they tell you? In the case of the loss of cabin pressure, put on your own mask first, because you're no help to anybody else if you're flopping on the floor without oxygen. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

You you can't I mean, you can't pour everything out to help other people and not really pour back into yourself, and you have to have to pour first before, you know, in order to give to somebody else. So you know, yeah, it there there is a balance in taking care of other people and taking care of yourself.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, absolutely, absolutely positively. Well, we we've kind of strayed from our original initial subject. So wrapping things back up, what concerns do you have regarding uh the health in general of people our especially our kids going forward, if any.

SPEAKER_01:

I think understanding that you know, children are like I don't say they're naturally unhealthy, but they naturally don't want to do things that are healthy, right? So just understanding that about kids, like, oh, they would they would want to eat candy instead of vegetables, right? So understanding that. Why we gotta be the parent, yeah. Yeah, but my my concern is we're not really as parents, as adults, we're not really involved in their health, and we're not really on top of them about their health.

SPEAKER_00:

As we should be and need to be, yes. Yes, I we are in agreement there, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

So I would want to see more proactivity when it comes to health and being more involved in it, and and not just punishing, that's another thing too. I I find that a lot of parents get frustrated and you know, you don't you don't brush your teeth, you're you know, your your your mouth is gonna burn or whatever. Like just maybe explain it. Like uh you don't brush your teeth and things will grow and your breath will smell, and you know, people will smell I don't know, like your peep people are gonna smell that nasty breath, and you know, they're gonna treat you a certain way. Like there's there's a way to do it.

SPEAKER_00:

But I think if we And for every rule, there's an exception again, right? Every child isn't gonna respond to the same motivation.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Some kids need more strict they need stricter motivation than others. But I think the more involved we are in our children's health, the better it is for them.

SPEAKER_00:

I absolutely uh agree with that, and uh I've done too many interviews today, and my mind is turned to mush. You're just happening to be the last one of the day, and my my brain, I think, is kind of checked out already. My apologies. I'm not giving you uh the best me that you deserve here. Uh understandable, understandable. But thank you. Uh uh, let me make sure I read it so I get it right, Gabriel Critchlow for coming on. And people check out a step ahead tutoring services.com for more information. I try to keep the show shorter. I call it today's Twitter attention span. Being a former IT guy, I've seen the deterioration in attention spans because of social media. Oh, just give it to me. If you can't give it to me in 200 characters, I don't need to know it. Well, yes, you do, and details matter, but you know, if I do long shows, nobody will watch them. So then nobody wins. Thank you, Gabriel. Take care, God bless. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Like and subscribe to Christitutionalist politics podcast and share episodes. We need your help. Thank you for having tuned into another Christitutionalist podcast show. I really appreciate that you stop by. Again, please like, share, subscribe. We need you to help spread the constitutionalist movement. Thank you again. Take care. God bless. Love you all.

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Joseph M Lenard

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