Last weekend, I was at a USS swim meet and heard parents and coaches complaining about the "distraction" of many swimmers now. They blame this distraction (in addition to the rise of the boy/girl crazy period) on the advent of cell phones and IM-ing, etc. Apparently, at meets, and I've seen it, the kids spent scads of time on their cells phones, phoning friends, phoning kids across the pool, texting constantly (even to kids 5 feet away). Then they go home and IM for hours, checking and gossiping over the instant meet results and who beat who. Now, all the swimmers seem to know each other because, even if they're not on the same team or live in different states, they now can communicate easily via IM-ing and texting. I heard one coach say he's not sure how to get his swim kids to focus in this new techo-age. Obviously, some kids are focused like lasers, but I see an abundance of chatting and cell phone use too. Would kids do better without cell phones at meets? And is technology distracting them? Some seem to be swimming blazingly fast, but are others not swimming up to their potential because of this?
to your original question, Leslie, I'm not sure that the whole texting phenom at meets is a really big deal... I recall playing tag, eating hot dogs, checking out boys at USS meets... there was always distraction, just maybe not the electronic variety. and as you know, summer league meets are infinitely worse than USS meets for screwing around instead of focusing
on the bright side, other than tiring their thumbs out, at least the kids are physically resting, ya know?
Maybe not. But I think they still do all of the above, plus text and call people. I don't think any of this takes place sitting down. I rarely see kids sitting down at meets. At least not mine. I guess she's got it bad. She's certainly got the boy crazy thing bad. They all need to have fun at their meets, to be sure. But I hate seeing kids (always girls) crying after races. You wonder whether some of that is inadequate preparation.
to your original question, Leslie, I'm not sure that the whole texting phenom at meets is a really big deal... I recall playing tag, eating hot dogs, checking out boys at USS meets... there was always distraction, just maybe not the electronic variety. and as you know, summer league meets are infinitely worse than USS meets for screwing around instead of focusing
on the bright side, other than tiring their thumbs out, at least the kids are physically resting, ya know?
Maybe not. But I think they still do all of the above, plus text and call people. I don't think any of this takes place sitting down. I rarely see kids sitting down at meets. At least not mine. I guess she's got it bad. She's certainly got the boy crazy thing bad. They all need to have fun at their meets, to be sure. But I hate seeing kids (always girls) crying after races. You wonder whether some of that is inadequate preparation.
