Did the internet ruin your summer?

Did you notice that there appeared to be less children playing outdoors during the summer this year?

 

It didn’t cross my mind until my son commented this week that he didn’t mind going back to school because there was no one around to play with. He had a point – there were certainly fewer youngsters out playing football on our local green in comparison with previous summers.

So where were they all hiding? In a sure sign that the economy is picking up, some of them had gone abroad with their families – but that hardly accounts for the full eight weeks or so of the school break.

Was it possible that many of our children were lured indoors by their growing dependency on the internet?

The results of a new study published by Stop Procrastinating, a productivity website, seems to confirm as much.

The survey of 2,000 parents across the country found that a majority are concerned by their children’s internet use during the summer and say that it will cause conflict during family holidays.

It found that parents are also concerned by their inability to block their children’s access to the internet during the summer.

Among its findings were:
•68 per cent worried their children use the Internet for too long during the summer holidays.
•52 per cent said their children were less active because they used social media instead of playing with friends.
•48 per cent worried their children didn’t seek out sociable activities during the summer.
•62 per cent said their children’s use of smart devices would cause conflict and stress during their family holiday.
•56 per cent said that their children read less over the summer than they did when they were children. They blamed the internet for this.

While the internet can be a valuable learning resource, our reliance on smartphones and tablets has become worrying. Social networking has replaced meaningful human contact and even those with hundreds of so-called Facebook friends can, in reality, be lonely and isolated.

Parents are under mounting pressure to buy the latest gadgets for their kids, unwittingly exposing them to online violence or pornography.

Despite dire warnings about childhood obesity, kids are literally left to their own devices instead of engaging in sporting activities.

It may be an inconvenient truth, but we all know that the internet is a problem when it comes to our children. The question is: what are we willing to do about it?

Zero tolerance needed on dog fouling

When you consider the low number of on-the-spot fines issued for dog fouling across Dublin's four local authorities last year, you'd think we didn't have a problem with this disgusting epidemic that plagues our communities.

Incredibly, only 13 fines were issued in 2014 across the city and county, despite a €10,000 campaign by the councils to raise awareness of the issue.

This summer, it's everywhere you look. It’s on our footpaths, our open spaces, our grass verges and our beaches. By extension, this means it ends up inside our homes, schools, sports clubs and workplaces.

It's next to impossible to go anywhere these days without having to navigate a course around dog excrement. It’s not the fault of our canine friends, of course. If they have to go, they have to go.

Because there’s no such thing as bad dogs – just bad, irresponsible owners with the manners and civic mindedness of rodents.

The problem affects children and adults alike. At best, it is a messy, unpleasant experience, particularly when you have to clean it out of the crevices of the soles of your shoes. At worst, it can have serious health implications and even lead to blindness. 

While the laws are there to fine people if their dogs foul in a public place, enforcement is typically non-existent in some areas. On-the-spot fines of €150 can be issued or up to €3,000 if a conviction is secured in court. But the chances of being caught are pretty slim, as last year's figures show.

When was the last time you saw a dog owner being reprimanded by a council official and issued with an on-the-spot fine?

It is curious that our local authorities don’t see the financial potential of policing dog fouling as they do, for instance, parking.

There’s hardly a community left in Dublin that isn’t subjected to disc parking. Much – if not all – of this revenue goes straight into the coffers of the local authorities. By extension, this helps pay for local services such as street cleaning and road maintenance.

Pay and display parking works for one simple reason – visibility. The sight of uniformed parking warden stalking our streets is more than enough to ensure that we comply with regulations.

And more often than not, if you take a chance and don’t pay for your parking, there is a very high probability that you’ll be caught and fined. We may not like it but it’s a clear deterrent.

Imagine if our local authorities put the same effort into the dog dirt problem? Every community in Dublin should have a uniformed dog fouling inspector on the streets on a daily basis. The revenue generated from the fines alone would pay their wages. There would also be significant environmental and health benefits.

Irresponsible, selfish, lazy, pig ignorant dog owners would think twice the next time their adorable mutts soil a footpath. Find them and fine them; publicly name and shame them.

I imagine there would be much public support for a zero tolerance approach to the issue of dog fouling. Put it on your list of demands when the general election candidates come calling in the months ahead.