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I'd love to have been able to ban smartphones from my college classroom, but doing that on my own hook would have sent my evaluations crashing through the floor. My sense is that the danger of social media is that they plunge the user into the halls of a gigantic hellish middle school in which they're subject not only to the bullying of their classmates but of kids from other schools across the English-speaking world and, worse, of sadistic and exploitative adults. This isn't a problem inherent in screens; it's a problem inherent in a boundary-less social sphere.

On a side note, Clarabell was played by Bob Keeshan, who later moved up from a silent character part to the lead on Captain Kangaroo.

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Has anyone linked this panic to the research finding that mindfulness training makes teens more depressed, mainly by getting them to think more about the world. I'm nearly 70, born with an optimistic temperament, and thinking about the world (Trump, Putin, Gaza, global heating) makes me really depressed.

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Howdy Doody still gives me nightmares. I preferred Lunch with Soupy Sales.

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Interesting analysis. Thanks. And don’t forget Mr. Green Jeans and Office Joe Bolton

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Thank you for this dose of sanity!

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