Noteworthy: As with anything, finding balance is key for kids and screen time

By Bruce Penton on June 25, 2025.

I’m showing my age here, but life is certainly different for teenagers in 2025 than for me and my pals in the 1960s. The biggest difference? The internet and screens.

Sitting inside playing video games or watching TV – especially in the summertime – was simply not a thing 60 years ago. With the Internet still 30 years away from being developed, and only one TV channel available, kids back then had to play outside.

While basic activities such as baseball, swimming, board games, camping or cycling around the neighbourhood kept most of us occupied, kids today seem to be consumed by on-screen fun in their bedroom or living room, with the refrigerator nearby.

Social interaction is lost, as is good health. I had a 60-household daily paper route in the west end of Brandon in those days, which meant I spent a good portion of my afternoon on my bicycle, picking up my papers downtown, cycling about two miles to the city’s west end and then delivering them door to door.

Canadian author Katherine Johnson Martinko wrote a book in 2023 called Childhood Unplugged: Practical Advice to Get Kids Off Screens and Find Balance. Her major concerns, as outlined in a recent Toronto Globe & Mail story, are “increased sedentariness, shattered focus, impaired sleep, cyberbullying, reduced empathy, brain rot-inducing content, etc.”

The internet and video games certainly help to make life interesting, but a summer vacation spent full time in front of a screen is bad news. Some parents encourage it, because it keeps the kids occupied and out of trouble, but in the long run, it’s not healthy. Screen time should be limited, writes Martinko, but not eliminated. Like almost everything else in life, a balanced approach is the best.

â€¢ Coolest thing I saw last week was a Chicago White Sox cap perched on the head of the new leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV. Born near Chicago, Pope Leo was a Sox fan as a youngster. He might want to try some divine intervention to help the White Sox, who were in last place in the American League Central Division with the worst overall recored of the league’s 15 teams.

â€¢ Scanning the City of Medicine Hat website is always educational, and a recent glance told me about the Fair Entry program, of which I was completely unaware.

The Fair Entry program entitles residents of the city who don’t achieve a certain income level to have reduced fees at city-run recreation facilities, access to Esplanade education programs and Medicine Hat Transit discounts.

If your income level found on your income tax form is below the official Low Income Cut Off (LICO), you can apply for the Fair Entry program. LICO numbers are $26,759 for a single person, or $33,312 for two people. It goes up incrementally for larger families.

If you think you might be eligible, it might be worth a look. Any way you can save a buck or two here and there is worthy of investigation.

Complete details are on the city’s website, medicinehat.ca.

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