Jackie Krawczak

I get up in the morning and take a shower. It feels good and wakes me up, but it is nowhere nearly as refreshing as the shower I take after a great workout, a day of working in the yard, or hours of volunteering to pour concrete and assemble benches in some sticky humidity.

I’ve had plenty of meals of steak, potatoes, and broccoli. They are most often delicious. Unless the steak is overcooked, and anything over medium rare is overcooked. But the best tasting and most memorable steak, potatoes, and broccoli meal I have ever had was after riding my bicycle with a friend over 50 miles in the Zoo-de-Mack ride from Harbor Springs to Mackinaw City. The meal was on Mackinac Island after the bike ride, after taking the ferry across with bikes and luggage, after storing the bikes, hauling things to the hotel, and taking showers. We were very hungry. The meal that I’d had plenty of times before was incredible.

Sometimes I get bruises that I don’t know where they came from. Maybe just running into the corner of a table while not paying attention. Perhaps from hitting my shin on the bottom of a grocery cart. Those bruises aren’t very exciting. But when I have bruises or scrapes from something like fishing all day and reeling in Lake Trout or Salmon, or bruises from mountain biking a difficult trail, those bruises are ones I feel proud of and know were earned. They tell a story.

These examples are small but tell the story that the more we must work for something, the greater the reward. When we work hard for something, whether it’s a career we want, an athletic feat, or mastering a hobby, as examples, we value it with much greater appreciation than something simple.

Many people have said some version of, “if it were simple, everyone would do it.”

Isn’t that true? Hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of people do simple things. The difficult things are rarer and one of the reasons is because not as many people have the discipline to get there.

I think about this with my business often. It is a difficult and slow process to build a business. I’ve read many stories about other business start ups and most of the stories include significant struggles, hardships, direction changes, and countless attempts.

I’m concerned about our children not learning the value of commitment, persistence, perseverance, and discipline.

I’ve read the book, “Anxious Generation” (which I highly recommend) and then recently read an article that was a follow-up interview with the author of that book. The author, Jonathon Haidt, shares his concerns about what is happening to our youth as they are increasingly using screens. Here is an excerpt from the article that was on MSN.com a few days ago:

“By the time kids get to middle school, if they’ve been swiping and seeing micro stories that aren’t really stories, a lot of damage has been done to their ability to pay attention. Us college professors all say the same thing: Kids can’t read books anymore. Some of our students say they can’t even watch a movie. It’s too long. Our attention is being shattered. Let children’s frontal cortex develop before you expose them to this. It’s damaging an entire generation. And you should never give a child an iPhone as their first phone.”

Adults are responsible for the upbringing of our children. Parents first and foremost, but it does take an entire community. Neighbors, relatives, friends.

If we know the damage that screen time is doing to them, why are so many adults still allowing their children unmonitored and unlimited screen time? Why aren’t more parents pushing schools to switch to no-phone policies?

Perhaps it is because adults are also addicted to screens, and it is damaging adult brains and relationships as well.

Maybe more of us should lead by example and put our screens away. I’m not saying this because I’m perfect at it. I find myself frustrated with how much I use my phone sometimes. I know it can be addictive and must work at not using it as often as I think about using it, especially for mindless scrolling or engaging in things that don’t add value.

We must do better as a society when it comes to raising children who will turn into adults who can problem-solve, innovate, maintain healthy relationships, stick with difficult things, and add value to those around them. One of the most prolific factors getting in the way of that is our screen time.

We need adults who understand that the reward is greater when they work hard for something and are willing to put the time and energy into challenges.

Jackie Krawczak is president of Jackie Krawczak LLC. Her column runs every three weeks on Thursdays. Follow Jackie on X @jkrawczak.