Rite of passage should come with a warning

Our resident expert on letter-writing weighs in on the election

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For the past two weeks I've been spending most of my free time at the Verizon store.

Tip for those with gray hair: Don't let your spouse die before putting the phone bill into both your names, but that is a story for another day.

Verizon stores are free flowing. They do not have the usual counters and cash registers like the old days. After entering the store, an employee armed with a tablet greets you. He/she is not there to assist you, their job is to organize the line and tell you how long you will wait.

There was so many people at the Verizon store during my visits I was shocked they did not serve refreshments.

A couch would also be a good investment.

The wait on my first visit was 15 minutes, but I was told 45 minutes when I arrived the second time. I just turned around and went to another store across town where they told me my issue was so complex, I would need to go back to the first store.

That's the kind of week it has been.

After arriving too early for another appointment on Wednesday, the restaurant next door - Moe's - was kind of enough to give me water for free and keep me from dehydrating before it was my turn, but I am getting off the track.

The point is I got to spend a lot of time observing Verizon's business and the parade of customers it attracts. I thought most people were like me and visited the phone store once every decade or so.

Not so.

The phone store is more popular than Starbucks.

Some want to upgrade to the latest shiny device.

Others are wondering why their device suddenly stopped working, or receiving email.

Others have questions about their billing and how to reduce it.

I also learned you can go to a machine in the Verizon store and buy prepaid minutes for those who can't afford a plan. That was an eye-opener.

If you wait long enough, you start playing a people-watching game to figure why each person is there.

It was past 5 p.m. when a family walked through the door.

The older child - maybe 10 or 11 - looked like how I did when I went to the toy store all those years ago. Instead of trucks, he rushed from phone to tablet like a kid in a... I guess here I have to substitute "candy" with "phone."

After five minutes or so, the woman with the tablet checked them in and asked how they could be helped.

They were upgrading a couple phones and adding a new line as the mother nodded to young child beside here. He looked maybe eight or nine.

The Verizon woman got very animated, "Oh, it's your first phone," she said in a sing-song voice to the youngster.

And everyone smiled.

It was like the first day of school, or getting your driver's license, or going to the junior prom -  a rite of passage.

But I was faced with a conundrum.

"Don't do it! I wanted to interject.

I looked again at the young lad who was beaming, perhaps for the last time in his life.

I wanted to turn mom and dad around and send them to the nearest book store for a copy of The Anxious Generous.

I wanted to tell them they were ending their child's "play-based" childhood and turning him toward a "phone-based" future.

Jonathan Haidt, the New York University social psychology professor who wrote the book, says that phone-based childhood leads to "social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation and addiction," but most of all, it contributes to mental health issues educators are seeing all across the country.

This past September, Cambridge Central School became the only local school I know to ban cell phones from the classroom. The fact it is the only school to ban phones is startling and an indictment of school administrations and boards of education all across the region.

"We are not against technology," the Cambridge superintendent told The Post-Star at the time, "We just want our kids to be present when the teacher is teaching math and science."

The NYU professor wrote that after the introduction of smart phones in 2010, rates of depression and anxiety among adolescents rose noticeably. Studies have also shown the more students use smart phones, the lower their test stores and grades.

And the suicide rate jumped 131 percent for girls aged 10 to 14. With the store packed with eager customers, this did not seem like the time to bring up the suicide rate, but I wondered if the perky Verizon folks were culpable in some way, too.

They are the new pushers. They just get paid by the hour.

Shouldn't there be a disclaimer for parents to sign for any phone sold to a child under the age of 16?

Shouldn't there be warnings on the iPhones like there is on cigarettes?

When my own phone issue was rectified, I made my exit past the happy young family. I imagine the youngest boy left smiling as he entered "phone-based" childhood.

I hope he's still smiling in a few years.

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The kids from St. Mary’s were on parade for Halloween Thursday afternoon in downtown Glens Falls.

Excuse me...

You never know what you are going to run into when having lunch in Hometown, USA.

After finishing my meal Thursday afternoon, I ran into a vast collection of witches, ghosts and goblins along Glen Street as St. Mary's held its annual Halloween parade.

It was a flashback to another time in my life.

I enjoyed the trip back to that time.

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Meet Bernice

It's hard not to notice Bernice Mennis with her wild hair and infectious smile.

I've known of Bernice way before I ever met Bernice. She was a prolific letter-writer - still is - when I was at The Post-Star. She wrote so many letters, she put them all together and published a book.

We all should have a little of Bernice in us, a little of that passion, of that concern for our fellow man, of that moxie and belief that our actions can make a difference in the world.

It's something we all should strive for.

Bernice wrote one more letter about the upcoming election this week, but the weekly newspaper didn't publish it, so she sent it to me.

You don't have to agree with Bernice to feel her passion. Nothing wrong with feeling a little passion and having strong opinions. We used to respect that.

So here's Bernice's letter. I hope it makes a difference.

Editor:

I’ve never been part of any poll, but if I were asked what is important to me in this election I would think of what I value, what moves my heart - caring, honesty, courage, working for the good.  I would think of former president Jimmy Carter’s faith: “to do what I can, wherever I can, and for as long as I can.”

  I think of what is precious: our diverse, bountiful, beautiful and endangered earth and our democracy, fragile and now threatened.

It’s hard for me to understand people cheering for Trump when he lies, insults, demeans, threatens, refuses to answer questions, uses vulgar gross words, targets groups who just want to live their authentic life, rouses hatred and fear in communities, violence against legal Haitian immigrants in Ohio and FEMA workers working to help communities suffering from climate disasters, who chants “drill, baby, drill,” says he would use military power to go after “the enemy within” (all not totally loyal to him, which could be me, or you) and someone who would terminate our Constitution.

I think of truth-tellers – Democrats, Republicans, election workers, judges, jury members – needing security to protect homes and families.

The difference isn’t between Democrats or Republicans, but what we want and value.

Stefanik and Elon Musk spout Trump’s lies and are silent about his danger. Some feel  superior – as a man or as white or as Christian – believing it their right to dominate, have power over another and willing to use violence  when their right is questioned.

I think of Biden and Harris, their hard work to make our lives better: lowering prescription drug prices, supporting women’s right to have control over their own bodies, a child tax credit, supporting workers, unions, bringing manufacturing jobs back to our country and rebuilding our infrastructure.

Of their deep empathy with victims of mass violence and those suffering from environmental disasters, their legislation to combat climate change and incentivizing green energy.

I think how their “good work” has been called communist, fascist, marxist and dangerous.

What is dangerous?

What is precious and needs to be protected?

  What do we value?

Bernice Mennis, Fort Ann

I'll let Bernice have the last word on that.

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Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.