A Digital-Free Barnyard

By Jurgen Haver

Editors Note: Jurgen Haver is the husband of Judith Costello, one of Lehman’s Country Life long time contributors.

Just this week I read the results of three research studies. The first said the average child spends 45 hours a week in the digital world (cell phone, TV, games, texting, computer). Next was a study that concluded cell phones and e-mails help children socialize better. The last one was convinced that all of these digital tools were changing the way young people’s brains actually work and was probably not a good thing.

So, as I often do, I went out and talked to my animals about it. You can trust animals, you know. Here’s what I learned:

  • Our pinto does not have video games but she has lots of time to horse around.
  • Our chickens do not have their images on My Face, proving they’re not such dumb clucks after all.
  • Our pig does not have a cell phone and so is never tempted to hog all the minutes.
  • Our cows are not interesting in texting each other because they’re convinced the it’s just a lot of bull.
  • Our sheep do not have High Definition TV which means they never have to decide which of the new season’s shows are good and which are baaaaaaaad.

So I’ve taken a tip from my animals and have done away with all of that digital stuff. Except for High Definition football, e-mails, word processing programs and my handy cell phone. What was that? I just heard my cat say phfffft and my dog has begun howling. Oh well, what do they know anyway?

About the Author: Jurgen Haver and his family live at Sagging Acres Farm in rural New Mexico. Jurgen has been a business consultant to CEOs and politicians for over forty years.

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MEWolf
MEWolf
15 years ago

I loved your article…so funny and so true. Hey we maybe neighbors…we live in Moriarty, Nm too :-)

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