FEATURE/Guilty Parents Buy Into Holiday Tech-Toy Madness; New Book by Robert Kamm, ``Superman Syndrome,'' Shows U.S. Kids Ripped Off.

Lifestyle Editors

FEATURE...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--Nov. 29, 2000

As America's malls swell with frenetic parents searching for oversold Sony Playstations and Robbie the Robots, parenting authority Robert Kamm says parents feel societal peer pressure at the holidays to gift their children with `presents' instead of their `presence,' mostly out of guilt for habitually choosing work over the family during the year.

In his recently released book, "The Superman Syndrome: Why the Information Age Threatens Your Future and What You Can Do About It," (1stBooks Library, www.1stbooks.com, $26.47 hardcover, $18.67 paperback) Kamm predicts that our addiction to the tech-driven lifestyle of the Information Age will cause a social cataclysm in the next 30 years through the erosion of authentic parenting. Kamm's concern is supported by statistics that show stunning increases in parents' time at work and a host of disturbing behaviors surfacing in America's youth.

"We are spoiling our children with kiddie-versions of the high tech toys we ourselves can't switch off," says Kamm. "Kids need committed parents who are willing to turn off their cell phones when they get home. Parenting calls us to live at depth but we cannot live at depth when we live at speed," he contends.

A recent report, released by the Economic Policy Institute, shows that white middle-class married couples are working 246 hours -- or six weeks -- more a year than a decade ago. African-Americans are working 500 hours -- or 12 weeks -- more a year.

"With all these hours at work," asks Kamm, "who's raising our kids?

-- Today's kids spend more than twice as much time alone in their rooms with
their computers, TVs and stereos as they do with their parents. (Kaiser Family
Foundation and University of Michigan Study). An epidemic of introversion is
spreading, fueled by the presence of technology and the absence of parents.

-- Approximately 15 million school-age children are left to fend for themselves
on the streets or alone at home on any given weekday afternoon in America.

-- Youth depression is on the rise, hitting kids across socioeconomic lines at
younger ages than ever before, and kids with depression and/or anxiety are
three to four times more likely to develop drug or alcohol abuse problems in
their mid-20s. Suicide rates for U.S. children and teens quadrupled between
1950 and 1995.

-- Psychologists at the National Institute of Healthcare Research found that
the level of a father's involvement significantly impacts his children's
cognitive growth, including perception, judgment and memory. Involved fathers
create stimulation that causes faster movement through developmental stages.

-- The Journal of the American Medical Association tells us "The prevalence of
psychotropic medication treatment of children and adolescents with emotional
and behavioral disorders significantly increased in the U.S. during the last
few decades, particularly in the last 15 years. Specifically, the 5 through 14
year-old age group has had sizable increases in the use of antidepressant
medications." JAMA also states in the same report that "Psychotropic
medications prescribed for preschoolers increased dramatically between 1991 and
1995."

Robert H. Kamm is an author and resource on the issues of modern fatherhood and the effect of technology on family life. Kamm is a consultant whose clients have included Fortune 100 companies and individuals from diverse fields -- the performing arts, law enforcement, teaching, finance, medicine, advertising and Olympic competition.