Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 01, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A11 M ORE suited to a sci- fi flick than reality, a startling epidemic of young people with smartphone- addled brains is on the rise, and the long- term consequences might be far worse than you or I could imagine. Reporting one in five students is addicted to their smartphone, South Korea, the world's most tech- savvy nation, is aggressively tackling the problem, establishing more than 100 Internetaddiction camps. As the number of young smartphone users escalates around the globe, educating children and parents about the effects of this increasingly prevalent drug of the future is imperative. South Korean medical researchers released a recent report that illuminates the experiment in which we are all unwitting participants. Neuroscientists there reported a rise in digital dementia - the tendency of the young to be so obsessed with smartphones they can't remember phone numbers, produce legible handwriting or look people in the eye, all signs of a type of brain damage. In a nation where 20 per cent of 10- to 19- yearolds spend seven hours a day on smartphones and tablets, exposures are the highest in the world and reports of lopsided brain development are increasing. According to the Korean Ministry of Science, the country has more digital devices than people, with many children beginning to use devices as toddlers. Psychiatrist Dr. Byun Gi- Won, of the Balance Brain Center in Seoul, South Korea, explained, " Young people who are heavy technology users are likely to have a properly developed left hemisphere of the brain while the right hemisphere will be unused and underdeveloped." The Atlantic Monthly reported that in Korea, a cottage industry of Internet- addiction treatment centres has surfaced. Meanwhile in the U. S., parents are giving young children cellphones as toys. The Los Angeles School District, along with many others, is making multimillion- dollar commitments to the use of wireless digital devices, and Google has " gifted" the city of San Francisco Wi- Fi for major public parks. These expansive growths of wireless are taking place with no thought about the long- term impact this can have on developing brains, bodies and babies that are growing up in a sea of radiofrequency radiation - also known as microwave radiation - that is without precedent in human history. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the group I head, Environmental Health Trust, have long advocated that children need more lap time than screen time. If digital devices must be used to distract a toddler on a long car trip, put them on airplane mode and make sure they remain disconnected from Internet or Wi- Fi. Most tips for reducing usage come down to one simple notion - distance is your friend and time is your enemy. Keep calls and connection times as short as possible. Look around you these days. Young parents are glued to their phones while strolling with their toddlers - some of whom are also zoned into their own electronic devices. Watch youngsters turn crestfallen when a caregiver shifts from playing with them to answer a text or call. See families seated at dinner tables, each immersed in their own screen. When we strip away from our lives all the electronified trappings and stuff with which we are so preoccupied; when we throw away all those things we now crave and believe we need, what is left is what essentially makes us human. The rush to digitize toddlers and young children flies in the face of what developmental psychologists have long understood. Children learn best by direct human touch and eye contact - from real people not machines. Devra Davis, PhD, is an award- winning author and scientist. She is president of Environmental Health Trust, a non- profit research and policy organization, based in Jackson, Wyo. T HOMPSON - Touting your city as the global epicentre of a top predator may seem like an unusual tack. But that isn't stopping Thompson, already billed as the Wolf Capital of Canada, from pursuing Wolf Capital of the World status. " In most countries, wolves were almost exterminated because of human- wolf conflicts with cattle ranchers, sheep farmers, reindeer ranchers, etcetera," says Volker Beckmann of Spirit Way Inc., a local non- profit leading the wolf charge. " Yet in northern Manitoba, there are no ranchers or farmers. Aboriginal peoples have a completely different outlook on wolves." And not only aboriginals, as many Thompsonites of all creeds and cultures have climbed aboard an ambitious branding of this city that began in 2004. That was the year Spirit Way was formed to drum up tourism in the Hub of the North. One of its first projects would be a massive wildlife mural to adorn the side of a prominent apartment building. The $ 113,000 mural would be a 10- storey reproduction of a work by renowned Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman. A wolf was chosen from a list of candidates that also included an eagle, a moose and a lynx. Upon completion in 2005, the powerful image of a lone wolf, perfectly capturing the animal's mystique, became the largest photo- real mural in Canada and the largest lighted mural on Earth. " After the mural was painted and many people across Canada were expressing their interest, we began to realize there was a worldwide fascination and controversy with wolves," recalls Beckmann, a friendly- looking bespectacled man. That response helped spawn another wolfthemed attraction, a series of wildlife- muralwrapped wolf statues scattered throughout the city. Almost as hard to miss as the Bateman mural, the business- sponsored statues each stand more than seven feet tall. There are now 52 statues, mostly in Thompson but with several in Winnipeg and Churchill. GPS enthusiasts are encouraged to locate all of them through Spirit Way's GPS wolf hunt. Other projects are in the works, not the least of which is a captive wolf park for Thompson's planned Boreal Discovery Centre. Spirit Way has already raised more than $ 250,000 for the park. Not to be forgotten is the fact that there are some very real wolves roaming the Thompson region. Ironically, wolf sightings spiked last November after the city hosted an international conference on how to cast Thompson as the world's wolf capital. All of which shows Thompson had every reason to be confident when, in 2009, it declared itself the Wolf Capital of Canada, a claim no one has challenged. Now the city is eyeing Wolf Capital of the World, a title that, as far as Beckmann can tell, is not used by any other community. Surprisingly, there is no official body regulating " world capitals" of anything. Plausibly promote yourself, and convince enough people of your legitimacy, and you can become the world capital of anything. Thompson has not publicly christened itself the Wolf Capital of the World just yet, but that hasn't stopped two U. S. wolf organizations from doing so. A strategic plan is now being developed, Beckmann says, to " legitimately" position Thompson as the global wolf capital. The goal is to formally make the claim when the internationally respected Wildlife Society hosts a major conference in Winnipeg in 2015. Today, with the Bateman mural now its most famous visual, Thompson's wolf- based branding has far outgrown its tourism- motivated roots. Beckmann notes several wolf experts have visited Thompson and confirmed " a unique opportunity to highlight wolves in a new way and set an example to other jurisdictions in proper wolf management." Not all residents are excited by the prospects, believing wolves are too marauding an animal to be the face of a city, particularly one whose crime rate has spawned a reputation for danger. Nonetheless, wolves are fast becoming to Thompson what polar bears are to Churchill. Maybe touting your city as the epicentre of a top predator isn't such an unusual tack after all. Jonathon Naylor is editor of the Reminder newspaper in Flin Flon. jonathon_ naylor@ hotmail. com W HAT'S eating Joni Mitchell? Last week the respected singer songwriter dissed her former hometown of Saskatoon for its failure to come up with an appropriate way of honouring her legacy. " I feel that it's very isolated, very unworldly and doesn't grasp the idea of honour," she insisted. " I need to be in a place that recognizes the international achievements." She went on to declare the residents of Saskatoon " an extremely bigoted community. People don't get me there. They don't get my ideas," likening the city to the American South. In a rare CBC interview with Q's Jian Ghomeshi in June, Mitchell came off irritable, impatient and dismissive. National Post columnist Joe O'Connor this week dubbed the one- time hippie songbird " a cranky, chain- smoking, female version of Don Cherry." The composer of Woodstock, aged 70 , is most certainly not going gently into that good night. While Joni rails at everything around her, the city fathers and community leaders of Saskatoon who, despite her trash talk, do indeed want to find a way to celebrate their most famous contribution to the world since Gordie Howe, are left with a dilemma: How to move forward without Mitchell's support and endorsement? To her credit, Mitchell rejects the notion of an inert statue, instead suggesting some manner of broader, ongoing cultural centre. Beyond the petulant outbursts of a spurned artiste, there is a larger issue here. How do we as a society honour our pop- culture contributors in a way that not only celebrates their accomplishments but also engages, educates, illuminates and inspires further generations in a meaningful way? Look around Winnipeg. There is little evidence of the major musical, artistic and cultural icons that emerged from our fair city and by extension, our province. No plaques, no signage, no maps, no booklets, no local or provincial tourism initiatives and no museums dedicated to venerating the extensive and envious list of cultural contributors that includes the likes of Bob Nolan, Deanna Durbin, Monty Hall, Lucille Starr, Lenny Breau, Juliette, Neil Young, Daniel Lavoie, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Charlie Thorson, Ray St. Germain, Tracy Dahl, David Steinberg, Aubrey Tadman, Evelyn Hart and Len Cariou to name but a few. Many are celebrated in the wonderful array of murals throughout the city but those only present a face or an image with no details of their accomplishments. Each summer, independent of Tourism Winnipeg and Tourism Manitoba, Heartland Travel operates the Magical Musical History Tour of mainly musicrelated sites. The most common response from patrons at the conclusion of the three- hour excursion is pride, awe and amazement that so much talent is associated with Winnipeg and yet few are actually aware of it. In recent years, other cities have come to the realization that celebrating their pop- culture history is not only a worthy endeavour but also a financial boon. After decades of ignoring the Beatles and their British- Invasion contemporaries, Liverpool now embraces and champions them in any and all manner possible including the Beatles Story Museum. Beatles tourism alone accounts for tens of millions of pounds each year. Against all odds, Cleveland aggressively pursued and won the right to host the coveted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. It has become that city's No. 1 tourist attraction. Macon, Ga., houses the Georgia Music Hall of Fame; Lubbock, Texas is home to the Buddy Holly Museum; Helena, Ark., boasts an impressive blues museum; New Ulm, Minn. features the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame; besides the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville also includes the Rockabilly Hall of Fame; Kannapolis, North Carolina is home to the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame; and on and on. Almost all 50 American states have a music or otherwise cultural Hall of Fame. So how do we here go about creating some kind of permanent recognition of our internationally renowned artistic and cultural achievers that will offer a uniquely celebratory experience as well as earning the support and endorsement of those individuals or groups? It's a daunting task. With each passing year, more and more of these individuals are passing on and their archives and collections are being lost to further generations to study and draw inspiration from. Over the past 11 years, several initiatives to kick- start the creation of some form of Manitoba Music Hall of Fame and Museum have tried and failed. Not because it's a bad idea; quite the contrary, support from prominent civic movers and shakers was widespread and grassroots enthusiasm high. Endorsement of the concept is also strong within the provincial government. However, the way things work these days is through what is known as PPP: private- public partnerships. For any initiative to get beyond the discussion stage, it needs some civic, community or business leader to step up to the plate. More significantly, many of our cultural icons have indicated if we build it, they will support it. Imagine what a world- class facility we could host. Maybe Joni Mitchell might even visit to see her old buddy Neil Young's artifacts. After all, they first met here in Winnipeg. John Einarson is a Winnipeg author. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Winnipeg Free Press Thursday, August 1, 2013 A 11 POLL �� TODAY'S QUESTION Have you ever used the city's 311 line? �� Vote online at winnipegfreepress. com �� PREVIOUS QUESTION Does Manitoba's growing debt worry you? YES 41% NO 59% TOTAL RESPONSES 7,898 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 VOL 141 NO 256 2013 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 697- 7000 BOB COX / Publisher PAUL SAMYN / Editor JULIE CARL / Deputy Editor DEVRA DAVIS Rush to digitalize toddlers risks Internet addiction Thompson in hunt for world predator title JONATHON NAYLOR JOHN EINARSON Cranky Joni Mitchell a reminder of Winnipeg shortcoming TREVOR HAGEN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Two of Thompson's pack of 52 mural- covered wolf statues howl outside the Provincial Building. Joni Mitchell A_ 13_ Aug- 01- 13_ FP_ 01. indd A11 7/ 31/ 13 6: 41: 33 PM ;