"Teach Your Children Well"

"78 percent of respondents in a recent international Monster.com poll reported experiencing the so-called "Sunday Night Blues." And a whopping 47 percent said they get it "really bad." In the U.S., that number jumps to 59 percent."

Reported by: Huffington Post, The Third Metric

If you stop and think about the number of people who are suffering on Sunday night...59%...it is really startling.  The article, that reported the results of this poll, goes on to give advice on how people can cope with their weekly bout with the blues.  What the article doesn't address, in any real deep sense, is why people have the blues.  

Oh sure, the obvious answer is that work is not as fun as play. Work involves stress. Work involves...well work. I am going to take a "Gladwellian" stab at illuminating the "why" of this conundrum.  

People don't choose professions based on what they love to do. People choose professions for economic reasons.  

After a few years in the workforce, Americans realize that they are unsatisfied with what they are doing. All the while, their family has developed an appetite for expensive toys, homes, and all of the accouterments of the American lifestyle.  From this cycle of mega-materialism, the Sunday Night Blues are born.  

There is another way, of course.  It takes guts to get there. It takes a willingness to make changes and sacrifices.  In the end, however, your children will thank you and respect you, and there is a good chance that they will escape the Sunday Blues.

Miley Hits a Nerve

 In the past, newspapers, magazines, and television were the conveyors of information to the public. Agencies created restrictions that ensured that the content, provided by these mediums, was ready for prime time.  Professionals created the information and released it to the general public at a specific time of day.

The speed at which innovative technology has become available in the marketplace has out-paced our ability to regulate the delivery and timing of information.  Today, information is available anytime and anywhere. At the extremes the content can be both edifying and down right bizarre.

As a parent, this is a terrifying shift.  Through the eyes of an innocent child, information provided by the scholar and the kook are of equal value.  Frankly, the kook would likely be perceived as more entertaining and a lot easier to understand.

The recent Miley Cyrus fiasco points directly to this shift.  Television is now "old technology".  It represents the past and more traditional standards for information.  The fact that Miley "twerked"using this medium, sent shock waves through the audience, who were unprepared for a prime time display of soft-porn delivered by a Mouseketeer.