Lazy journalists are everywhere

David Johnson, an Assistant Professor at American University's School of Communication critiques an incredibly weak New York Times article, which "breaks the news" that text-happy teens may suffer health problems as a result of too much of a good thing. Johnson's beef is with the "he said, she said" predictable nature of the storytelling, and I agree with him that it makes for an article that is "Dull, boring, unconstructive, adds no value ..."

I extend on that criticism by suggesting that it is also incredibly lazy journalism. This piece required no original thought, just a couple interviews asking some very obvious questions and citing a couple of "studies." Anything teenagers (and adults for that matter) do too much of is dangerous. This is news? Parents are concerned ... oh my. And any parent who doesn't put a stop to their kids texting them in the middle of the day to ask what shoes to buy has lost the game already anyway.