You need to realize that open palm slapping your 2 year old (in public, no less) for accidentally kicking a table is not an "obvious attempt to generate outrage" when the act itself is obviously outrageous to anyone from a place where such things are illegal and seen as morally abhorrent.

Not to mention the fact that when they're not busy slapping their kids around they seem content to leave parenting up to an iPad.

IMO, these people are clearly, obviously unfit to be parents, and the state should intervene before more harm can be done. The children's names alone are tantamount to abuse, honestly..

Yeah, I found that to be unnecessarily prejudicial. Mild, Instant feedback is the best kind of negative reinforcement. Obviously we don’t have enough information to really form an opinion, but I have seen child abuse and this sounds far from it.

Much more concerning is the use of screens to maintain distraction, imho.

I don’t see screens as “abuse” but it is a lot like putting blinders on your children while putting them on a low key opium drip. Is is such a watered down, 2 dimensional portal to the world that strips out the vast majority of context, richness, nuance, and meaning from perception.

I’m pretty convinced that the value in interaction up through 7 years at least Is primarily the complexity and less the content of interaction. Obviously content matters, but without sufficient complexity you’re not going to develop the fundamental abilities necessary for nuanced interactions with the world.

It would be shocking if, as a significant source of training data, screen time doesn’t have a detrimental effect on learning outcomes in the long run.