What's Old Is New!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: Episode Summary - "What's Old Is New!"

Release Date: June 18, 2025

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Introduction

In the "What's Old Is New!" episode of the Armstrong & Getty On Demand podcast, hosts Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, Katie, and Chainsaw delve into the evolving landscape of children's summer activities. The conversation centers around the newly popularized term "kid rotting," its implications, and the broader discussion on structured versus unstructured summer time for kids in the digital age.

The Emergence of "Kid Rotting"

The episode opens with a discussion sparked by a New York Times article introducing the term "kid rotting." This phrase has ignited debates globally about the nature of children's summer activities.

• Jack Armstrong introduces the topic:
  "[04:55] Katie: Exactly, but we'll get to that in just a little bit."

• Katie contrasts past and present summers:
  "[05:24] ...the idea of not having a whole bunch of planned camps and activities for your kids and they just hang out on the couch doing nothing all summer. To which a lot of people...have replied, 'That sounds like what my summers were like and I freaking loved them.'"

Structured vs. Unstructured Summer Time

The hosts explore the dichotomy between highly structured summer schedules filled with camps and activities versus the laissez-faire approach of simply "rotting" or doing nothing.

• Jack Armstrong reminisces about his own summers:
  "[06:24] ...they were just joking and laughing and they were just doing nothing all day long and they're going to nothing the rest of the day but just hang out and be teenagers."

• Katie emphasizes the value of unscheduled time:
  "[07:26] ...the surrounding of the scheduled event is many more scheduled events. And as a fierce advocate of free range parenting, I totally agree with you in principle, Jack."

The Impact of Screen Time

A significant portion of the discussion tackles the pervasive influence of screens on today's youth and how it contrasts with past generations' experiences.

• Katies view on screen time:
  "[04:50] ...Isn't the modern version of that staring at a screen?"

• Jack Armstrong shares personal challenges in limiting his son's screen time:
  "[07:30] ...I've got this weird resistance since I got to do that a lot as a kid. My, my oldest, my high school son, he is not into video games and stuff like that near as much."

Parenting Strategies for Modern Summers

The hosts exchange strategies and personal anecdotes about managing children's activities and screen time during summer.

• Jack Armstrong discusses flexible approaches:
  "[08:36] ...do one of them, but what will I do? I can't now."

• Katie advocates for carefully scheduled free time:
  "[07:30] ...carefully scheduled free time. You will absolutely show up on time 10am for the do whatever you want."

Guest Pitch: Boredom as a Portal to Creativity

The episode introduces a guest pitch from a representative of Campfire, a youth development organization, challenging the narrative around boredom.

• Katie explains the guest’s perspective:
  "[11:06] ...she believes the conversation misses the real distinction. Not all boredom is created equal. There's a huge difference between head down boredom...and head up boredom that sparks creativity, problem solving, and self discovery."

• Jack Armstrong humorously parodies the concept:
  "[12:16] ...kids, sometimes I feel like just taking this car and driving it off a cliff."

Notable Quotes

• Katie on Traditional Summers:
  "[05:01] ...impossible, as my son always points out, to do nothing. Even if you're doing nothing, you're doing something."

• Jack Armstrong on Future Realities:
  "[09:35] ...you are never stop ever again. And it's true."

• Katie on Creativity Through Boredom:
  "[11:38] ...camp boredom isn't a problem, it's a portal. Driftwood becomes a fort, Seashells become currency, and a toilet paper roll becomes binoculars."

Conclusion

The "What's Old Is New!" episode offers a thoughtful examination of how children's summer experiences have transformed over generations. By juxtaposing nostalgic memories with contemporary challenges such as excessive screen time, the hosts advocate for a balanced approach that values both structured activities and the unstructured freedom essential for fostering creativity and personal growth in today's youth.

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For those interested in exploring these themes further, listen to the full episode on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

The medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, the unexpected, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Katie]

This medal is for the men who.

[Jack Armstrong]

Went down that day.

[Joe Getty]

On Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. You'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's old is new. It's one more thing. Armstrong and Getty.

[Katie]

One more thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're gonna talk about Summertime for kids coming up in a little bit in a hot new phrase that everybody's discussing thanks to the New York Times. See if you agree or disagree, but we'll get to that in just a little bit. We don't. We don't.

[Chainsaw]

What do you what Katie, Joe's favorite catchy new words.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, catchy new phrases.

[Katie]

Oh yeah. Used to be they would have to like reach you naturally. Now some wise ass little 13 year old punk can come up with a phrase in Bayonne, New Jersey and I'm it's inflicted on me by the next afternoon. I don't want it. Not in the market.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we don't usually do breaking news on the podcast. He's here. Be listening to this days or years later. I don't know when but this is pretty good.

[Katie]

It really is something. And if you're listening in the future, this will remind you of Trump's crazy style of communicating. So it's as we as we speak on the 17th, is that right of June 2025. The whole Israel, Iran thing is at its peak and and whether we're going to rub out the Ayatollah's question in the air and Trump tweets out. We know exactly where the so called Supreme Leader is hiding. He is an easy target but is safe there. We are not going to take him out. Kill in parentheses with an exclamation point for now. Yeah, we know what you mean by take him out. We didn't assume you meant take him out for dinner. We knew you meant you're going to effing kill him. Kill. Well, kill.

[Chainsaw]

Chainsaw.

[Katie]

You're not going to take him out. Chainsaw. We're not going to take him out. Kill. At least not for now. But we don't want missiles shot at civilians or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter. No, that's actually the end of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

A little matter.

[Chainsaw]

It's like a company email.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, a little of his old CEO days slipped in there at the end.

[Katie]

Wow. Hey, we noticed your dues for the Bedminster Golf Club have been overdue now for a week. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Jack Armstrong]

People are using too many paper cups at the water dispenser. Please try to cut back. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Katie]

Exactly. It's like after Israel blows up a building in Iran and says, we apologize for the inconvenience. Exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or yeah, destroy Tehran. Good luck in your future endeavors.

[Katie]

If you have any questions about the coming power vacuum, please feel free to email our team@customer servicerailbombedas.com.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, thank you for your attention to this matter. Was he trying to be funny?

[Katie]

I don't know. I mean, obviously he's got to understand how dryly, horrifically funny that is.

[Jack Armstrong]

You think? All right, well, we'll see where that goes. I'm going to skip the other thing we're going to do right to the hot phrase for summertime. I don't know if you read this article in the New York Times. It caused many tongues to wag and columns to be written all around the world. Really? As New York Times unleashed upon us the term kid rotting for the summertime. And whether or not rotting as is your kids are rotting and it's end up going back and forth with a lot of people. I don't know where I am on this, but the idea of not having a whole bunch of planned camps and activities for your kids and they just hang out on the couch doing nothing all summer. To which a lot of people. The kid rotting. To which a lot of people have replied. That sounds like what my summers were like and I freaking loved them. Yeah, just hanging out doing nothing with no plans whatsoever. I remember those days you get up, you had no idea what you're gonna do today. And. And it was just a variety of things and. Or kind of nothing or whatever. And it was awesome. The sense of freedom was awesome.

[Chainsaw]

Yeah, that was before.

[Katie]

Isn't the modern version of that staring at a screen?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's where it gets interesting.

[Katie]

None of that stuff you said will happen. It'll just be staring at screens. He says, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I'm. I'm. I, you know, I lean real far toward that is. It's not only. It's not just a waste of time, it affects your brain and your attention span. But that aside, if the, if the. If the alternative is all kinds of camps and planned activities versus just hang out and do whatever all day long and I don't know why. I've got this weird resistance since I got to do that a lot as a kid. My, my oldest, my high school son, he is not into video games and stuff like that near as much. He does a lot of bike riding with his friends and all that sort of stuff. But man, I picked him and his friends up yesterday. He texted me and said we are just too worn out. We're over at my friend Zach's house, could you come pick us up and bring us over to our house. We just, we've been riding and it's hot. Okay. I said give me 20 minutes, I got a couple of things I got to do. But I went and picked them up and I hadn't been around this vibe in 40 years, but 50 years and, but just the, the level of happy, relaxed, the world of our oyster. These three 15 year olds had with their bikes, loading them up in my truck and they got in, they were just joking and laughing and they were just doing nothing all day long and they're going to nothing the rest of the day but just hang out and be teenagers. And it just looked fantastic.

[Katie]

Well, I love that, Katie.

[Chainsaw]

Yeah, I, I love that too. But I'm wondering if parents are, are signing their kids up for so much stuff because they don't want them on their screens all summer. You know what I mean? Because I as a kid, I got signed up for stuff, but my parents didn't have to worry about that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, well, sometimes signing kids up for stuff is your daycare for the summer since school is out and you need to put somewhere.

[Katie]

Yeah, yeah. And that's fine. Although the, you know what's happening around those schedule activities have changed back in the day it was what Jack was describing. Yeah, there's nothing scheduled. You're just free to do what you want or you can invent or hook up with your friends, be bored together and then again, blah blah, blah. Now the, you know, the surrounding of the scheduled event is many more scheduled events. And as a fierce advocate of free range parenting, I totally agree with you in principle, Jack. It's just the screen thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

What would you do? What would you recommend?

[Katie]

Because I carefully scheduled free time. You will absolutely show up on time 10am for the do whatever you want.

[Jack Armstrong]

Man. I go back and forth with this my 13 year old all the time. I've gotten to the point where I say I can't say it again. I can't say it for the 8 millionth time because I try to limit his screen time. I don't like, I'm not as disciplined on it as a lot of my friends are where they've got like a timer on their Internet or you know, their stopwatch going on it or whatever. And they limit that however many hours. But I just like, when I feel like it's been enough, say, okay, that's it, that's enough screens. So find something to do with that. But what will I do? I can't now. I say I can't say it again. I just can't. I can't. I can't list the things again. Walk the dog, ride a bike, write something, play a musical instrument, draw, run, exercise. I swim, we got a pool. Just, I can't list the million things you could do that aren't looking at a screen, but do one of them.

[Chainsaw]

You know, one of those 485 videos you just watched. Do one of those things.

[Katie]

Those things the guy in the video, not the guy watching the video. You know, the. Asking that question that way is as natural as like your fingernails growing. Well, what am I supposed to do?

[Jack Armstrong]

I do. It's true. I remember asking my mom that.

[Katie]

Yeah, George Washington's kids were asking him, what am I supposed to do?

[Jack Armstrong]

Kids, get out of the cave. Your mom and I need to make your brother. Right.

[Katie]

Right. Go play with the other, you know, pre syllabic, non language speaking, grunting cave kids.

[Jack Armstrong]

But there's dinosaurs out there. I don't care. Get out of the cave.

[Katie]

Jack, when the kids were in the backseat of the car, did you tell them that life goes downhill and it's just all.

[Jack Armstrong]

I haven't. I have had that conversation.

[Katie]

Because you're happy now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Enjoy it while you can because life's nothing but a big disappointment.

[Katie]

Grind you down, you work for some bastard you don't like, you don't respect, that he doesn't care about.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have said one day you wake.

[Katie]

Up in your old. Like me.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have said to my son, which I probably shouldn't say because he wants, he wants to get. Next year he'll be able to get a job at a variety of places that he wants to go because you have to be 16. But anyway, I say, and then you'll start working and then you will work until you're sold and nearly dead, that none of this will matter anymore. I mean, you'll never stop ever again. And it's true. But I don't know if you need to lay that out when you're 16 years old.

[Katie]

Oh, that's so Funny, we just got an email from some PR group pitching a guest who wants to talk about the kid rotting. It's the hot phrase, man thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Kid rotting is a hot phrase. So New York was really on the. On the side of the. You know, we used to call. We didn't used to call it rotting, we used to just call it summertime. And then there's been the pushback, obviously, with the screen stuff. And so, yeah, it's become a whole thing. But I do. Even if you eliminate the screens, I know a lot of parents who would think it would be horrible if their kids just hung out with no plans every day and did nothing. Using my finger quotes, it's impossible, as my son always points out, to do nothing. Even if you're doing nothing, you're doing something, but. And. And you'll lay around and do nothing for a while, but you'll come up with something because you just. Out of necessity.

[Katie]

So it's interesting. This guest pitch is actually a woman with campfire. I think it used to be Campfire Girls or whatever, but it's Campfire. It's a youth development organization. And. And she believes the conversation misses the real distinction. Not all boredom is created equal. There's a huge difference between head down boredom, head down boredom zoning out on screens disconnected from others, and head up boredom that sparks creativity, problem solving, and self discovery.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's an interesting term.

[Katie]

And then she pitches that camp boredom isn't a problem, it's a portal. Driftwood becomes a fort, Seashells become currency, and a toilet paper roll becomes binoculars.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's not going to help you see anything up close.

[Katie]

It's just ineffective Binoculars, certainly. Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

The distance will seem exactly the same.

[Katie]

I don't think these are working. Jack could have just said, you know, kids, sometimes I feel like just taking.

[Jack Armstrong]

This car and driving it off a cliff.

[Katie]

No, no, no.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I guess that's it.

[Joe Getty]

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, the unexpected, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Katie]

This medal is for the men who.

[Jack Armstrong]

Went down that day.

[Joe Getty]

On Medal of Honor Stories of courage, you'll hear about these heroes and what their stories are. Tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.