I+am+so+bored

Here are 3 letters to the editor (you all know what those are! from today's L.A. TImes. They are on the topic of kids being bored. Reactions anyone?

Tied to media devices, but rarely entertained August 14, 2006

Re "Underwhelmed by It All," one in a five-part series, Aug. 7

I was not surprised to hear that teenagers and young adults are not really entertained by all the media devices to which they have become attached. The reason is that entertainment is like dessert — a little goes a long way and doesn't actually nourish. People derive genuine satisfaction by actually doing things such as making their own music, dancing, creating art, volunteering, growing flowers, knitting sweaters, repairing old bicycles, learning a new language. The fact that youngsters waste so much time trying to find virtual satisfaction shows that we need to work harder to make real satisfaction more accessible to them.

RUTH ANNE HAMMOND

Los Angeles

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Movie studios and theater owners only have to read your writer's experience about a teen sitting next to him BlackBerrying through a film to know why my movie-going has dropped from about 75 a year in the 1990s to only six in 2005. Both of the movies I saw in theaters this summer (the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Scoop") were bathed in the blue glow from the cellphones of people all around me text-messaging and checking their messages. Ironic, isn't it, that in your poll almost a full third of these people who have no qualms about annoying those around them with their own talking, phoning and texting cite this same behavior as the main reason they dislike seeing films in movie theaters?

TOM OGDEN

Hollywood

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Kids who have unlimited entertainment at their disposal but are bored with all of it seems like a scene out of the film "Fahrenheit 451." In that movie Julie Christie's character sits in front of a huge wall TV all day and is bored out of her wits, and Oskar Werner's character secretly starts to read some of the books that he is supposed to burn, because he is desperate for some deeper things to experience. I guess all those kids don't read too much, even though it's perfectly legal to do so.

MATTHEW OKADA

Pasadena

Ashley says:SEE?! Books are good for EVERYONE'S benifit, even though most kids feel the need to BURN THEM!