āā¦last year this photograph of children looking at their smartphones by Rembrandtās āThe Night Watchā in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam [went viral.] It was often accompanied by outraged, dispirited comments such as āa perfect metaphor for our age,ā āthe end of civilizationā or āa sad picture of our societyā.
ā¦It turns out that the Rijksmuseum has an app that, among other things, contains guided tours and further information about the works on display. As part of their visit to the museum, the children, who minutes earlier had admired the art and listened attentively to explanations by expert adults, had been instructed to complete an assignment by their school teachers, using, among other things, the museumās excellent smartphone appā¦.
The tragic thing is that thisāāāthe truthāāāwill never go viral. So, I wonder, what is more likely to bring about the death of civilization, children using smartphones to learn about art or the willful ignorance of adults who are too quick to make assumptions?āĀ JosĆ© Picardo,Ā Medium
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