I was talking to my mom the other day about this new generation and their lack of a childhood. With technological advancements, between the latest iPads, Tablets, smartphones, etc, you have the Millennials and Generation Z glued to their devices. There have been countless articles and videos on how most people at dinner spend times on their phones as opposed to socializing. Or even if you just look around you, on the subway, in restaurants, wherever, you will - without a doubt - spot someone using a device. Whether it be texting, playing games, Snapchatting, social media, taking pics of food - you name it! Don’t get me wrong, technology is great. It has opened the doors to so many things, and it shows how much we can change and adapt. But it’s ripping away the childhood that children should and deserve to experience.
Children today know how to work every device like that back of their hand. They constantly yearn to get the newest gizmos, the latest trends, that even I - at 21 - can’t seem to keep up with. My niece (10) and nephew (8), for example, both have iPads with no parental control. They have Instagram and Snapchats. They spend their days on youtube or new social media apps that I haven’t even heard of. Every time they come around they introduce me to a new song and a new dance with the, “OMG, you don’t know this song?!” kick in the butt. It appears that I have now been deemed “old” if I don’t know the latest songs, dances, phrases, viral videos, or apps anymore. Just seeing this makes me upset because I witness it all the time. I’m sure you do too.Children whine and cry for smartphones or tablets and their parents give it to them. Just to shut them up or keep them occupied while they do things they need to do. But is this really the right thing to do? Yes, kids figuring out how to work these things better than you do sounds great. “My child is so smart, they showed me how to do X.” But when is the right age for them to have these devices? When is the right age for them to have access to sexual content or violence at the touch of their fingertips?
Let’s say these devices are dead or not currently accessible. The automatic response is, “I’m bored.” If you suggest something, like playing a board game, or something else, the response becomes, “No, that’s boring.” Where has the art of imagination gone? The fun in puzzles, board games, imaginary games, and what not is fading at such an extreme rate.
I remember when I was little, my brother and I would throw pillows on the floor and pretend that they were rocks and the floor was hot lava. Or we’d play house and shop for babies in our version of Babies R’ Us. We would play Princess and Knight and take on the role of so many players: the enemy, the Queen, the King, the Traitor, etc. We’d fend off against evil monsters and hide in our home made of chairs, blankets, and pillows. We would play doctor, or teacher. We never were bored. We played and played. There was never a dull moment, and if there was, we’d dream of something better.
I had so many great memories growing up. Letting our imaginations go wild, creating worlds, and people the way we wanted. Rules of our craft. Not even that, but we played so many board games. Between puzzles, Sorry!, Guess Who?, Monopoly, or just a good old game of War. It didn’t matter to us because the possibilities were endless.
Take a look at school systems today. Children are spending more time doing math and learning words than doing arts and crafts, show and tell, or singing songs. The creative aspect of being a child is slowly diminishing to a world of immediate learning for the real world and technology. The standard of knowledge has changed, making children who do not understand a level of math be deemed inferior to other children their age. Even the subtle difference of two years between my brother and I proves it. In pre-k we cut and paste pictures into art. In pre-k, my brother learned the alphabet and numbers.
Children deserve to be children. They deserve the opportunity to explore, imagine, and create. Of course,it’s important to mold a child, since they are like a sponge, but it’s also important to let them live. They only get this chance once and it flies by.
