As I scroll through Instagram or watch Youtube I am shocked and honestly saddened by the kids I see today (yes, I sound like a grumpy old person complaining about the younger generations). Let's be real, as a 12-year-old, I wore skinny jeans with tennis shoes and proudly supported an Abercrombie logo on all my t-shirts. I could care less about fashion, or what I looked like. Social media was not something we heard about, and to call your friend to set up a playdate, you had to use your landline and know their home phone number.
Yes, I am a dinosaur. Now, kids are mini Instagram models as 5th graders. Most have smartphones by elementary school, and are active on most major social media platforms. They are growing up so much faster than my generation did, missing out on the things that shaped me into the person I am today. But, looking back I am so glad I had the childhood I did, and here's why.
Imagination
Some of my fondest childhood memories are playing "house" or "survivor" with my neighborhood friends. It is amazing how a piece of chalk could keep us occupied for hours, drawing elaborate scooter courses on our driveway. We didn't have the mass amount of video games or smartphones to play games on, so we had to make our own. We would come up with games and use our imagination to make it more fun. This also led to important life lessons like how to get along with different kinds of people or how to problem solve. Now, it is a lot harder for kids to learn those life skills staring at a phone screen.
Playing outside
I clearly remember my mom practically dragging my two brothers and me inside for dinner after being outside all day in the summer. We spent all day outside, only coming in to grab a quick snack or to go to the bathroom. We caught tadpoles in the pond down the road, made forts out of fallen branches, and had fun without an iPad or a video game.
Social media
In this day and age of social media there are many benefits, and good things that come from it, but I am so glad I grew up without being glued to an iPhone. Kids as young as grade school now have the pressures of portraying a "perfect" life on their Instagrams.
I believe this is causing kids to grow up way faster than they did 10 years ago. While it seems like social media can make us all more connected I have seen it do completely the opposite. Instead of playing outside or actually talking to each other, kids are sitting in silence playing on their phone. They simply never learn how to hold a conversation or communicate effectively because of this.
Even ten years ago, times were completely different. The rapid spread of technology has changed the society we live in. While there are countless advances and benefits to this new technology, I am truly thankful I grew up the way I did.
