I walked into McDonald's last week and was amazed by what I saw. To order your food, you had to walk up to a touch screen machine and order for yourself. All of the food had pictures and options to add or remove whatever you want. It truly was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in a fast food restaurant, and I thought McDonald's had created the world’s greatest invention, until I went to go sit down.
Screwed into every table was an iPad. My friends and I thought maybe it was filled with nutrition facts or something random, but no. Every iPad was stocked with games and other apps. We watched as kids ran in and played on iPads. It was horrible. Childhood memories from McDonald’s are supposed to be getting your hair stuck in bolts as you climb through the play structure and sliding through what looks like someone’s boogers. Not playing on iPads.
Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I love technology. I love my phone and my laptop and all five of my social media accounts. But I am scared to death that my kids will be playing Xbox instead of eating sand in the sandbox. And when I say kids, I mean as young as two, because evidentially if your child can hold an iPad then you better buy them one. This is why the future of technology scares me for the childhood of the next generation.
iPads.
iPads are the “it” thing with kids now. The great thing is that there are amazing apps as well, and many kids are playing games that are actually educational. But when you hand your kid an iPad, what really is its sole purpose? To educate your kid or to keep them entertained and quiet?
Will relationships be formed solely over the Internet?
There is already talk about whether or not our romantic relationships will be forced onto phones and laptops, but what about when our kids order McDonald's, they won’t be ordering from a person? All forms of relationships are beginning to form through technology. You go out to eat and see families with parents and kids tapping away on their phones. You hop on a train and watch as a mom and dad hand their kids each an iPad and a set of headphones.
Technology is advancing faster than we can control it.
As I’m writing this, I feel like I’m some old granny nudging at her glasses, telling you about her childhood. But the scary part is that it was barely fifteen years ago when I was climbing through play structures. If today’s kids are getting iPads and iPhones at birth, then you can only imagine what technology will have consumed the minds of kids in ten years.
What happens when you’re the mom that doesn’t buy her kids laptops for Christmas?
I’ve always believed that my kids just won’t be obsessed with electronics because I’ll only buy them what is necessary. But then I remember when my mom wouldn’t buy me a Tamagotchi when I was eleven and I threw a fit. When every other kid has the holographic phone except yours, will you buy it for them?
