My young childhood backyard was no bigger than half an acre; a couple trees were planted in the middle and thick bushes lined as a border. Though when I climbed those trees I was on top of the highest mountain. Old bases transformed our yard into Fenway stadium; getting to run home after hitting a grand slam into the neighbor’s garden. Yells and laughs of kids could be heard up until the last moments of dusk.
Saying “my childhood” still gets me because barely 20 years old is relatively very young, but there is no denying the differences between now and 10 years ago. It takes a quick drive around any neighborhood to see empty streets and the sound of crickets at dusk in place of a child’s laugh.
I was sitting in church a couple weeks ago and a boy no older than 4 was playing on an iPad. He began by coloring in turtles with the swipe of his finger. Immediately flashbacks of fighting over the stub of blue crayon with my brother in the very same pews hit me. A couple minutes later he attempted to use an app that required internet service. He let it attempt to load for a couple seconds before desperately tapping his finger only to soon turn towards his mom and whine; “There’s no wifi!” No older than 4! When I was 4 I was still learning how to correctly say the word “ play-dough”. Maybe I have no argument; technology is making kids smarter! But that is almost arbitrary because the problem lays in the transition between physical and virtual. The boy’s colored turtle could disappear in the same tap of a finger that took him to create it. A grand slam can now be hit with one swing of a Wii remote. Kids have not only stopped going out into the world they live in; their faces are now buried deep in one that does not exist.
What does this all result in? We’ve all now seen it- a loss of human to human interaction. Relationship status changes are now made from Snapchat exclusive communication. People project their dream life on Instagram while in reality spend most their time choosing the right filter...and that's only to name a few. There is a loss of patience and loss of true friendship. But most importantly there is a loss of reality. There is no taking back what we have created; that would be detrimental with all the greatest technology has accomplished. But there is place to not disregard what we already have. And that is as simple as turning to a tree to climb on rather than an iPad to play on.
