After having a recent argument with my grandparents about my younger sister and her constant, seemingly non-stop use of technology and "know-it-all" attitude about practically everything, it has become clear to me just how much things have changed since my own childhood.
As a child who grew up thriving on the freshness of the outdoors, enjoying the conversations of the day at family dinners, and learning about life lessons from television (before it went rogue), I can’t help but to look next to me at my 10-year-old sister and wonder when, or even, how her generation became so…different. It’s true my own generation dealt with its own forms of issues, but goodness. Here’s a few things that have changed between the kid’s of then ('90s) and now:
1. TV is now considered to be a learning tool.
Today, kids can go ahead and turn to their favorite television show and know they’ll learn something in the process. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, however, when does the time come for them to learn something hands on without the help of technology? Yes, there’s school, but what about learning about nature while camping with the family or learning to make home-cooked meals while helping mom in the kitchen? Some things just can’t be taught through technology.
2. Dolls and Disney princesses.
It’s true to say that during the time I was growing up, dolls and Disney princesses were “not natural” or often their stories made no true sense; however, they were able to bring us joy and teach us things that some of us little girls needed to know. Barbie, for example, having so many jobs taught us that has long as you put your mind to it, you could do anything you wanted. Disney princesses showed us ambition, strength and so much more. Now, you can’t watch a a kid movie without the creators trying to teach the children about something even deeper than they can truly grasp the concept of on the surface.
3. Cellphones.
Granted, cellphones weren’t as luxurious as they may be now, but no child had a cellphone at that time. We either had to remember the number by heart and pray we had it right, or we were just sh*t out of luck! Today, kids have cellphones, or know more about your cellphone they you even do...wtf?!
4. The power of Google.
If we needed a word spelled correctly, we used a dictionary. If we needed help to a math question on a homework sheet, we either had to figure it out ourselves, try and ask mom and dad (who had no clue what math we were doing), or we just left it blank with a little “?” underneath it. Nowadays, kids can go straight to the Internet for everything…I won’t lie, I do it myself now, but I knew the struggle before getting the opportunity to have the power to get any answer with just a click of a finger!
5. Taking pictures.
I remember when taking pictures was only on rare occasions. Birthdays, family gatherings, weddings, but “selfies” have taken over. There should be no reason why I unlock my phone to see 38 pictures of my sister thinking, but hey, what can I say, times have changed.
