In today’s society, you are in constant contact with people all day, everyday. No matter where you are in the world, or what you are doing, you can always check up on someone else. Now, at times this is quite handy and can be very comforting. Other times it is not, and there are times where you wish you could just throw your phone away.
Growing up in grade school, I received my first cellphone the summer before I started 8th grade. I was not allowed to text, only call. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I mean, not really…but I was so excited to have this phone, I did not care if I could not text. I was just happy that I was given a phone. During this time, the razor was popular and texting had just started becoming popular. But, it was not even close to being as popular as it is currently. I remember the day I got texting. It was on Christmas day of my eighth grade. I WAS SO EXCITED. The catch was that I only got to send out/receive 200 text messages a month. It was limited. Yes, boys and girls, back then there was such a thing as LIMITED texting. I did not care, I was able to finally text, and I haven’t stopped since. I remember my dad telling me that if I typed a “cuss” word in a text message, that it would automatically be sent to him. Ultimately, he would find out if I did or not. BUT, that was a LIE. I found this out a couple years later when I experimented. It was a good tactic, though; I will give him that.
So, with todays kids, I think they know how to swipe on an iPad before the age of two. They can understand how to navigate Netflix, YouTube, or apps to play with. It boggles my mind. Instead of telling kids to go play outside, or have a play date, kids are being given an iPad in their hands and told to go “play”. This generation is scared of the green stuff outside that we old folks call grass. They do not know how to play outside like I did with a scooter, or on a swing set. Instead, the would rather virtually play on one while inside the house, sitting on their bed in the air conditioning. When I was younger and did not want to fall asleep, I was not given a choice. I had to go to bed and close my eyes, that was the end of it. With the children that are being raised today, some parents will just say to “take the iPad to bed.”
Moving on to the next generation, the pre-teens and teens. I think this is the worse one yet. With social media like Snap Chat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., there are so many opportunities for children to be bullied. Back in the day, when you left school at 3:00, you would not come in to contact with the other students, unless you lived fairly close to them to play outside later in the day. There was no real way for others to bully each other or get in fights. Growing up, as technology is becoming more available for those who are younger, it is a constant 24-hour open window for children to be in contact with each other. Children are sending nudes, and other graphic pictures through text before they even reach high school. People are being bullied through Instagram, Snap Chat, etc.; others are subtweeting each other so that they can make fun of a person, but it be a secret in a way. Grade school and high school is not all rainbows and unicorns anymore. These teenagers are cruel, and some are out to kill. I mean, not really, but kill with their words. I have seen it right before my eyes.
Technology is ruining children before they even reach high school. The cyber bulling that is going on in the world is ridiculous, and should not be happening as much as it should. Back in the day, phones used to be a privilege and something that you looked forward to and worked for. When you received a phone, you earned it. If you got in trouble at school, it was taken away. Now, children expect a phone because everyone has one. Because there are so many outlets that kids can use for technology, I think the punishment for getting a phone taken away does not have as much force as it once did. But, maybe parents can take away the chargers…I mean at some point the phone or iPad, or tablet, or computer, or iPod touch, yadda yadda will run out of juice and the poor little one cannot reach anyone. They probably do not know how to talk on a real phone….because why would you do that ?!!?
