Before I start, I would like everyone to know that I am not singling anyone out. I am not pointing fingers or trying to make parents of today feel bad. I am simply asking a very valid question: What is happening with this generation?
I am in my late twenties, so I was born in the 80's and grew up as a 90's kid. I was a child during the best time in life; when going outside was not an option, but a necessity. When, if you mouthed off, you got a mouthful of soap, and TV time was the hour between dinner and bath time. We, today's young parents, did not sit around all day after school and on weekends numbing our brains with video games, hour upon hour of TV, and walking around with our noses tucked neatly away behind mobile devices. We had to go outside, learn how to interact with the kids in our neighbourhoods and we loved it. We were out every day until Mom/Dad/Parental Guardian called for us to get our butts inside before dinner got cold. If this was our lives, why are we subjecting children of today to anything less?
I go out and I see teenagers sitting in groups, not interacting, but with their faces glued to the screen of the latest touch screen technology. They don't say one word to each other, unless it's to show the one closest to them a funny meme or quick witted quote. But this isn't the worst part. Let me tell you a quick story:
I take care of my parents because of their mental disabilities. One day, my mother was due at the doctor's office, and I, of course, went along. As we were waiting in the seating area for her name to be called, a mother with a child, she couldn't have been more than three years old, came in. Without a second though, the mother gave her child her iPhone to "play with." The little girl, whose hands were so small, it took two to hold the phone, went to the tiny table in front of me, sat on the floor, placed the phone on the table and proceeded to not only correctly unlock the phone, but to maneuver through apps faster than I've ever seen any adult do. I was stunned, and her mother saw how shocked I was and proceeded to laugh and say, very proudly, "she works that thing better than I do." Most people would have found this endearing. I found it frustrating.
We now live in a society where kids don't know how to properly interact with people face-to-face, but they have hundreds of friends on Facebook. We have kids who have devices worth hundreds of dollars and the only thing they use it for is to take nude photos. Taking photos with friends while having fun has been replaced with the proverbial duck-lipped "selfie," and parents are either at their wit's end or simply do not care.
I know people are probably wondering why I even have an opinion. I don't have children, I am active on social media and I'm just one person with a laptop, able to post what comes to mind whenever I please. I feel like, as a person who does not have children, I have the ability to see things from the outside, making my viewpoint clearer than others'.
Why does a 12-14 year old need an iPhone? Why do teens need Facebook, Instagram and other social media accounts? Why is it okay for young girls and boys to take photos of their bodies in inappropriate positions and inappropriate clothing? These are all valid questions that don't have answers either because parents have given up, have no idea what to do, or are completely oblivious.
I guess, I just believe that kids today need the same type of childhood that we had when we were young. All of the children are stuck inside, their eyes glued to some sort of technology and why? Because it's easier? We need these kids to grow up and be the next leaders of the world. How is that to happen when their brains are slowly turning to mush? I suppose, in twenty years, we'll know the effects. Until then, good luck new parents. Technology may just be more damaging than you think.
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