It is quite difficult not to notice it everywhere we go; the children of today are growing up carrying big displays in their hands. This trend is present even among our family and friends. Nowadays, it is common to see young children ask their parents for their mobile phones or tablets to play games or watch videos online.
I am not criticizing any parent for giving a tablet or a mobile phone to their children to entertain them, and I am not implying that doing so is a form of irresponsible parenting, either. I am not a parent and I have no experience in raising a child, but I would like to analyze the current state of our society.
I would like to contemplate and, maybe, even reflect on the possible consequences exposing children to these devices at young ages may have on them in the future.
I understand that we live in a digital era; I grew playing video games and started using computers at a relatively young age in the ’90s. Because of that, I feel comfortable using different forms of digital media in my everyday life. People from my generation usually lean toward the digital forms of media instead of consuming many of the traditional analogue forms.
We take countless digital photos, stream all of the music we want to listen to and watch the shows we like anywhere and at any time. This behavior seems normal now, but this is a commodity that we have adapted to; we grew consuming analogue and digital media, not just one.
The children of today were, and are being, born in a digital era of instant gratification in which the analogue interaction is mostly obsolete and forgotten. For instance, give a 5-year-old child a VHS cassette tape and he will most likely have no idea what to do with it.
Because I was a ’90s child, I grew up using those kinds of technologies. I knew that if I wanted to watch “Toy Story,” I would have to get the cassette tape from wherever it was stored, rewind it and hope the tape player would work properly. In my household, we didn’t have cable television until I was about 14 years old, so if I wanted to watch cartoons, there was only one channel available for that.
In retrospect, the internet of today allows us to access countless kinds of media with ease. The commodities the internet and mobile devices provide us have encouraged many parents to give their children access to the net and mobile games at earlier ages.
I wonder whether this is a good idea. I understand that children like to watch cartoons and play video games in their spare time. But, when we give children, especially toddlers and younger, access to these types of media, I start to wonder if doing so could have any positive outcomes in their behavior later on.
At such a young age, many 0f these children have had access to the immediacy of modern technologies; it is hard not to think that they may grow having negative expectations of the real world.
What I mean by this is that because there is little effort required to access all of the media they enjoy, such as video games, movies and cartoons, they may expect the same immediacy and ease for other aspects of their lives. Again, I am not implying bad parenthood, but I have noticed a particular behavior in many children.
In my personal experience among some children younger than 12, I have noticed that, in fact, they are becoming “tech-savvy,” while at the same time demanding more time with mobile devices. I understand that parents give their children a tablet or smartphone to keep them entertained, but I think it is essential to teach children the importance of having to work for what they want.
Setting limits to the time children spend with these devices and being aware of the content they are consuming on the internet should be an important consideration.
We are days away from Christmas; consider the type of gift you would be giving to a child. Regardless of whether a tablet device can be a good gift for a young child or not, I believe it is important to teach them about the value of responsibility and having respect for the authority of their parents.
Either way, I hope this column helps you be mindful about the foundations that we are building on the next generation. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you happy holidays.
