Digital

A friend's post yesterday got my mind kind of ranting on this subject.  It was about her not letting her young children have all kinds of expensive, digital devices like "all the other kids" did.  I completely agreed with her and the topic stayed with me.  I often wonder what my young children will be encountering as they grow up in regards to the digital world.

Don't get me wrong, technology is important and our kids need know how to function in a digital world and how to use these devices.  In my opinion, they need to be fluent with laptops, cell phones, iPads and the like.  However, I don't think it takes much for that to happen these days and I certainly don't think these devices need to rule their lives at such a young age.

Quite frankly, I often cringe and am really saddened/scared when I see what seems like every kid bent over some kind of device for almost every spare second that they have.  They are constantly watching a show, playing a game or just on the Internet.  I can hardly believe stories I hear from my sister who taught Kindergarten and encountered children who picked up a real book and did not understand the concept of turning the page, but rather tried to scroll down/turn the page with a stroke of their finger like they were on a Kindle.  I honestly dislike seeing minivans driving down the road for short trips to school or the store with their DVD players on to entertain the kids in back.  It scares me when I hear that some schools are "book free".  That just sounds completely wrong!  (and I'll openly admit that I have not thoroughly researched this and my children are not yet in full time school - I should hope that they have good reasons for this, but it still makes me wonder why the written language is no longer valued at all?)

We are not an anti-technology family or anything.  Our boys enjoy playing with the Leapster laptop we have that sings about letters and animals etc.  Addison enjoys the occasional game on the iPad.  We have a portable DVD player that saves our lives on long road trips.  However, I will never be the mom to turn on the DVD player for a short jaunt around town and miss out on my daughter's thoughts as she looks out the window and asks about stop lights or the difference between the yellow and white lines on the road.  I never want to miss her ideas on the airplanes in the sky or the weather outside.  I will not rob my kids of taking in the world around them, forming their own thoughts and actually participating in DIALOGUE with somebody.  And I kind of feel like that is what is happening around us. I feel like children are being robbed of this.  They are also being taught that they need to be entertained every second of the day.  What happened to patience?  I hate hearing the twins crying in the backseat while I drive because they don't want to sit and wait - but you know what, that's life and they get over it.

We have a family laptop and Justin has an iPad.  My 4 year old can use these very well for as seldom as she is given them.  She can use my cell phone (maybe even better than me!) and all she does is occasionally call her Grandma on it or take and review a picture on it.  I don't think it's necessary for young children to own these things.  There is value in a family laptop while your children are small.  They do not need to take these things off to their room and get into God knows what.  They don't need to have them in their hands all day long.  I think it is really important for them to develop their imagination, their fine motor skills, their social skills.  It is so easy to feel alone in a digital world.  Maybe that's where a lot of our society's problems originate.  When I was little, to call a friend I had to dial their home phone number, talk for a few minutes with whoever happened to answer the phone and then I could talk to my friend.  It may have been a little uncomfortable at times, but it was good to learn how to do this.  These days we hardly talk verbally - we text, Facebook, email...we are missing out on a very crucial human attribute and need.

I think that lots of things have changed.  There are no more pay phones, hardly any land lines.  It's often more or less about safety when you hand your child their own cell phone.  And I get that.  And I will do the same when they are old enough to need that.  I just really wish that people could try to stop relying on this stuff to entertain their kids.  All kids will complain at some point of boredom.  They will all whine about not having this or that.  But you know what - you don't always have to give in or hand them electronics to get them to be quiet.  The more you let them play outside, with other kids, build blocks, draw, use play-doh - the more their imagination will grow.  Let them TALK to you.  LISTEN to them.  Get off your own digital devices for 5 seconds and interact with them.  I sometimes have to even remind myself that I don't need to quick scroll through the Facebook statuses throughout the day.  It's super tempting because it takes 5 seconds from my phone.  It's fun and I enjoy it - Lord knows I post a billion pics of my kids that I take on my phone all day long.  But there is more to life than just that.

I guess my rant is more or less: everything in moderation.  Let your kids be kids.  Teach them the value of looking someone in the eye and talking to them.  Teach them patience.  Teach them that they have a wonderful imagination if they can just try to put it to use.  Otherwise, I truly fear what the future holds for this generation of little ones.  It's scary!