My family recently took a trip to Scotland. The trip itself was fantastic, but one of the best parts was having no phone and no Facebook. Not that I don't love my friends and miss talking to them - of course there were times when something happened and I wished I could have texted someone about it. But overall, neither Frederick nor the Great Book of Faces was missed.
But that's not the focus of my big spiel.
I know people go on the technology rant all the time, and cyberspace is so expansive that everyone can find something different to get upset about. So I'm sure that no one will be unfamiliar with my topic of choice. My largest frustration is the overwhelming number of kids who have smart devices. I don't mean students. I mean kids. Part of the frustration is due to the fact that I'm not a smartphone person - I simply don't believe people need to be wired all day e'er day (I'm not sorry that I don't care what food you Instagram'd tonight). But a much larger portion of irritation is due to the absurd amount of kids in middle school and below who I see carrying around an iPhone or iPad or other smart device.
You might say, "hey, Catherine, that kid's six years old. Obviously that iPhone belongs to his mom."
Well, my dear voice of reason, let's address your potentially valid points.
1) Much to my dismay, I have a friend whose six year old brother received an iPhone 5 for Christmas this past year. *insert facepalm here* So while most children that young aren't going to be in possession of their own smart device, some, unfortunately, are.
B) Yes, often times I do see parents handing the child their own smartphone so that the kid can, I dunno, watch a tv episode while getting dragged around the grocery store. This still irks the mess out of me. I understand that children's tv programming is intended to be educational, but they still shouldn't be exposed to it 24/7. Common sense, yo. They already watch it at home as much as they can. How many times were you told, "turn off the tv and go play outside?" If you're like me the answer was somewhere around a million. And now that I'm grown am I thankful I was kicked off the sofa and out into the sun? Or into a paint set? Or into a pillow fort? Duh. (side note: do these kids even know what a pillow fort is?) I feel like little kids as a whole are over-stimulated due to the immense (and easy) access to tv, internet, movies, online games, etc. I can't even imagine what kind of long-term consequences that amount of stimulation will have.
Let's also just briefly touch on how many parents use that access as a way out of dealing with their child.
Two moms stopping and talking in the aisle at Target. A little boy is pulling on his mom's leg because he's bored and wants to leave. Instead of turning around and saying "stop, Mommy's talking right now, we'll leave in a few minutes," she just takes her phone out of her pocket and hands it to him without even looking down. You know what you did there, Mom? Taught him that when he tries to interrupt you, he'll get something he enjoys. Conditioned him Pavlovian-style. All the good parenting right there.
Or the little girl in the grocery store who starts pitching a fit when Dad passes by the Reese's Puffs and tells her she can't have them. She does that little kid half-scream thing and stops in the middle of the aisle and crosses her arms and stamps her foot and scowls till her face turns red. Instead of disciplining her, he pulls up the Dora the Explorer game app and lets her play on it. Guess what, Dad? You just rewarded her bratty behavior. Have fun dealing with that when she hits the teen years: "no, honey, you can't go out with that boy... here, here's a brand new car."
It's things like this that really drive me crazy. Surprise, guys! Being a parent means disciplining your child for behavior like that. You may not see the effects but those of us who are less than 10 years away from parenthood, who get to babysit your precious brats, can see it plainly.
Okay, so my real rant was actually about how technology is abused. As my brother said this afternoon, "you laugh now, but those kids are going to be able to vote in a few years." Sorry y'all, I don't think they're going to allow you to tweet your ballot...
But that's not the focus of my big spiel.
I know people go on the technology rant all the time, and cyberspace is so expansive that everyone can find something different to get upset about. So I'm sure that no one will be unfamiliar with my topic of choice. My largest frustration is the overwhelming number of kids who have smart devices. I don't mean students. I mean kids. Part of the frustration is due to the fact that I'm not a smartphone person - I simply don't believe people need to be wired all day e'er day (I'm not sorry that I don't care what food you Instagram'd tonight). But a much larger portion of irritation is due to the absurd amount of kids in middle school and below who I see carrying around an iPhone or iPad or other smart device.
You might say, "hey, Catherine, that kid's six years old. Obviously that iPhone belongs to his mom."
Well, my dear voice of reason, let's address your potentially valid points.
1) Much to my dismay, I have a friend whose six year old brother received an iPhone 5 for Christmas this past year. *insert facepalm here* So while most children that young aren't going to be in possession of their own smart device, some, unfortunately, are.
B) Yes, often times I do see parents handing the child their own smartphone so that the kid can, I dunno, watch a tv episode while getting dragged around the grocery store. This still irks the mess out of me. I understand that children's tv programming is intended to be educational, but they still shouldn't be exposed to it 24/7. Common sense, yo. They already watch it at home as much as they can. How many times were you told, "turn off the tv and go play outside?" If you're like me the answer was somewhere around a million. And now that I'm grown am I thankful I was kicked off the sofa and out into the sun? Or into a paint set? Or into a pillow fort? Duh. (side note: do these kids even know what a pillow fort is?) I feel like little kids as a whole are over-stimulated due to the immense (and easy) access to tv, internet, movies, online games, etc. I can't even imagine what kind of long-term consequences that amount of stimulation will have.
Let's also just briefly touch on how many parents use that access as a way out of dealing with their child.
Two moms stopping and talking in the aisle at Target. A little boy is pulling on his mom's leg because he's bored and wants to leave. Instead of turning around and saying "stop, Mommy's talking right now, we'll leave in a few minutes," she just takes her phone out of her pocket and hands it to him without even looking down. You know what you did there, Mom? Taught him that when he tries to interrupt you, he'll get something he enjoys. Conditioned him Pavlovian-style. All the good parenting right there.
Or the little girl in the grocery store who starts pitching a fit when Dad passes by the Reese's Puffs and tells her she can't have them. She does that little kid half-scream thing and stops in the middle of the aisle and crosses her arms and stamps her foot and scowls till her face turns red. Instead of disciplining her, he pulls up the Dora the Explorer game app and lets her play on it. Guess what, Dad? You just rewarded her bratty behavior. Have fun dealing with that when she hits the teen years: "no, honey, you can't go out with that boy... here, here's a brand new car."
It's things like this that really drive me crazy. Surprise, guys! Being a parent means disciplining your child for behavior like that. You may not see the effects but those of us who are less than 10 years away from parenthood, who get to babysit your precious brats, can see it plainly.
Okay, so my real rant was actually about how technology is abused. As my brother said this afternoon, "you laugh now, but those kids are going to be able to vote in a few years." Sorry y'all, I don't think they're going to allow you to tweet your ballot...
Amen and Amen! Your examples of unwittingly rewarding negative behavior are right on target. Like anything in life, there must be balance and wise use.
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