Children in the World of Technology (or is it Technology in the World of Children?)
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Are your kids addicted to their little screens? I bet they are. And are you, the parent, worried ‘cause they’re not out kicking the ball or whatever? I bet you are.
I was listening to this heated debate about technology, particularly in the lives of children and there was this whole bunch of parents – educated people, otherwise – spouting the same used-up arguments that yes, but they’re worried ‘cause their kids aren’t playing outside anymore and they’re always looking at their little screens and what about socializing?
And interestingly, there was this extremely clever old man who was arguing against them and who told them, quite plainly, ‘you’re afraid of change.’
And I do believe it comes down to that a lot, particularly when people use this kind of argument. Kids play on their phones, and not with the football, like I used to as a kid. And look at you, so impressive and emotionally fulfilled. Get out of here. The old man tried explaining to them that there is a lot of intense, complex mental workout the kid is doing. Seriously, some games are crap, agreed, but a lot are extremely intelligent and complex. But it was as if he was talking to the walls. It always is with these people. You can’t shift the narrative in their heads, not even a millimeter.
And what I find interesting in all these parents protesting that technology is bad for their children and why won’t Timmy go out in the yard and play is that they are very two-faced, if you look at them closely.
Why? A, because they too are just as addicted to their phone as little Timmy is. Okay, so little Timmy spends all his spare time playing Fortnite or Minecraft or whatever. Possibly online with friends, but let’s ignore that, shall we? It’s not reaaaal socializing.
But so do you. You spend all that time on Facebook or reading the latest article on how Trump is evil and Kim Kardashian still has a butt. You watch cute cat videos and never go out of the house without your phone (not even to take little Timmy to the park, I might add) and you’re probably scrolling Twitter as the kid is trying to tell you something. Even you, Steemians.
How can you be surprised little Timmy is spending all his free time staring into a screen when you yourself are doing that? Social media might just explode if you don’t add a quick like to the latest cutesy crap or if you don’t answer some random stranger’s comment straight away. It will. Now, why wouldn’t Timmy’s game explode if he isn’t in it for half an hour while he goes out to run in the park?
It’s called double standards, bro.
Tell me again, how dare you complain Timmy is always looking at a screen when you’re always looking at a screen?
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
And B, you want to know why little Timmy doesn’t go out to the park to play with some friends? Because you wouldn’t let him, you paranoid idiot. We live in a fear-culture, there are pedophiles on every corner, murderers, people just waiting to scoop up little Timmy and take him to their basement.
No, actually there aren’t. There are a couple of cases which the media builds on to convince you the above is true. Why? Because a scared population is good and obedient. And it’s not united. If you’re mistrustful of everyone, you have no time to meet up and be mistrustful of the government together.
Children play on their computers and escape into these virtual worlds, because it’s the only world where they have even a little freedom. You control where they go, what they eat, how they dress, who they see. In a game, they control that. Games are addictive because they give you control.
A sister-argument to this is that kids don’t exercise enough nowadays. Playing games is largely sedentary (so far), so there isn’t as much physical excitement as when you’re playing football in the park with your friends. We’ve already established you wouldn’t allow Timmy to do that, but let’s ignore that for a second, shall we?
Because you know what is also sedentary and doesn’t keep kids fit? That’s right, school. Children spend what? 5-8 hours at school each day? Then at least a couple more for homework. that’s about 10 hours of sitting down. Each day. Maybe they have P.E. once a week, fine, that’s only 9 hours of sitting down at a desk for that particular day.
And you really want to tell me how the 2-3 hours the kid spends playing video games is so terrible because it doesn’t allow him to move and be in touch with his physical body? Seriously?
I would take a second to point out that this is an issue most adults are facing today also (and before) – sedentary lives, not enough exercise, bad circulation etc. But we’re ignoring this as well, don’t worry.
You want your kid to exercise more? How about instead of taking his tablet away, you take him away from school?
Trust me, that will give little Timmy plenty of time to move about, to run. Also, if you take little Timmy out of school, there might even be some time left in the week to take him to yoga class or dance class or one of these popular hippy things. Better than school.
But no, it’s the computer’s fault. Minecraft’s to blame.
Something very interesting that old man said that stuck with me was that we’re evolving very fast right now. He said that looking back and comparing the world today to the world in the 80s, it’s unbelievable, that the world as we know it is going away and will soon be gone. And it is true that a lot of things are changing, very fast. Could it be that these online children are just adapting to it better than we adults are?
I mean, okay when you were a kid, you used to go out to the park or on the street or wherever and play with other kids. But when you were a kid, there were no cellphones, no virtual realities to speak of, no nothing. Compare today to the 80s. Hell, compare it with 10 years ago. I grew up playing in the park too. But times have changed.
I mean, there was a time in history where 9 year olds or 12 year olds would be sent out into the woods by the tribe to make it on their own. If they didn’t come back, too bad. Gave them plenty of exercise, too, yet I don’t hear anyone demanding we bring that back. Who knows, there might be pedophiles there, too.
Technology has become a huge part of our lives. Ours, not just the kids’. Is it good? Probably not, it’s probably really bad, I mean it could be good, but we’re just too fucked up a world to actually do something good.
And maybe things should change, but that doesn’t mean telling little Timmy he can only play one hour instead of three. The change that is needed is so much bigger than that.
Thanks for reading,
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I was writing this long comment, go into the kitchen and come back to find it disappeared...wow. Anyway. I grew up in a house with an Atari with exactly three games to play. I played PacMan until my fingers had blisters on it...Yeah, we played outdoors, because my mother made us. Or when friends came to ask if we'd come out and play. We'd bring the dogs to protect us from harm (that was something my parents insisted on and it was also a work-out for the dogs). The only difference with now is that we didn't have smart-phones with us at that time...
Since I've been homeschooling (unschooling) my kids, I've been worried too about their use of electronics. However, I realized it was a worry instilled by society. Because society and yes, the media, tells us that it's a bad thing to let our kids play games or be online as much as they do, it must be so. Now, I am thinking: maybe society and media (so the people in charge) are afraid of how our kids are evolving. They're figuring things out on their own. If they are in school and they're wondering about something the teacher has said, they can go online and find their own truths. This wasn't the case when I grew up, we had books that were written by people who couldn't be questioned because there was no comparative material. Now there is.
I am not worried anymore, because my son for instance is very clear about what he wants to do. Of course, this can change, but at the moment, he wants to become a professional gamer and also develop games. I encourage him and know that he will need practice for that. And because it's his passion, he's getting pretty darn good at it.
All those pro gamers better watch out for my boy!
If I want for the kids to go outside, I go with them, and the phone only comes for photos, nothing else.
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If I were homeschooling a kid, I'd make Minecraft part of their education. There is so much to learn in there: resource management, geometry, compounding growth, risk management, patience. And that's before you discover redstone and realize you can build logic circuits!
I agree that every generation gets disgusted/dismayed with what the next one's doing, and that fear of change has a lot to do with it. And I agree that many of these fears are over-blown.
But... have you ever gone down the rabbit hole of bizarre children's youtube content? This is stuff that extremely young kids are watching before they can talk, and it doesn't take many auto-play loads before they end up in the bizarre and the perverse. This has to have some effect on their brains.
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