Growing Up Too Fast?

The Week In Review section of the New York Times has a piece by Benedict Carey that discusses the pros and cons of kids growing up on iPods, cell phones, and videogames.  It contrasts this world with the world I grew up in where our toys were lincoln logs, erector sets, and legos.

My kids certainly prefer iPods, cell phones, and videogames to legos, lincoln logs, and erector sets, although they do/did play with the toys of my generation a fair amount.

But I am not sure that this new technology driven age is all that bad for kids.  My generation grew up on TV bigtime.  And we seem to be coping pretty well with all that the world is throwing at us.

I also think the notion that iPods, cell phones, and videogames don't lead to imaginative play is wrong. 

Earlier this week Josh and his friends were playing with my iPod on the way back from playing football in the park.  They came up with a whole story about the music they were listening to and decided to make a movie about it when they got home with our digital video camera. There was a ton of imagination, creative energy, and kids being kids in that situation. 

Technology is a fact of our lives and our kids are figuring out how to relate to it in the way that kids deal with everthing.  And that's just fine with me.

Comments

[Tony Alva]

All the tech gadgets are great and it surely isn't the Holy Grail of bad behavior that many would have us believe, but they do have the potential to become another reason for a kid NOT to go outside and do something physical with their time. Parents are ultimately responsible for booting their kids out the door and limiting the time they play with gadgets, but I see an awful lot of kids with "the stare" going on (the look they get when playing video games) and I have a hard time trying to convince myself that this is as good a fad as skateboarding was to my generation. I remember the video game thing becoming huge while I was graduating from college. I'd go back to see my buds over at the dorms after work on Friday night to go out and hit the clubs and all they wanted to do was hang out and play Mario Bros. (showing my age here). Not only would this activity keep us from going out, not a whole lot of conversation would go on when the games were being played. Before, even if we didn’t go out, we would still hang out and play guitar until 3:00 am, but not after the dreaded Mario Bros. thing happened, at least not with the same frequency as before. I constantly see this same behavior in kids, including my own kin, and it scares me.

I believe that American youth is heading for a crisis situation with obesity and physical complacency if we’re not there already. It's no wonder kids are so out of shape these days. In my youth, we'd spend the dog days of summer, even in the Virginia heat, playing baseball ALL DAY. Football in the fall and winter, kickball or wiffleball in the street when we'd get bored with the others. Skateboarding replaced it all as I’m sure you recall. I now live in a neighborhood with tons of kids and I have never once seen a pickup game of wiffleball being played in the eight years I've lived here. Wanna bet their hanging around fiddling with a Gameboy in front of a TV? The crappy food (re: your earlier post "Supersize This") is part of it, but physical complacency is the other factor no doubt in my mind.

Are tech gadgets solely to blame? No, parents are, but contending with the on going flood of these items doesn't make it any easier on those right minded parents who are fighting the good fight. Striking a balance with technology and physical activity will be a big thing for my wife and I when our daughter reaches the age. God help us!