Grown Up In A Digital World

Posted in Category(ies): Technology and Life

COMPUTER BABY © Byrdjg | Dreamstime.com

Our children have been raised in a world of computers, phones, and a multitude of gadgetry.

When my children were toddlers back in the early 90's, the computer era was just starting to gather speed. Our kids were part of the first generation to be fully immersed in technology. Now in their late teens and early twenties they are constantly texting and surfing and gaming. Bill Gates once said, "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. "  Did he REALLY know how prophetic that statement might turn out to be?

The other day I was walking down the street and I actually saw a teenager TALKING on the phone. No kidding… she had it up to her ear and she was talking. I commented to my husband that I hadn't seen anyone that age use a phone as a phone instead of "texting", My husband remarked wryly  that she was probably talking to her mother.

You know, I promised myself that I would never be one of those parents that said, "When I was your age, I didn't have….." but how can you help but compare. The disparity between what we had available to us, and what is available to the middle and upper income family kids is huge.

We grew up in a comfortable middle income family. Both my parents worked, and my older sister and myself helped out with the housework, and the care of our younger brothers. We had 2 cars, a nice little house in a subdivision. We had what we needed, and lots of little extras, and we were happy.  We played outside, read books, played board games like monopoly and trouble, and on the weekends we had Looney Toons on Saturday morning and The Cosby Kids, and The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday night.

It seems like we always had the gadgets pretty soon after they hit the market. We were one of the first families to get a microwave (it was about the size of a medium television set), and we played "pong" and thought it was fun (for a while). Of course there weren't that many gadgets available then.

Fast forward twenty years…. we WANT stuff and we want it now. We start off with a house and 2 cars… well why not, we both have jobs. We would like to save some money but there are so many things to want. We startet out buying things for our babies… the baby monitor was cool… I could go to the neighbor's for tea during nap time! Then there were the various books with audio embedded in the pages,talking squeeze toys and mobiles for sleepy-time. Everything had batteries. I think maybe that's how it started.

By the time my kids were in elementary school they had little electronic "pets" that hung on a keychain and fit in the palm of their little hands. They had to push buttons to feed it and play with it, and keep it "happy". While they were doing that my husband was unpacking the new computer running with MS-DOS. I couldn't even figure how to get that thing turned on. It was the biggest calculator I had ever seen. Our "computer games" which we played on the TV then were getting much more interesting. We had Mario and Tetris to keep us occupied and we were replacing all of our music tapes with CD's.

Boy it seems like things moved petty fast from there. By the time the kids were in high school our household owned 4 cellular phones, 3 desktop and 4 laptop computers, 3 different brands of gaming systems, many hand held game devices, several DVD players, MP3 players, wide screen digital surround sound televisions and goodness knows what else.

As I am read back over the commentary I am amazed at the speed with which technology advanced and has taken over our world.

So how have our kids been affected by this massive rapid technological shift?

There are the obvious downfalls… our kids are fatter and more sedentary than ever before. Of course one could say that most of the fault there falls to what our kids are eating, however, what our kids are eating is very closely related to technology. Fatter and less muscle mass = early acute and chronic diseases and death.

I wonder about basic socialization and communication skills. Do our children, now young adults, know how to interact without a screen interface? We've tried to make it a point to communicate with our kids but I know lots of people in our generation with way less time for things like conversation. So the other day, my 20 year old son had some friends over, and I went down to see if they were hungry, and they were all in his room with computers on their laps. What were they doing? Playing poker and chatting. With each other. On the computer.

I also wonder about just basic human needs. Humans are social beings and we need conversation, mingling, touching, interaction. We also crave acceptance and love. I am not sure how those needs can be properly met in the virtual world. Now it may sound like my kids don't have any interaction outside of their computers, and that's not the case. My son goes to university, and my daughter has a full time job in a store in town. It's what they do with the rest of their time.

I used to wonder, if they spend less and less tiem in the company of others, how will they find new friends, develop relationships, find girlfriends and boyfriends, or their prospective spouse. That question has been answered for many with the advent of online dating sites, and not just for my kids. I find many of my middle aged divorced, seperated or never married friends are turning to the internet to find a mate or friend.

What about spare time? My generation raised their kids while constantly complaining about having no money, and no time. No money because we bought them (and ourselves) every gadget that came to the market) and no time because both adults had to work jobs to support our habit of buying everything. Our kids, now teens and twenties have tons of spare time. They still live at home. They have their own cars (bought by daddy) to get them quickly to the corner store at the top of the street. They don't have their time taken up by bothersome chores.. Mom and dad have been so used to "doing it all" that we just continue to do it all. Lots of time to play computer games.

Our kids are slaves to their cell phones. They are constantly texting even while eating dinner, driving or having a (real) conversation with someone. They are also taking pics, and filming short videos, to upload to you-tube or facebook, and logging in to twitter to see who "said" what. 

Is there ever a time when they can "get away from it all?" Everyone needs some downtime, to think, meditate, ponder life, do nothing. That's when our creativity kicks in. That's when we imagine, dream, plan, set goals. When do our kids do that, and will their inability to fill empty time with something productive have an impact on society down the road? They can't leave the house now without their "devices" and BOY would you laugh if you could see them when the internet goes down or the power goes out.

All of this gadgetry is isolating our kids from their communities while bring the world closer. All the while the gap between "have" and "have-not" is ever widening. Consider that in 2008, only 23% of the world population accessed the internet!

NERDY is the new cool! I think maybe they are going to rule the world some day after all.

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Shelley Penney is a RN (retired) with a keen interest in health, peace and abundance.
Shelley has penned several e-books, currently runs several successful business ventures
from her home office, and has time to write, meditate, travel, and spend time with her
family. Visit Shelley at http://www.shelleypenney.com for interesting articles and
stimulating discussion.
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