iPods, iPhones, and iPads ... oh my.

Why do they know how to text, how to open my cell phone, how to find the on/off button on the TV, turn on Netflix, start YouTube videos, and call things iPads?  As I tried to print out some pictures for my son, he brought out his cord for his LeapFrog, plugged it in to my laptop(Correctly!) and asked for it to sync.  EXCUSE ME!  I'm sorry, did you stutter?  What do you know about syncing?

When I was little I played with My Little Ponies.  I had maybe 7 ponies.  I loved them.  I did their hair ... or manes shall we say.  I had two Cabbage Patch Kids and considered myself pretty lucky.  My sister and I had Fashion Plates - do you ladies remember Fashion Plates?  We had the Treehouse Family - I loved the Treehouse Family.  Renting a VHS tape was a big night for us.  We watched Pollyanna and the Parent Trap - the old ones.

My children have books upon books, LeapFrogs, trains, trucks, farm animals, Lite-brights, stuffed animals, BigWheels, tools, etc. etc. etc.  I admit I rarely walk out of a Barnes and Noble without at least a Golden Book or Curious George.  Michael and I get so frustrated when they have so much, some wonderful gifts from family members and ourselves, yet a wrapping paper tube will do just the trick.  Our little boys tie towels around their waists and call themselves chefs.

How much do we allow ourselves, as examples, to embrace all new things "tech?"  I, for one, would feel completely unsafe without a cell phone.  It's my only phone.  I would feel incomplete without this hear MacBook.  My NOOK is my getaway.  If we are so tied to our devices, are we raising little Silicon Valley monsters?

Speaking from a teacher standpoint, I become very frustrated when a student does not know how to complete simple tasks through programs such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, yet they can find this website, navigate this search, find someone's information, and tell me how to do something on my own phone.  Are we doing too much?  Are we not allowing our children to really be children?

Look at it this way ... our children have to have a fighting chance, so they must be "tech savvy."  IT is the demand to make it nowadays.  I just find it sad when Max tells Michael ... "I don't need a book tonight, just my LeapPad."

April 6th, 2014