When my teenage son was 8 years old, he once walked into the
bathroom with his iPod on his head blaring so loud that I could clearly hear
the music myself. The unmistakable notes of Green Day were causing a very
perplexed look on his face.
“Mom, do you think that by the time I am old enough to drink
beer that Green Day will still be doing concerts?” he asked, seriously enough
that I knew that he was truly concerned about this and not just trying to
aggravate me (which he is getting amazingly proficient at as he gets older).
“I don’t know, Evan - I guess they might still be around -
why do you want to drink beer at a concert?”
“Duh, Mom…grown-ups always drink at concerts and parties!”
he walked away, shaking his head in disbelief that I could ask such a
ridiculous question.
I try to remember if I had that level of thought process
when I was his age. All I can remember about being eight is a rainbow-colored
blur of friendship pins and macramé
potholders that I made at summer camp. Did I think about drinking beer?
Did I listen to music like Green Day? My earliest memories of my boom box were
holding it up to the television on Tuesday nights to tape the opening theme
song to Joanie Loves Chachi…static city, but I listened to it over and over
again…
I have come to the conclusion that my son has probably
always been a good 5-7 years ahead of where I was at his age with regard to
wanting to do “grown-up” stuff. How did this happen? Should I blame the media? Society?
Am I to blame? Is it a bad thing?
Cut to 5 years later – my daughter started using her index
finger to “swipe” the photos on my iPhone at 10 months old. Yes, that says 10 months old. My father turned on his digital picture frame
to show her a slideshow a few weeks ago and she immediately held up her finger
to “swipe” to the next picture…she also swipes pictures that are on the
refrigerator…I am positive that this will lead to some sort of major issue as
she gets older – just haven’t figured out what it is yet! Will all of our kids develop carpel tunnel
syndrome at 7 years old from too much swiping, typing and tapping??
My main concern with technology and how our kids are growing
up in the age of it is that they will not learn how to communicate like regular
humans. They can type 100 (abbreviated, grammar-deficient)
words a minute with their fat little thumbs, but will they know how to look
someone in the eye and make a personal connection? How will this affect their
ability to speak in public? Their career
paths? Their personal relationships? Will I go down to my basement in a few years
and find my son sitting on one couch and his girlfriend on the other couch, as
they frantically type back and forth to each other???
On the flip side, this “relationship by text” and “communicate
through Facebook status” world we live in has also lead to some bravado that
would not be the norm if people actually had to say these things face-to-face. It’s much easier to type tough than it is to
talk it! Don’t even get me started on
the forums and chat rooms where people hide their big mouths behind a fake name…phony
and shameful to not put your name on your own words…eliminates your credibility
completely.
Of course, the greatest irony in our home is that I am
desperately HOPING that my son Luke will be able to communicate with these same
technologies…being that he is non-verbal, swiping and tapping screens are the
only chances we have right now that he will ever learn to tell us what he is
thinking…so I guess we have to take the good in these advances with the bad.
How do we keep our kids from getting lost on the “dark” side
of technology? And for the love of God…how
do I keep myself from having to call one of my children to work my television
some day?
These are the questions that keep me up at night…well, that
and also the fact that I sleep with an iPhone and a Kindle poking me in the
sides…
