Recently Dr. Hanharan showed me and interesting post on Buzzfeed on the Iowa Caucuses and the kids who were 'forced' to spend hours there so that their parents could vote. I found it kind of funny how some people would perceive some of the pictures of children playing games on tablets or on phones. Most older adults would scoff and say that children these days don't go outside enough or know how to play without a phone or tablet, but I disagree. If you are stuck for hours on end just waiting for people to vote for a president and you have to be more quiet, I can't really fault the parents for letting the kids play on a tablet or phone. That being said, I would say that some forethought should have been exercised and the kids should either be reading or coloring, or some other quiet activity that parents have kids do when they're busy. I can agree to a point that children nowadays don't often entertain themselves without technology, but I think the fault lies more with the parents than it does with the kids--we have to keep in mind that children are the products of parenting, so if the child cannot play without a tablet than it is the fault of the parent, not the child.
I feel pretty strongly about this, and this past weekend I went out to dinner with my parents and two other couples--one with a girl about my age and the other with a boy around seven or eight. Both myself and the other older teen had no problem conversing with people at the table and not being absorbed in their phones. The boy on the other hand, had a tablet in front of him almost the entire time he was at dinner. When he didn't have it he talked to everyone and he was a really nice kid, but once he said something embarrassing about the mom (it was funny as hell), she quickly gave him the tablet to shut him up. I didn't say anything, it is very clearly none of my business, but needless to say I wasn't exactly giving off an approving aura to the parents during the rest of the dinner.
Thoughts? Should I have maybe joked about it?
You all know that I am not one to jump on the "kids these days and their screens" bandwagon, but I have seen what Gabby describes here--kids who can't get through a meal at a restaurant without a tablet--more times than I can count. And to me, that's not a good thing. I think Turkle would argue that those kids aren't "there" in that moment, and I think she's right.
ReplyDeleteI find it amusing when adults complain about kids constantly on their phones, but they were the ones who taught them to be that way. Many parents now use phones as a way to keep their children quiet instead of telling their children to calm down. I have often seen parents give toddlers their phones when they do not want to deal with the toddlers. I see that more as lazy parenting instead of rude children.
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