Working off my post a couple days ago… I keep thinking, what is going to happen to the kids who grow up that only ever interacted with the latest software and never have regular, healthy, human interaction? Are these kids who are engulfed in software, Myspace, AIMspeak and World of War Craft ever going to learn the proper social skills? I mean, maybe these kids will grow up to be software geniuses? But maybe not.
I can’t even tell you how many times I have been in a doctor’s office or in the grocery store and I see a mom dragging her kid by one arm while he uses the other to make his next maneuver on his PSP or Nintendo DS. Or when I am driving and look into the car next to me, all I see is a little illuminated square with a cartoon playing. And although I wish in-car televisions existed when I was a kid on a long road trip, they seem to be used more as a permanent distraction technique, and are used whenever kids get into the car, no matter how short the trip. Is it weird that I used to really enjoy looking around at the buildings and cars when my mom would drive? But then, would I be any different of a person if I hadn’t? Only time will tell.
Research shows that kids spend more time playing video games than watching TV, which is why it is the new focus of marketers. In addition to video games, kids spend 9-26 hours per week on the internet. Not only is this great news for marketers, being that most of their message can be sent electronically, which is more cost effective, but there is no parental interference. How many moms sit and watch their kids play video games on TV or the internet?
And notably... I spend a lot of time on the internet, but I am also a student… with a Facebook… so it is understandable. Seriously though, it is a slippery slope. I want to eventually have kids, but I also would like to have a career, and I think facing the challenges that I discuss in this blog will be tough. But my answer to this challenge is that I will simply have to be personally responsible, if I decide to have a kid, the I am also going to have to choose how I am going to raise them and understand the need to make sacrifices. We are such a self-centered culture, I think that is the reason we have slipped into this mess of a culture, which soon may become normalcy, which in turn, makes me (once again) sound like the grumpy old man from planet conservo.
UPDATE: this may be contradictory to this entire blog, but I still think it is interesting and offers a valid counterpoint http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20409-2049863,00.html
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