Technology ruining childhoods?

Question

Is technology ruining childhoods today? I think they are. My parents and grandparents tell me stories of going out after breakfast and coming back for supper. They had great memories in the neighborhood with the kids. Technology today keeps kids inside playing video games. I am not saying all kids, just some. Anybody have any input?

Answer 1

i think this is true also. where is there Imagination. 30 years ago give a boy a bag of plastic army men or a girl some dolls and they could play for days and never get bored. nowadays you are lucky if those items would hold their attention for more than three minutes. i think what I'm trying to say is when the kids of today grow up that it will be very hard for them to come up with ideas and innovations of their own because their minds have wont have the capacity to endure solitude and long periods of deep thought. just my thoughts on the subject

Answer 2

I agree!! I remember when I was a kid (boy do I sound old) and not only did we spend every possible hour outside, it was SAFE to do this! This day and age, due to technology promoting the dangerous behaviour of child predators, kids cannot even play in their own yards without the risk of being nabbed. It seems to me that the problem is somewhat twofold, you have kids playing computer/xbox/game system games all day and not physically playing. On the same token, if a child wants to play outside, it requires adult supervision to ensure safety, which is nearly impossible since most parents have to work multiple jobs to pay the most basic of bills.

All in all, this whole society has a technological wrench thrown into its spokes. I am glad that I am no longer a child as I would not want to grow up in this modern atmosphere. When I was young, we rode bikes for miles, played hide and seek until dark, played flashlight tag in the dark, camped out in the yard and just basically enjoyed a carefree life. I feel bad for the kids today, stuck indoors and only relying on a computer for entertainment.

Answer 3

I think kids are using technology in all the wrong ways and I think it's been that way longer than we realize, and I think it's sad. My hubby grew up playing video games, started out with Atari games and worked his way up to now playing playstation 2. I think computers can be educational if used properly. You can learn things from yahoo answers as well as research things of interest to you. I also think kids are watching too much of the uneducational tv stuff and playing too many games instead of reading books they could be learning something from. When I was younger my favorite thing to do was curl up with a good book and I was never into TV or computer or video games until I was already in college. Even in college I still liked reading. I'm a firm believer that teaching your kids to love reading will make them smarter and well rounded. Don't deny them video games and "technological fun". Just make sure they read a book sometimes, too.

Answer 4

Like your parents and grandparents, I was out all day long back in the day. I think that technology is ruining that for today's kids--and it's not really great for their health to be sitting down, indoors, all day.

Answer 5

I don't think technology necessarily ruins ones ability to draw and paint, in fact it may help learn some concepts such as color, line, and value. It think technology makes popular culture creep into the subjects youth are interested in. That devalues the art they do and narrows their vision of the real world.

Answer 6

I agree. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, we played outside all day in the summer, we played outside in the rain and the snow, we walked to school, we played hide and seek, and on school nights our parents had to drag us inside so we could get a good night's rest. I'd take that over video games and the Internet any day.

Answer 7

the trouble you describe is not technology ... it is parenting or lack of it. This is common nowdays. Many parents just turn on the tv and everyone fades away. If parents would instead take charge it would not be as it is.

Answer 8

Certainly, if left unchecked, it can. But that's really the fault of parents who are not involving themselves in the lives of their children, not the technology they are using inappropriately.

Answer 9

Got this email below sent to me...technology outstanding for some of the multiple intelligences, good for developing fine motor skills too but can be a bit of an obsession at times, hinders social skills and burning off the energy and preservatives in all the processed crappy food!!! ( and urks me when a 4 year old gets a computer more than me...)


> CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
> 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
>
> First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while
> they carried us.
>
> They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't
> get tested for diabetes.
>
>
> Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured
> lead-based paints.
>
> We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when
> we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took
> hitchhiking .
>
> As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
>
> Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.
>
>
> We drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle.
>
> We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
> actually died from this.
>
> We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it,
> but we weren't overweight because......
>
> WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
>
> We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
> back when the streetlights came on.
>
> No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
>
> We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride
> down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into
> the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .
>
> We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all,
> no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell
> phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet
> chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
>
>
> We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
> lawsuits from these accidents .
>
> We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not
> live in us forever.
>
> Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it
> would happen, we did not poke out any eyes.
>
>
> We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or
> rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
>
> Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
> had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
>
> The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
> They actually sided with the law!
>
> This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers
> and inventors ever!
>
> The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
>
> We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
>
> HOW TO
> DEAL WITH IT ALL!
>
> And YOU are one of them!
>
> CONGRATULATIONS!
>
> You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up
> as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our
> own good.
>
> and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
> brave their parents were.
>