If our current addictions to our iPhones and other tech is any indication, we may be setting up our children for incomplete, handicapped lives devoid of imagination, creativity and wonder when we hook them onto technology at an early age. I wouldn't hesitate to say that our generation was the last generation to play outside precisely because we didn’t have smartphones and laptops. We learned from movement, hands-on interaction, and we absorbed information through books and socialization with other humans as opposed to a Google search.
Learning in different ways has helped us become more well-rounded individuals — so, should we be more worried that we are now robbing ourselves of the ability to Snapchat and play “Candy Crush” all day if we don’t use a smartphone, or should we more worried that we would be robbing ourselves of a healthier, less dependent development if we do use a smartphone?
So the next time you think about how you will raise your kids, you may want to (highly) consider not giving them whatever fancy tech we’ll have while they are growing up. Play outside with them and surround them with nature; they might hate you, but they will absolutely thank you for it later, because I’m willing to bet that’s exactly how many of us feel about it now that we are older.
Learning in different ways has helped us become more well-rounded individuals — so, should we be more worried that we are now robbing ourselves of the ability to Snapchat and play “Candy Crush” all day if we don’t use a smartphone, or should we more worried that we would be robbing ourselves of a healthier, less dependent development if we do use a smartphone?
So the next time you think about how you will raise your kids, you may want to (highly) consider not giving them whatever fancy tech we’ll have while they are growing up. Play outside with them and surround them with nature; they might hate you, but they will absolutely thank you for it later, because I’m willing to bet that’s exactly how many of us feel about it now that we are older.
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