Community Chat

[Black Cat Back]

I was at the beauty salon the other day.   I was sitting in the waiting area when a man and his wife and toddler came in.  The mom was getting her hair done so the father was sitting with his kid in his lap.   He also had a tablet in front of the kid and the kid was mesmerized by it.

When the kid looked up, I would smile and say hi to the little boy,.but he would just start to cry.  But as soon as the tablet screen was put in front of him, he was calm.    Then a little girl walked in with her mother and she went over to the little boy as kid sometimes do.   The toddler started to cry again, but when the father put the tablet in front of him, he immediately became calm.

I sat there wondering who the tablet was really for.   I mean, it helped the father that the kid was calmed down by watching cartoons, but the kid had no comfort or idea how to interact with another child or other people.    I remember times waiting in checkout lines with a kid in a cart ahead of me.   I would smile and play "peek-a-boo" with  my hands and kids would laugh and smile and be so engaged.    

I just wonder if all this technology is numbing kids at too early of an age and making them afraid of others in the real world who aren't on a tablet or computer screen.   It seems to me parents use these devices as babysitters to quiet their kids down.   This father just sat there, never really interacting with the kid, just putting the tablet in the kid's face the minute he got fussy.

It's sad enough that some kids will grow up not knowing how to spell and write correctly, but it's sad to see a kid so afraid of interacting with others outside of a computer screen.

[sandraskates]

Yes, I notice all the time while shopping that little kids are tied to an electronic device. So are their parents.

There is very little interaction with others.

When I check out at a store there is no short friendly chit-chat, no conversation from mainly 20-somethings. It's like they cannot have a conversation face to face.

I think the psyches of the future are going to be very different from those of us (like me) that have watched technology evolve over the last 30 years. Although I love my Smartphone, I don't want to be tied to it. When I'm talking to someone I want straight coversation, not an "I have to check for messages" interval.

[Black Cat Back]

I literally say very loudly when I'm walking and someone is looking at their phone and paying no attention to where they are going.   I'll say, "Look up!" or "Pay attention."     Most of the time, they are barely startled.

Someone was just on QVC as a caller during the Apple Mini TSV show this morning saying she was buying it for her kindergarten age grandchild.     Gee, when I was in kindergarten, I got Barbie Dolls and stuffed animals.     

My cousin  raised both her kids in the digital age and they had every game and video and device known to man.  These girls have grown up being so socially inept, self centered and unable to have an intelligent conversation with an adult.   They have no manners and cannot interact appropriately with other people.  They are now in their 20's.

Very sad.

[Black Cat Back]

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@sandraskates wrote:

Yes, I notice all the time while shopping that little kids are tied to an electronic device. So are their parents.

There is very little interaction with others.

When I check out at a store there is no short friendly chit-chat, no conversation from mainly 20-somethings. It's like they cannot have a conversation face to face.

I think the psyches of the future are going to be very different from those of us (like me) that have watched technology evolve over the last 30 years. Although I love my Smartphone, I don't want to be tied to it. When I'm talking to someone I want straight coversation, not an "I have to check for messages" interval.

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You're so right, the only people I converse with anymore at the store are older than 60.   I'm in my 50's, and only have a Tracfone.   I have my home PC and that's it.    I only use my phone for emergencies.   

The other thing they are noticing are kids coming into dr's offices with neck and hand issues.   They'll all have arthritis before age 25.   Problem is, as the digital world evolved, medicine and body mechanics therapy haven't.

[Pqfan]

It is kind of worrisome to think what these kids will be like when they grow up. I hope things will work  out somehow and human interaction and manners won't become obsolete. 

[Puppy Lips]

I have seen this all too often too -- I have seen toddlers in strollers with IPADs and kids in shopping carts with IPADs.  I suppose it is not bad if it is used sparingly, but all the time would be a problem.  Children need to learn to behave out in public, in church, etc., without such devices.  I fear that in the future, people will have trouble relating to each other face to face.

[Ringer2]

I understand technology is something that will move ahead regrdless of our feelings, but I get so furious when I see people at a restaurant with their gizzmos to the exclusion of real conversation. We are doing this generation a real disservice when  we don't teach them how important conversation so they know how to communicate without a gadget in their hands. 

"You never know when the last  time is the last time."

[nun ya]

Our local newscaster declared a "summer electronics ban" at her house of 5 boys.

I laughed as she said "They are outside playing!!  They're not locked in a dark basement with blodshot eyes, scoring a triple kill on some stupid game."

[lolakimono]

I suppose it's too much when they upload their own toilet training video to Facebook. 

[chickenbutt]

I find it troubling on several levels.   If and when the time comes that they look up from their phones, or whatever, they don't seem to know how to interact with others.  They don't seem to understand the concept of manners, because they are just accustomed to interacting (if you want to call it that) with their devices.    Consequently, inter-personal skills are pretty much nil.

It also seems to dull them quite a bit, from my observation anyway.   I don't think their intellect is being properly developed.

One other thing that has occurred to me, over the last few years, is that I bet the optometrists and opticians will be very happy because business will be booming.   Methinks that if somebody is trying to decide what to major in, in college, they might consider one of those fields. 

These kids are going to be blind as bats and, while we're at it, their thumbs will be toast.

Beyond that, and back to my original point, though, is that they become so self-absorbed and developmentally immature that I feel great concern.