“Mommy, are you going to look at your faceybook again?” Said the 4yr old to his mother. She smiled, her face lit by the glow of a laptop screen. Without once looking in his direction she nodded and continued to type.
This scenario is common place in our household. Sometimes it is the wifey at the keyboard, but generally it is me either writing, surfing the web, or, occasionally, playing Pokemon online (do I get to keep my street cred after saying that?). Now the kids are into the act. They’ll snatch a laptop and hide somewhere to skim netflix or play online games on kizi or yepi. I’m long past wondering if it is a good or bad thing. I believe the key is to strike a balance. I thought about that balance a lot when picking out gifts for the kids. My wife decided to go with a theme of motion, which I picked up on and, at first, complimented with video games. I realized that the balance is also about the kind of toys they play with. I decided to get my 4 yr old some hands on toys so he wouldn’t disappear into the digital world nearly as often.
Again, computer use is normal and inevitable, but it can be alienating. Social networking is no substitute for holding a friend’s hand. Striking the perfect balance to me means being able to be comfortable in both worlds and comfortable enough to exist without one of them.
Some Thoughts:
- Un-boxing videos are straight up weird. Here’s an example if you’ve never seen one. At the end he asks people to subscribe. This makes it weirder.