Thoughts

It is coming to the end of my class and I thought I would share some insight on what I have learned. My basic focus this semester has been my concern over some of the negative aspects of today’s new communication technology. I also have focused on the control that the web world has created.

Every day when we talk in class I always say, "My kids will not live this way." My class mates can see that I have genuine concern for kids in today’s generation. One of my favorite stories to tell is of my nephew Ayden. My nephew is eight years old and is in love with zombies. He also loves to play XBOX online. I often sneak into his room and see him sitting in his boxer shorts with his head set placed tightly over his ears yelling at the television monitor. He strategizes with other kids and they kill those zombies! 

This sounds ridiculously cute, but it worries me. I often hear him telling other players to stop cussing. After sometimes hours of playing, he turns into a zombie himself! His eyes turn red from constantly staring at the television and his skin is pale with lack of sunlight. What is my sister thinking!

During my childhood, my sister’s and I were constantly running outside and getting into trouble. We would climb trees and scratch our knees. We would explore muddy creek beds and bring home “critters”, dead and alive. I would come in filthy from the day outside and exhausted from the activities. This of course comes with a few hospital visits due to nails going through feet, arms being broken, and cuts and scrapes to be proud of. But I lived life in the real world.

This virtual world that has evolved is not healthy.  We are not meant to live our lives through a television or computer screen. We are meant to go out into the world and actually play tennis, river raft, build forts, and explore and experience life.

These games offer some opportunity for activity while playing them, especially the WII and XBOX Connect where you have a motion detector and are prompted to move accordingly. The games do not allow kids to experience real life though and so their perception of the world is through fantasy and illusions of what someone else has created. Where are the treasured memories of playing outside and running around? My nephews will be sitting around a television watching a fantasy land created for them. I created my own fantasies. I was a mermaid in the pool; Barbie in my convertible; a monkey when I climbed a tree and hung from the tree limbs. My brain allowed me to create my own fun and God added the natural vitamin D from the sun to complete this healthy lifestyle.

Video games, electronic toys and virtual reality have become today’s playground for our generation. Kids do not create their own games with their own imagination. Their imagination is focused on a world that is trapped inside in computer box. My lectures from class show that I am not supportive of parents throwing their kids into video games. My values somehow have remained a little “old-fashion” consisting of taking your kids somewhere they can experience what the world has to offer. As I drove by the local daycare today, I couldn’t help but to reflect on the empty playground.  It was a beautiful sunny day with Spring blooming everywhere.  Why weren’t the children in the play yard watching a bug, hanging from the jungle gym, or hiding in the mock forts?  They were probably inside playing video games or learning from a computer screen…..