To be saddened by the sight of a dozen kids all zombied out on devices?

[Amibambini]

Was at an event recently, there were about a dozen kids there, and watching them not playing together or running around and acting like kids really bummed me out. They were all just sat individually hunched over their various screens and devices.

Sure, it was raining out and there could have been a better space set up for them, but still, it was quite a depressing sight.

I know the world is changing and screens are a part of it (irony is not lost on me as I tap out this moan on a screen!), but I wonder what kids, and adults, are losing as we replace playing with each other with the solitary, silent staring at devices.

Crap! I have officially turned into my grumpy Dad!

Ds3 (7) has a wii, a mobile phone (not the i phone 5 he would like), a TV in his bedroom - complete with DVD of course, a laptop and a ds. These were all inherited from his teenaged brothers. He has (almost) free access to them all when we are at home my only stipulation being that he can't use them after bath time.

He goes to after school club till 6 three nights a week, an after school sports club once a week and swimming once or twice at the weekend. He plays out with friends whenever anyone is available, is top of his class and the most sociable child I know. He could choose to play machines whenever we were at home but doesn't. I think sometimes making things "forbidden fruit" makes them more desirable.

Maybe forbidden fruit does make things more desirable but if kids don't have them in the first place they can't play on them 24/7. And while your kids may not play on them constantly most children I know do. I know children of 5 and 6 whose parents say they never ever play with toys. I also know of children that have full access to everything on the internet age 7. Your kids might be playing together in a virtual sense, but that is not as good as playing together in a real way, it just isn't. We have the internet at home so obviously we are living in the real world and not a bubble, I'm just trying to do the best I can to give my child a healthy and happy childhood and not one stuck in front of a electronic babysitting device.

I agree with you OP. If they really absolutely had to use technology, why couldn't they do something communal like wii?

I totally agree with you, was at a christening recently and they all had their heads stuck in screens. In "my day" (I'm only 25!) we'd be tearing around together playing games!

I'm on the fence. I don't like very little children having millions of devices, it should be a time when their imaginations are developing. My little two year old can sit with a couple of mcdonalds toys and have an hour long game with them, talking to them etc! but older children who are at reading age and can read e-books, play proper games, talk to their friends they are brilliant. I have a kindle and it's so much better than normal books - a light so I can read in the dark and all in one so no books get lost, damaged, drinks spilt on them or pages pulled out by the kids!

It's about proportion isn't it. All have their uses. At the moment the technology in our house is a treat albeit one they can have everyday. DS1, 7 is currently happy to play with Wii, DS etc when he goes on play dates or visits his GPs as DH has younger siblings who have them. Until they explicitly ask for them we are not getting them but as I said we have an iPad, laptop that they can use.

Yanbu. We have lost something important, much as technology is wonderful

Donkey Kong, PacMan, Space Invaders anyone?

Didn't ruin my imagination.

My DSs have been biking, running around the playground, drawing, writing, playing, arguing with friends all morning. When it gets dark they'll have some 'screen time' and zone out, probably with the same friends.

No one's going to argue that gaming or watching telly ALL DAY is a good thing; the OP saw a snapshot of an event that's all.

One of my speech therapy colleagues was telling me about some research that is either due out or is newly out which has looked at the effect of use of tablets/devices in young children (1/2 year olds I think) and the effect on development of language they might have. I will see if she can direct me to a link.

Conversely though she is using modern tablets more and more as assistive technology devices for children who are unable to verbally communicate with good results.

I'm a time and place person. Since getting a kindle fire in the last few weeks I have been blown away by it and ds has enjoyed using it for counting games.

I'm 37 and I used to take books to parties as a child so I dodnt have to engage. I guess the screen is just the modern equivalent.

I try very hard with my kids to get them more involved in things but some of us are just a little uncomfortable in a crowd. My two a a lot more sociable than me which pleases me.

OP I'm with you - I see how adults become zombified so what is going to happen with children?

I go to the gym and every time am quite gobsmacked at the fact that the majority of females there have their bloody I-pads next to them and are sitting staring at them while they are waiting for the instructor to appear.

They are like zombies.

so many big family parties, weddings I've been to where parents assumed kids will play together...

it used to be my ex entertaining them as he wanted our kids to have good time, other parents didn't feel obliged
so there often was him and 10 or more kids and him the only adult :)

YADNBU

When we were kids a group of us brought together by our parents was an opportunity for playing, I was an introvert and didn't always want to play but I'd get through it and usually have some fun.

I find it depressing. I find it depressing that there are children that never build dens, dig earth, play imaginary games, go outside even if it's cold and raining, play board games in groups, interact with open fires, climb trees, spend time away from adults and create their own secret worlds.

Technology has a place but it will never ever offer kids the chance to engage with their environment and test themselves in the way that playing freely does. Though if you live in an urban environment then it takes some creativity and work to offer children those kind of enriching play experiences......

However, the Anonymous Movement was born out of a load of kids that spent their older childhoods wired up to computers in their bedrooms....

OP I totally agree with you. Todays youngsters live in a techno world of all these devices and to be honest they are not doing them any favours. Whilst we have to follow the times and be upto date with changing technology. I think being in a group and talking, doing constructive activities etc is becoming a thing of the past. I dont like it personally, and i am in no way an old fuddy duddy (although I sound like it). Heads stuck in devices and no proper communication, I think this can be damaging to social skills.

I'm with you, OP. I can't stand to see children glued to screens in social situations. Or adults either, for that matter.

Although there are more screens now I dont think it has changed childhood, it just enriches it.