Gadget Neanderthals

"Bored."
It's not a word I use regularly.
It was seldom used when I grew up.
It was seldom heard with my children as they grew up.

I did a lot of things wrong in raising my children. How does one measure "a lot?" Maybe it wasn't "a lot." Maybe a better quantity would be "enough" or "plenty." Plenty enough for them to know I am human and make mistakes. Plenty enough for them to learn about family dynamics and the genetics that are in their packages. Plenty enough to learn what not to do and what to do, if they ever decide to rear children.

I've never been a technology buff. Through the 90s and early aughts, I often said, "I'll never have a cell phone." I didn't like the idea of accessible constant contact.

Of course I ate those words. I bought my first cell phone, a flip phone, in 2005. And that only because I was giving a go with a network marketing business, and I needed a cell phone in order to be successful. My children and husband got their first flip cell phones either at that time, or within a year.

I didn't buy a smartphone until 2011. Again, because of work - a pet sitting/dog walking business. I needed to be able to text easily, quickly look up directions between stops, and access email on the go. My children probably got their first smartphones within a year. My daughter would have been 23 and my son 21. My daughter, son, and I upgraded our smart phones twice since our original purchases. Hubby got his first smart phone this past summer, 2017; he upgraded from a flip phone.

We sound like Neanderthals!

When our children were growing up, we had one computer in the home. We all shared that computer. I got my first laptop in 2008. My daughter got her first one around 2008 maybe. My son, I don't know; he may have waited until 2010.  Hubby didn't get one until around 2015.

Hubby, Son, and I still have those same laptops. We haven't bought new ones. My daughter may have bought one new one since her original used laptop purchase around 2008ish.

Hubby, Son, nor I own tablets or iPads (are those the same thing?). I'm not sure about my daughter.

When the kids were growing up and we would go on car trips - whether errand running or to the mountains or somewhere farther - as a general rule, I didn't allow them, or their friends, to wear head phones hooked into one of those portable CD  or cassette players.

Why would I have that as a rule? Because I had a real problem with the children being cut off from their present surroundings and the "boredom" of the drive.

We would listen, together over the vehicle speakers, to music or stories/books on tape. We'd sometimes sing songs. We would play license plate games or make-up stories (in a round) based on road signs, surroundings, and cities and towns we were passing. We would talk, or just sit quietly watching the scene speed by, daydreaming. And, of course there were arguments, and sometimes my son would pick on my daughter.

But we were present with each other in the moment.

One of my concerns with constant, virtual contact that technology provides, especially when it comes to child development, is the absence of presence. And the absence of "boredom" and daydreaming and imagining. Just a click away with access 24/7, one can escape into a 2-D screen with little to no awareness of their 3-D environment. I have other concerns too.

I asked my self this morning, "If you had young children now, at what point would you buy them a smart phone?" I'm not sure. But I think I'd have them wait until they were at least 12. They could have a flip phone though. I realize they'd probably need a laptop for school before they turned 12. But I'd hold off as long as I could for that too.

At least, that's what I think I'd do. But, I can't say for sure.

And of course we'd have the tech talk, just like the sex talk. Multiple times.

Replacing our electronic devices brings to mind Gadget Mountain. More pollution, as we "upgrade."

~*~

I read about Gadget Mountain a few years ago. I googled it this morning, but couldn't locate the photo or articles from what I read back then. But two articles came up that look interesting. I've only perused them. I'll read them later.

1) From Associated Press, January, 2017: The astonishing 'gadget mountains' of Asia: UN warns of impending health and environmental disaster due to dumped technology

2) From The Atlantic, September, 2016: The Global Cost of Electronic Waste

~*~