Technology and children

If you could go back in time and stop the internet from being invented, would you?

This may seem like a preachy and slightly hypocritical post but i assure you, it's not intended to be read that way. It's purely my opinion and comment on technology in a modern society.

I love my tech. I love that i have so much power in the palm of my hand that with just a few taps on a keyboard, i can find out just about anything about anything at pretty much the same time as ordering a gift, paying my bills and booking a table at a restaurant.

The internet has opened the world up to more possibilities than ever before and that is a truly remarkable thing.

My issue is that i don't think enough people respect it. I don't think people talk about the negatives enough and i certainly don't think people are protecting their children from the dangers.

This isn't a comment on the high profile issues such as grooming and cyber bullying (although i'm not trying to play the down, this just isn't the post to be raising that discussion), this is more subtle than that.

When i was a child, i wouldn't dare ask my parents or grandparents for anything that would cost any more than about £50 and that would be pushing it but that apparently doesn't cut it anymore. A few weeks ago when i logged onto Facebook a friend of mine had put a picture up of her 3 year old sons birthday presents.

She bought him an iPad air and printer.

What the hell does a 3 year old need an iPad for??! Seriously.

It really has sparked something in me. No child needs a tablet and yet this seems to be the norm, more and more children are being given these overly expensive gifts before they have any concept of what they cost. More and more parents are feeling pressured to provide these things for their children despite struggling to pay their bills.

All this comes at a price, the more kids get, the more they expect. First it's a games console, next it's a tablet, by the time they're 8 or 9, they expect £500 phones. They don't learn what it means to be able to have these things, it becomes something insignificant.

On top of that, so many kids become obsessed with the internet and games etc to the point where they are seriously lacking in even the most basic of social skills and are constantly demanding the familiar sight and feel of a tablet or phone in their hands.

I'm not completely against a child having access to the internet and the tech that comes with it but i think it needs to be moderated properly. It shouldn't be an all day thing, they shouldn't be given the tablet etc to babysit them.

I'm hoping that when the time comes, our children will have a good understanding of the internet but won't rely on it to pacify them. I'm hoping that the same will be said for TV. I'm hoping that we will be able to encourage them to enjoy their childhoods and to be silly and to use their imaginations. To enjoy being outside and playing games and running around just because they can.

I don't want my children to become tech zombies. I want them to live.

To answer my own question, as much as i love the internet and all the positive things that come with it (the blogging community and twitter support for starters!), i would absolutely do it. Without a shadow of a doubt. Children need to be children and i honestly think that the internet is slowly but surely forcing them to grow up way too early.