Electronics on Todays Youth.

So recently my little cousins came over for the first time in several years. They're young, cute little kids, just entering 1st and 2nd grade. I remembered the times I spent with them, playing with them when they were young, and was in anticipation that I would be able to relive those moments again with them. It was a real unpleasent shock to me when they came over however. They walked in without so much of a "hello", found a corner in the house, and opened up their iPads and played games with eachother. And that's how it was for the remainder of the night. I asked my uncle and aunt why they would even think of buying the kids tablets this early and they responded that it was "a mistake"

I'm sure that everybody remembers their childhood being spent outside, riding bicycles or playing sports and tag with other kids. What happened? Did technology really cause children to behave like this? They all seem uninterested when you ask them to go outside for a walk with you. It takes several tries of calling their name to get their attention away from those things. I know it's the same case to us with our cellphones, but it can be fixed with us since it's recent. For kids though, they'll be growing up with this type of stuff. Before you even know it, nobody is going to socialize with one another or even step foot outside.

I totally remember the first time I got an electronic device too. It was a Nintendo Gamecube at the age of 9. And even then, I rarely played and went outside with friends. I recently found this in a Babies R Us article and it throughly disgusted me. What in the hell.

Part of it is manners. When I was a kid, I had game systems (NES, SNES, Genesis, etc.), but I never ignored people in favor of them. I spent a ton of times playing video games, but it never got to the extreme point, because my parents wouldn't let it happen. No way would they let a six-year-old child play games while family was visiting. That shit wouldn't fly. You don't do that. I don't care if the relatives are boring or jerkasses, you go over there and talk to your cousins! That sort of thing.

Why is it so hard for parents nowadays to take things away from their kids? Why can't they place restrictions on the stuff, like only playing on it for an hour at a time or only when no one else is around? If you give your kids complete freedom, they'll turn into little assholes. They need to be told, "Don't be a douchebag. Put down the tablet and go talk to your cousin." Kids are, for lack of a better word, stupid, and they often need to be told what is best for them. Talking to you would have probably been more fun for them, but they didn't think it would be as good as the tablet. Because they're dumb. Because they're kids. Thinking independently is not their thing.

Aside from that, I don't get why people feel the need to get their kids all these gadgets either. A seven-year-old does not need a tablet or a cell phone. Hell, I'm not sure a twelve-year-old needs a tablet or cell phone. Maybe fifteen would be a good age. Then again, I'm old school. I don't much care for such devices myself. But I don't know if anyone can adequately explain why a kid in elementary school needs to keep a tablet on their person at all times.

I know the feeling, younger family members in my family are just like that. They're so consumed in their electric device that they sometimes forget to even eat the food that's right in front of them.

Mind you, they have been raised to at least say "Hello" to someone when they enter the house but even then they forget to because they're into whatever they're playing.

I was raised to always say "Hello" to someone when they spoke to me and to speak back even if they were already there with me. It's just common courtesy. I do agree with the fact a child as young as, say, 6 does not need a tablet or their own nor do they need a cell phone. My first device was an old Gameboy Color, I enjoyed the hell out of that thing but it never swayed me from going outside on a nice day.

I remember i got my first cellphone as a kid (i think i was like 7-8yrs old or something) back in the early 90's.

Lo' and behold, i didnt become a technology addict. In fact, i never even owned anything like a gameboy, and only played several computer games as a kid. I dont have facebook or any of that shit, and i mostly use my computer for stuff like finding useful information, internet banking, and porn (the bare necessities).

Even though i had access to all the technology crap everyone else had (such as gaming systems, etc.) i never felt drawn to it.

IMO, its just in a persons personality.

There is a saying, "Gun is not the one at fault, only the person who pulled the trigger." That said, I do think electronics are better off not exposed to children when they are too young. My sister and I were just like your cousins. My sister was exposed to Gameboy Color when she was 7 or 8, and I got my hands on it when I was 4 or 5. Fortunately for me, I learned self control as I grew up and today, I think I am in a pretty good shape regarding my interactions with electronics. My sister on the other hand, did not end up like me, and she is in her room playing Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as I type this. By the way, she doesn't have much friends at all, doesn't take care of herself, and does not get along with our family. Now, correlation is not causation, therefore I am not implying that electronics made my sister who she is right now. However, it is something to note.

I also have another thing I want to mention regarding electronics and youth. I am not a doctor, and I haven't done a research regarding this topic, but I think electronics are detrimental to the health of young children, especially regarding eyesight. All my grandparents and parents have good eyesight. But, my sister and I had to wear glasses since elementary school, and so did most of the people that I know that were exposed to electronics like us. In addition, while my eyesight is not too terrible, my sister's eyesight is so bad to the point where lasik surgery cannot be performed to her eyes and she literally goes blind without her glasses or contact lenses. Finally, a lot of my friends who do not wear glasses that play games and are interacting with electronics many more hours daily, were exposed to electronics later than I was. To summarize, I am, by no means, claiming that electronics are harmful on today's youth. I am stating, that there is a solid correlation between the health of today's youth and electronics, thus it is worth the time and the effort of people to research this topic in more detail.

Is this a widely accepted fact? Technology has always been a huge part of my life. I'm in front of my computer for a huge portion of my days. I know that the sedentary lifestyle is unhealthy for many other reasons, but as for eyesight mine is better than almost everyone else's in my family. I haven't noticed any significant decrease in vision either.

When were you first exposed to electronics? To clarify what I said in case you were confused, I meant that electronics are harmful to the eyes especially to young children, not people in general. For instance, if you started playing Nintendo DS or started texting on your phone when you were 13 years old, it might not have a significant impact and you might not have to wear glasses. However, if you started when you were 5 for example, then the story might be a little different. Your case is very similar to my Dad's. My eyesight is a little worse than my Dad's, but nowadays my Dad spends many more hours sitting in front of a computer or texting than me.

Regarding how widely my claim has been accepted in the society, I have no idea actually. As far as I know though, it is a pretty wide spread knowledge in Asian countries such as South Korea, China, and Japan. I live in South Korea now, and eyesight is one of the biggest reasons why many parents hesitate to buy their young children an electronic device. In America where I grew up, it wasn't as common. Maybe it's a culture difference thing and as I mentioned earlier, I might be completely and utterly wrong with everything that I said.

To the OP, please be aware that not everyone spent their childhood playing outside with friends, going for walks and so on. It may be the most common behaviour, but it's definitely not set in stone.

Speaking of myself, I was one of those cases that liked to be alone or with little company at most, so when my father bought me a NES back when I was in elementary school (only later I learned my mother opposed the choice strongly but was ignored, and I thank my father for that) I was overjoyed to say the least (and even before that I played a lot with crappy Commodore games). To this day, I still prefer sitting in front of my pc than going outside, but that's one of my many issues and I'd like to keep them private.

I do agree though that giving children too much technology too soon is not right, but times are changing, and it will be even worse. This isn't the era of toys and plushies and simple things anymore, and we are the ones who will have to adapt to it, as sad as it may sound.

I'm the unique who founds the new generation (those who're currently 5-18) extremely cool and awesome? I mean, most my pals are adolescents and at difference when I was adolescent they are quite cool most the time. They are a lot better informed about frankly everything, seem more happy often than the pals of my age or older, are less discriminators and are quite more proactive. Also I found cool less people thinks of their ideal week getting drunk 1-2 times each week (previous generation controlled it a bit better, but ours is quite, heck). Just don't try to approach them as if they were from your generation, but I guess that has applied since the start of the Industrial Age as advancements and changes happens in contemporary scales.

Note: Screens can damage sight, but that's when the contrast is a way too high (like passing hours with the room in dark) and you're looking the screens a way too close. Luckily those two can be easily prevented by just having some light (if you wish, a weak light is good enough) and getting used to watch the screen a bit more far (or just zoom things for often on your smarthphone or PC). But yeah, this is a problem since we have TV and it isn't that serious. BTW, bigger screens damage more, smaller screens rarely damage even if you do everything wrong. Reducing backlight helps, too.

Oh, yeah, the eyesight of childrens is pretty much identical to adults. The unique issue that an early long exposition to screens can cause is a worsening of the depth perception (our 3D vision) as it needs practices, reference points and other things to properly work. Screens, as being flat, will not train the eye and will leave you a limited depth perception. Though this issue also happened to artists and anyone who loved to read since ancient times.

The biggest problem I have with kids and electronics is actually the same problem I have with adults and electronics - using them instead of interacting with people. I cannot stand when someone is texting or browsing the net instead of participating in a discussion with the people around him/her. It's understandable if the person is being ignored or isn't interested in the current conversation, but that is rarely the case. Usually, the person is texting simply because he/she cannot stop, as if responding to texts and notifications immediately is of the utmost importance.

It pisses me off when adult do this, and I suppose it only pisses me off more when children do it because I am sort of jealous (because I've never had devices like tablets or smartphones, still don't have either one) and because it seems odd. Children should be running around with friends and doing kid things, not immersing themselves in the virtual world or acting like little grownups. Spending half the day on an electronic device should be reserved for workaholics and losers with nothing better to do (and yes, I am including myself in the latter category). It's bad to see an adult with nothing else to do but browse the net and play silly games; it's even worse when it's a kid, so full of promise and potential. They shouldn't give up on life so early.

This same issue will be brought up by those same kids when they grow up and see the next generation possibly attending family meetings via holograms or something.

Bug, bug, bug, bug, bug, bug, bug.

Yeah, but not everyone have good parents or family, nor interesting ones, nor people near them with time for them at all, in fact it's quite rare today. It isn't an issue about electronics, but rather about the lack of parents or family in the first place for you. People works all the time now, unemployment is minimal, in the little time remaining parents prefer to sleep, relax or whatever. Thus, we leave children to self educate themselves (sending them at school most their youth) and empower themselves today (what is good frankly). Of course they don't give a fuck about the random familiar #33 that they see one time per year or whatever when they can play videogames with their friends who actually gives a fuck about them and dedicates time for them (wherever they are).

People with non-existent family in the past passed their time with books, watching TV, hearing radio, participating in any random collective project, drugs, crime or just watching the grass grow or just waiting patiently until growth would empower themselves and actually do something. Electronics have done a favor at helping to redirect what would have become in a massive burden of sadness into something actually good. The blame with the socialization issues comes from the adults and their attempt to become even richest at the expense of passing time with their loved ones.

Introducing a child to Internet, technology and so is amazing and a great experience for everyone (I have done that!). But in the process you should actually pass time with them, teach them to use it properly; as a tool, with moderation and do things in the correct way, rather than just give it, call it a day and forget that he/she ever exists until your random free day #3 on the year.

i think than its important for kids to be computer literate, but ya, where i work, i see tons of kids, and when you see a 5 year old with an iphone 6 or whatever one their on, it kind of makes me sad. ive had the same tablet that i bought with my own money, same with my computer, and my phone. i hate to sound like the sad angry old man who lived down the block, but kids dont have any respect for tech anymore. oh god im becoming my father

That's a very good point. Ideally, children should have better ways to spend their time, but the ideal only exists in fantasy most of the time. I can't fault children for using tablets all the time if they don't get enough attention; all I can do is wish that they'd get the attention they need and deserve.

How should I put this on words.... Oh! You need to adjust your length man! You need to train those little busters somethin' they should learn! I trained my homies of how to use a gun properly and the next time they use some space shuttle or thingy, they'll got blown away from sickness of the government's techies. I say you should do something other than playing and watching hentais all day it's a pedophile thing and plus, your children in the future don't even know how to shoot blanks as they jacking off their computers.

PEACE YA'LL

I agree that there is a problem with electronics on today's youth, but I don't think it's as bad as people think...

Who knows... maybe the younger the people are exposed to technology and electronics, the quicker they'll be tech savvy and experienced in online communication which may be more prevalent in the future than it is today.

Think about it. There's the oculus rift, hoverboards, holographic images. Technology is constantly advancing, new things are being discovered, things are changing. Communication as we know it is headed in a different direction.

The older generation were used to phone-calls, letters, face-face communication and being glued to tvs, magazines, newspapers. With the creation of the internet, email, etc. I think we've only made things more complex (as opposed to problematic). Now people can be glued to their phones, and find out gossip and news online.

And although there are those few bad apples that end up as recluse', how many people do you know or youth do you know are able to use electronics while also able to empathize and show respect, etc with others? It's the majority of people you know