Remember getting your hands on “TV games” back then for the first time ever and became so insanely addictive all you did in school was think about the games and when you reach home, you would spend the next few hours with your eyes glued to those huge CRT television sets? Imagine that, but instead of the 1970s or 1980s, it would be 2010; instead of you, it would be today’s children; and instead of TV gameson CRT TVs, it would be an iPhone 4 with retina display with insanely addictive games. Experts are worried that toddlers today might get affected with technology which could slow down their ability to learn. You know why? Because some parents allow their children to play with the gadget for six hours a day – even adults don’t do that with their iPhone!
Natasha Sykes, a mother of two in Atlanta, remembers the first time her daughter, Kelsey, now 3 1/2 but then barely 2 years old, held her husband’s iPhone. “She pressed the button and it lit up. I just remember her eyes. It was like ‘Whoa!'” […] Kelsey would ask for [the iPhone]. Then she’d cry for it. “It was like she’d always want the phone,” Ms. Sykes said. After a six-hour search one day, she and her husband found the iPhone tucked away under Kelsey’s bed. They laughed. But they also felt vague concern. Kelsey, and her 2-year-old brother, Chase, have blocks, Legos [sic], bouncing balls, toy cars and books galore. (“They love books,” Ms. Sykes said.) But nothing compares to the iPhone. “If they know they have the option of the phone or toys, it will be the phone, ” Ms. Sykes said.
We think it’s pretty normal for children to demand for things and cry when they don’t get them, just like when we were children and how we got spanked for not finishing our homework because we spent the entire day playing games. We cried, got our homework done, complaint, cursed a little, went to bed, and the next day began just like any other and repeated till the whole addiction died down and we could live once again without dying to get our hands on the games 24/7.
Sure, excessive exposure like six hours a day to a gadget is definitely something we need to be concern about; radiation that can cause bad eyesight and worst still, cancer is a very serious matter. The lack of interaction with reality can be very worrying too because your kid could turn out like a zombie one day, but do you know what’s more worrying? Having parents who took so long to figure out that they should be concerned about their 3 and a half years old daughter’s addiction to a phone.
We’re not experts, but we say, with a little moderation and a little less money so you can’t afford to leave your iPhone with a kid who is likely to send it flying down your apartment, we think technology is great for children. Lego blocks and dolls might build their creativity but some games could train their reflex and ability to think out of the box.
Source Gizmodo
