Thread: Age for Technology?

Has technology run over our lives? What is the right age to give someone a cellphone? What is the right age to introduce technology to our kids? Has technology made our lives better...or worse? Of course you know, as I am writing this I am using my laptop...which consumes most of my life. I am going to admit that. But I am not going to sit here and state that everyone should get off of Bluemoon because we are wasting our lives. No no. Please don't think that is what this is about. But technology has become such a norm to everyone. Just think about how much technology you use during a day. It is hard to, in this day and age, imagine what our lives would be without it. There is no doubt that it has made our lives better, faster and easier in some aspects. We can now connect with people all over the world in a matter of seconds, explore the globe and meet new people like never before. We can travel the globe in a day by plane. We can watch movies anywhere we please. Cook anything we want at any time. But I feel like it has also hurt us in a sense. Especially with cell phones. How many of us actually talk on a cell phone? I have heard of people looking at their phone when it rings, seeing who it is and then letting the call go to voicemail. Then they text right after and say Why did you call me? type thing. Why is it the norm to have long conversations over text message instead of calling? Or better yet, why don't we meet with that person if possible and talk face to face? Do people just not like talking face to face anymore? What about meeting in person and everyone is just texting? I have to say, what irks me the most is talking to someone and they are just texting away the entire time. It is like they are not paying attention and I am not worthy of their time. I am of course talking about constant texting. Not checking the time if you have to leave or getting an important call or even texting someone once because it is important. But spending more time texting than talking to the person you are out with. Another thing that I see constantly is kids and technology. This is the one I really was wanting to discuss. What is the right age to give a child a cellphone? Or let them have their own laptop? I know some of the people on here have children of all ages...when do you think it is right to give them a cellphone? Or just to introduce technology in general such as iPads, computers, video games and TV? Personally, I think some of this is just plain...well silly. I see articles for toilet training seats with iPads attached to it. Even swings with iPads attached to it. Personally, I feel that is way too young to give a child an iPad. What is the baby going to do? Heshe is not going to know how to play a game at this age. Why do we have to place technology in there when what was previously done for years seemed to work? What is wrong with the swings with a little mobile on top of it? I personally have two examples of this just recently. 1. I was at the mall, shopping around in a cooking store when I saw a stroller. The kid looked around.. I would say 2-3 or so not exactly good at telling ages but in his hands was an iPhone and he was presumably watching some TV show or playing a game I think the latter. .... Why? So he doesn't pull things off of the shelves? So he doesn't sit there and cry? Why must we always distract children with technology? 2. I was at my neighbors house who was having a small get together and well, that meant drinking. This guy brought his son over around 2 or so to the party. That is another whole topic that I would rather not get into on here But the kid was stuck in front of the TV while his dad drank with the guys. The boy was left alone and ended up getting into some stuff. So they brought him in where everyone was drinking. They were going to give him a gameboy but ended up just giving him a phone to hopefully entertain him. He didn't seem to understand what to do with the game. When that didn't work, they stuck him in another room with another girl and myself to watch kids shows. Again, just giving a kid technology to keep them busy. Back to the cellphone aspect. I hear children as young as 8 having cellphones. When I was a child, all I ever remember was the big brick type phones and pagers. Then my parents, when I was about 10, got a flip phone cell phone. And I thought that was about the coolest thing going. I myself got a cellphone at age 12 which is much more soon than others. Some people don't get phones until they are high school age. My parents wanted to give me one to check in with them when I was walking home from school. That was their reasoning. If you have a child or not, when is a good time to give them a cell phone? When you feel they are responsible enough? Perhaps it depends on the circumstance? What about just technology in general? Should iPads and computers be a normal gift for young kids? Tell me how you feel about technology in general. I would like to thank you for reading this. This is my first post here and I hope that this will be a good discussion. I just am curious to know what other people think about technology in general. Here is a link to an interesting picture about technology just in the classroom .