Kids and Technology – The Ugly Truth

July 6, 2014

350

Kids and Technology: The Ugly Truth

I was born in 1976. My kids think that’s the equivalent to 1926. My 13 year old daughter seems to think that as a pre-teen and teenager my life was so dull that I must have cried myself to sleep every night. How could I have survived without Internet, cell phones, tablets, and iPods. I educated her that, as a matter of fact, those items did exist but they were either for the very rich or for the military. Case in point, the Internet was invented in the 1950s, tablet technology 1956, cell phones 1946, and mp3 players 1979. Yes, maybe they weren’t in the amazing form they are in now, but the technology my children think of as cutting edge was being developed long before I was even born. Visionaries knew this was coming. There are cartoons drawn as early as 1909 showing people talking on cellphones, dating from cell phones and even gambling from cell phones.

Here’s the thing that I’ve tried explaining to my two teenage daughters.

First, my father was a tech guru. I was the kid in school that all the other kids would say “but so in so has a Nintendo.” So I had all the technology before anyone else had it. I had Nintendo, video cameras, big screen TV, computers, a dark room, internet, etc.

Second, every generation thinks the generation before them had it rough. We can’t possibly imagine how grandma and grandpa possibly survived without a TV and Sunday morning cartoons.

Third, my kids seem to think no technology will ever top their current technology. While I was talking about The Ugly Truths new topic I mentioned that their kids will probably make fun of the fact that they tweet on Twitter. She said “oh no my kids will say how cool Twitter is cause it’ll still be around and we’ll use Tumblr together.” I asked her if she was serious about Twitter and Tumblr still being around and used in 20 years. Her response, “Tumblr will be around when I have kids. Its the 35th highest rated website in the world.” Yeah and I still play Xevious on my Atari.

I can’t fathom what technology will come along that is going bigger than cell phones and the Internet but I know there will be. There has to be because if there isn’t I’ll never hear the end of it from my kids.

So get to work tech gurus and start developing some mind blowing stuff. You have 20 years till my kids have kids old enough to start using tech stuff.