AJ:
The last time I saw a tablet being used effectively was when my friend handed his Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 to his four-year-old, who was then persuaded to relinquish control of the television remote.
At that point of time, I thought it was a smart move; a strategic barter that allowed us to watch an important football game instead of sitting through another mind-numbing Ben 10 episode on Cartoon Network.
For the rest of the year, whenever we wanted to hang out over a game or a movie, it was simple — the tab for the remote. It was a nifty piece of adult trickery that worked for us.
Fast forward three years and the two adult tricksters are still there, sitting on the same couch. It seems like nothing has changed, except that it has; the bellies are bigger, the hair greyer, and even our wives, I suspect, laugh behind our backs.
Across the hall is the seven-year-old who seems to have changed a lot too, for the better you might say — he doesn’t really jostle for the remote anymore, because he doesn’t need to.
He is busy flitting seamlessly between his father’s smartphone and his own Google Nexus 9. Over the years he has used this transitory technology replete with fingerprint sensors, 3D cameras and item-recognition software to unlock rich forms of content — comics, games, educational apps, videos, you name it.
And he’s no nerd either. Contrary to those scientists’ speculations, he is good on ice, has earned himself a blue belt in karate, and is among the top three athletes at school. More recently, he has downloaded swimming videos that will help him improve his backstroke.
So now, if we were to really debate the long-term effects of smartphones and tablets on pre-schoolers, you know what television did to us.
GKW:
As difficult as this is for me to admit, I do agree with those faceless lab coats. The other guy in this column usually resorts to the “when I was younger” rants. However in this case the shoe’s on the other foot — or, rather, in the other column.
When I was younger, I remember how we would bruise our shins playing hockey, cut our fingers flying kites and anger the neighbours with our bumbling attempts at archery.
Today, youngsters would rather binge-watch Arrow and play Far Cry than attempt to craft a bow-and-arrow set. And that isn’t surprising at all, especially when you see toddlers in strollers clutching their iPads, groups of kids socialising with their faces buried in their phones and an entire industry spawned from children’s tablets and tech accessories.
The main point of the entire study was to highlight the fact that younger children may not learn how to calm themselves since they are constantly handed screens to keep them distracted. On the flip side, those same screens are what adults use to keep themselves distracted as well.
Unfortunately, for quite a few individuals, swiping through Facebook, refreshing Twitter and double-tapping Instagram have become an escape from reality. And it’s not only when they’re alone, or at a red light — it’s the same scenario when they’re out with groups of friends for a meal or watching a movie.
The tragedy here is that our devices are becoming more important than human interaction, so it’s no surprise that toddlers and children are following suit.
Maybe we need to put those screens down and lead by example. It would help those faceless lab coats focus their research on something more important — such as hot fudge that doesn’t melt ice cream — or something along those lines.
