Hard To Be A Kid Today

Common Sense Media, a resource on media for kids and parents, released “The Digital Decade,” a comprehensive set of lists that look back at the things that rocked our kids’ world in the last 10 years. The top ten are interesting. take a look.

The 10 Things that Forever Changed Childhood
1. Google
2. Harry Potter
3. Facebook
4. Nintendo Wii
5. YouTube
6. American Idol
7. Wikipedia
8. Cell phones
9. TiVo
10. iTunes

Common Sense says in it's release that, “Some of the innovations have been great, some not so great, but they all have one thing in common in that they have revolutionized how kids communicate, create, learn, and play." This surely brings into focus why raising kids today is hard and why so many kinds are seen as unable to "fit in". The pressures kids have today are far greater than ever before, and the list shows that kids today can not escape anymore.

There are fewer chances for a child to be alone or to play with one or two other children. This is unhealthy, as is always "being connected". The imagination, curiosity, personality, they all need to be "unconnected' at times to develop. I think a truism of the technology is that when we are connected we think less and react more. It is not a good state in which to live. Today kids are prisoners of the technology they so much adore. And adults, who should make them aware of this, are too infatuated with technology themselves to tell them.

Every older generation critiques the newer one and labels it as lacking. But I am not going to do that. I know that each new generation has its own character and it is a subjective one. We But this is the first one to be bombarded with instantaneous communication media. The effect of this technology is a new element seen in today's youth. Surely the age of innocence in kids today is shrinking rapidly. On the surface I think that is bad as we all need innocence to prepare us for the cruelty of real life. But time will tell as this generation develops and matures into adulthood.