A provider's perspective:
I hope and pray that in this world of faster and faster technology, that the simplest pleasures of childhood do not get tossed aside for the nowadays habit of handing a child a cell phone to play with. Learning respect, awe and mostly love of our immense world and all it encompasses cannot be found inside any flashing screen, whether it is 70 inches wide or only 7.
The undivided attention to these small, disposable handheld universes has captured the minds and precious off time of the adults around them. Children's needs are taking second place to the "pings" of notification signals, funny joke pictures and conversations with mysterious "no-body" people and everything that seems so important within the 7 inch parameter.
Children are enraptured by what the adults in their lives find happiness in, and from a child's perspective, these little rectangle boxes with bright pictures and addictive games hold the key to that happiness. Sadly, some parents are trading all the time they have for "real life" experiences for a "social-media life" of the hand-held kind. And not only for themselves, but also for their kids in record numbers. Even more disturbing to me, there seems to be no age restriction anymore as well.
In a society that frowns on TV watching for children even in a group/social setting where conversation about what they have seen is discussed, it is odd that watching an individual/anti-social phone screen where there is absolutely no verbal interaction is now acceptable and even promoted in some homes and schools. And using phones as a reward or a pacifier for children is beginning to be the norm. Believe me, I know! This is a devastating habit that will have lifelong consequences.
Time waits for no one and children, as well as their parents, will never be able to go back and recover what they have lost.
Learning a healthy respect and love for this world means experiencing the infinite "bigness" and joy of it while feeling the minute "smallness" of yourself. And that doesn't mean staring at the down-sized version of our world that is sitting in the palm of your hand, or the "up-sized" version on the TV screen filling the walls of every home, restaurant and even the doctors office. In a world filled with screens, we can never go back to a time without them.
However, media doesn't have to have the whole pie. Just a small slice should be enough:)
Children can only wonder at our world's spectacular beauty and the pleasure it can bring when their tiny bodies are outside in it. Playing outdoors (ideally with parents and family) is an unique experience that no screen can emulate. Whether it is running through the park under giant trees with their colorful leaves crunching underfoot, or watching up at a massive sky filled with rolling dark clouds or seeing the gentle softness of one of a kind snow flakes fall gently to the ground. There is no photographic media that can capture the feeling of the warmth from our stellar Sun or the marvel at seeing the tiny sparks of diamond stars in the empty blackness of space. No cell phone can stir the spirit like the sound of a flock of migrating geese as they fly high over your head on their way to some mysterious place.
The beauty of our world can only truly be enjoyed when you are absorbed body, soul and mind in the brilliance of creation itself.
My artist mother taught me that. She is now in heaven with The Creator.
I hope and pray that in this world of faster and faster technology, that the simplest pleasures of childhood do not get tossed aside for the nowadays habit of handing a child a cell phone to play with. Learning respect, awe and mostly love of our immense world and all it encompasses cannot be found inside any flashing screen, whether it is 70 inches wide or only 7.
The undivided attention to these small, disposable handheld universes has captured the minds and precious off time of the adults around them. Children's needs are taking second place to the "pings" of notification signals, funny joke pictures and conversations with mysterious "no-body" people and everything that seems so important within the 7 inch parameter.
Children are enraptured by what the adults in their lives find happiness in, and from a child's perspective, these little rectangle boxes with bright pictures and addictive games hold the key to that happiness. Sadly, some parents are trading all the time they have for "real life" experiences for a "social-media life" of the hand-held kind. And not only for themselves, but also for their kids in record numbers. Even more disturbing to me, there seems to be no age restriction anymore as well.
In a society that frowns on TV watching for children even in a group/social setting where conversation about what they have seen is discussed, it is odd that watching an individual/anti-social phone screen where there is absolutely no verbal interaction is now acceptable and even promoted in some homes and schools. And using phones as a reward or a pacifier for children is beginning to be the norm. Believe me, I know! This is a devastating habit that will have lifelong consequences.
Time waits for no one and children, as well as their parents, will never be able to go back and recover what they have lost.
Learning a healthy respect and love for this world means experiencing the infinite "bigness" and joy of it while feeling the minute "smallness" of yourself. And that doesn't mean staring at the down-sized version of our world that is sitting in the palm of your hand, or the "up-sized" version on the TV screen filling the walls of every home, restaurant and even the doctors office. In a world filled with screens, we can never go back to a time without them.
However, media doesn't have to have the whole pie. Just a small slice should be enough:)
Children can only wonder at our world's spectacular beauty and the pleasure it can bring when their tiny bodies are outside in it. Playing outdoors (ideally with parents and family) is an unique experience that no screen can emulate. Whether it is running through the park under giant trees with their colorful leaves crunching underfoot, or watching up at a massive sky filled with rolling dark clouds or seeing the gentle softness of one of a kind snow flakes fall gently to the ground. There is no photographic media that can capture the feeling of the warmth from our stellar Sun or the marvel at seeing the tiny sparks of diamond stars in the empty blackness of space. No cell phone can stir the spirit like the sound of a flock of migrating geese as they fly high over your head on their way to some mysterious place.
The beauty of our world can only truly be enjoyed when you are absorbed body, soul and mind in the brilliance of creation itself.
My artist mother taught me that. She is now in heaven with The Creator.
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