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You are 22. You are ridicuously spoiled, wildly immature, no job, no prospects, live with your mother and have no need to live by her rules, I am quite sure have flaked on the car loan your Grandmother gave you, the list goes on an on.
What is your priority? A cell phone. Not a pay as you go, very cheap one, but an Android. And now you need a new laptop for Christmas?
You prettty much sum up why I fear getting kids hooked on needing the latest and greatest so young.
I am not ridiculously spoiled. I got my stuff at a very late age, if any one is spoiled it's my brother. I DON'T have everything handed to me, I never did. I haven't had new clothes in the longest time. I wear the same 3 pairs of jeans every week because that's either all that are small enough or all that haven't worn out.
Any money I do get goes straight to bills.
I don't go out and party.
My social life consist at me sitting at my friends houses who live IN TOWN and just sitting and doing nothing.
I DO have a job. I start Tuesday. I mentioned this in the Chat Thread.
I do have prospects...whatever that means, I am going to venture to say that it means goals and working towards the future. I was on track 5 months ago, I got off track and now I am back on track.
My priority is making money right now.
I didn't get a cheap pay as you go phone because I don't want to because I LIKE my phone, if I can come up with the money for it why wouldn't I get it if I wanted it.
And I'm not buying myself a laptop for christmas, my mom's friend is giving them as gifts to my brother and I. That's what he picked to give my brother because my brother couldn't make up his mind and its been like 4 years since I got mine so he's just making sure I have one.
And this one, is going to a friend who can't even afford a computer at all, so I am glad I am getting a new one because this gives me a chance to help a friend out who I really care about.
And don't pull me into this.
You know this will just go down the hole quickly....
Also, my mom has very few rules for me.
She doesn't want me coming in late....I avoid that by not sleeping at my house on the nights I don't want to come home early. During the week when TG works I usually am over there, he knows once I'm up im up and I won't go back to bed so he kind of does it on purpose so I don't slack off and keep on track with trying to better myself. During the weekend my mom doesn't care my brother and his friend were out till like 1am last night and I was asleep so pftttttt.
also, my mom has very few rules for me.
She doesn't want me coming in late....i avoid that by not sleeping at my house on the nights i don't want to come home early. During the week when tg works i usually am over there, he knows once i'm up im up and i won't go back to bed so he kind of does it on purpose so i don't slack off and keep on track with trying to better myself. During the weekend my mom doesn't care my brother and his friend were out till like 1am last night and i was asleep so pftttttt.
I, for one, never said that my child was going to have a competitive advantage. However, there is tons of stuff she does know because of the technology she plays with. And it's not because of the technology per se, it's because of the information it delivers. She knows all sorts of things about stuff that quite frankly, would never have crossed my mind to tell her about.
That's not the reason she uses it though. It's fun, fun like other things are fun. And it is educational, too. Dew is right, it develops skills from an early age - just because it's simple to use does not mean there's no value in becoming familiar with the technology.
But she also does all the things you mention, such as playing with legos. I don't agree that it's not as effective - it's just different. Kids that are reading are staring at a piece of paper written by somebody else, too - but nobody suggests they don't read. iPads and computers are information delivery systems, like books - which are just older versions of media. People didn't see the need for those, either, once. I'm not trying to be rude by saying that, I just don't understand why iPads and the like are singled out by people as being a waste of time for kids. I couldn't disagree with that more.
And her little brain just may be saying, "How does this work? If I do 'this' will the screen do 'that'? How can I make it do 'Y'?"
Which is one big thumbs up as far as I'm concerned.
Encourage her, Fin! Plant the seed, let her make the big bucks, and tell her you've always wanted to live in Tahiti. It's a win-win.
And her little brain just may be saying, "How does this work? If I do 'this' will the screen do 'that'? How can I make it do 'Y'?"
Which is one big thumbs up as far as I'm concerned.
Encourage her, Fin! Plant the seed, let her make the big bucks, and tell her you've always wanted to live in Tahiti. It's a win-win.
Nailed it! In fact, she'll walk us through the steps, telling us if you click this button then this or that will happen, and she'll problem solve on her own and then repeat exactly how she did it - and she loves that, she thinks it's exciting.
Kids are very literal, so computers and iPads are a great match, because computers are very literal too. Does anybody remember learning how to tell a computer to make a pot of tea with punch cards? You had to tell it step by step how to do everything.
Having said that, she also loves to tell you how to make a pancake, exactly, too. It's all just tools.
Interstingly enough, I have a coworker (older than me) on the other end of this. She does not "need" and iPhone but she got one to make sure she "keeps up" technologically and doesn't fall into the rut of being "an old clueless fuddy duddy" (her words). Being aware of current tools and how they can be used and applied is a good thing for all ages. Now, how one gets those tools, and learns the discipline/strategy for appropriate use is something else all together. That's a good part of what parenting is anyway isn't it?
It's a toy for entertainment purposes as far as teenagers are concerned. At best, it's about convenience and YOUR PARENTS' peace of mind.
We don't have a home phone, so the cell that our son has is more than convenience. Not to mention, I don't mind having peace of mind either. Why is that bad?
There are long, long lists of the completely unnecessary. For example, we personally feel that paying for tv is just that.
These sort of threads eventually turn into the, "well we didn't have them as kids, so why should they?".
As has already been said, what works for one family, one child, etc, doesn't work for all. We don't know the story behind every kid that has a cell, their own computer, an iPad. There seems to be a lot of large brush strokes being painted in this thread. Not every kid who might have these things is a spoiled brat.
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