It is not uncommon in today's society to walk into a restaurant and see that everyone at the table has some sort of technology with them. Technology itself does not bother me, it's the people who are using it that do.
Recently I went out to dinner with my parents and looked over to the next table and saw two little kids, most likely both being under the age of five. They were behaving very well, and then they started screaming for God only knows why. Instead of actually comforting the children, like you should, the mother decides to pull out a DVD player out of her purse for the girl, and then pulls out her iPad for the boy.
What is clearly wrong with this picture here is that I believe that you should not give children technology (unless it is for a medical condition i.e. speech or language issues). They literally do not interact with anyone during this period and instead stare into a screen with moving pictures on it. The best part about television or anything with screens is that the child does not have to think, making the time they spend on such electronics useless.
Do you seriously not know how to parent and decide to take the easy way out? Letting such things with screens is a way babysit your child for you. Think about it: if I put something in front of a kid, I won't have to bother with them anymore. It does the work for me and I can get back to my own life without my kids.
What ever happened to the days when someone looked around and saw children doing something creative like coloring, or playing with modeling clay? I seriously do not understand why you put a screen in front of a child. Not only are you failing to parent, but you are also teaching your children that a computer can solve all your problems.
The same thing happens with the amount of TV these kids watch and then they come out into the outside world and do not know how to act like normal children. Some act like they have been hiding in a cave all their lives. When in reality, they have just been sat in front of a screen for all their lives and never learned essential skills such as how to hold a pencil, communication and speech.
Just to show you how technology has become such an apparent influence in our children's lives, here is an example: The children in my camp group (who are about 4-6 years old depending) are obsessed with my watch. Why? Mostly because it's such a foreign concept to them. They are so used to just looking at their parent's electronics for the information. When I was their age, I was used to this and knew what a watch was and how it worked. There were cell phones when I was their age but few people actually had them.
What I am trying to say here is that it bothers me when I see a family out but not communicating because they are on their phones. Parents really need to decide when they go out if they want to be the babysitters of their children, or if they want other kinds of babysitters in which they do not need to lift a finger for.
