There is a commercial on TV for our cable provider that irritates me to no end.  It starts with a toddler watching a favorite character on  a television show, then the toddler moves into the car and watches the same character on a screen in the car, then the toddler goes into the mall to meet this character and then flips out when he sees him in person.  He starts crying in fear, his mom comforts him, and the way she gets him to calm down is by wheeling him out of the mall in a stroller while he watches the character on a portable handheld screen.  At the end of the show, the spokesperson says something about how the digital age is coming.

If the “digital age” means my young kids are constantly plugged into electronics and getting freaked out about the real world around them then I really would rather not be a part of the digital age, thank you very much.

I know a lot of parents are up in arms about the amount of television their kids watch, but with video games and other electronic devises being marketed to babies nowadays I wonder if people realize that video games are in the same boat as television.  Both promote inactivity (with the exception of certain video games that are designed to get kids moving) and free play that utilizes imagination.

At a recent play date my preschool daughter stumbled upon her friend’s game system and had so much fun with it that she stopped socializing with everyone and retreated to a corner to play the games until I made her go play with her friends.  My son – who is not yet at an age when he should be playing video games – was right there next to her, staring wide-eyed at the screen and not interacting with anyone.

Don’t get me wrong; I see the potential benefits of having my kids glued to the screen whenever they wanted to, whether they’re watching TV or playing video games.  I would probably get a lot more done during the day and there would probably be a lot less bickering too.  I also imagine that both my kids could learn a lot if they watched the right shows and played educational games.  What about the downside? I think the cons outweigh the pros.  I want my kids to be active and I want them to know how to entertain themselves.  I want them to use their imagination and I want to interact with them instead of relying on games or shows to keep them engaged.

This doesn’t mean my kids don’t watch any TV at all, and we do have a Leapster.  On the other hand, I closely monitor how much they watch/play and make sure that I’m engaging them in other interesting things too.  I just don’t want my kids to turn into little digitally-reliant children who would rather play a video game than notice the world around them.