Technology and Toys

I

Iliana

Guest
Original poster
I remembered having Jacks! You guys remember Jacks? The marbles and the little spiky things? Oh man, I loved marbles. I would spend hours a day playing with those things. AND ARMY DUDES! Oh, I adored those little plastic army dudes! There were so many cheap, makeshift toys I use to play with when I was a kid! There were even outside things I would do to occupy my time! Like a Frisbee! :D

polls_jacks_3810_291708_answer_2_xlarge.jpeg


Today, on such a bright, beautiful day, my niece and nephew stayed inside and played on their iPhones and they're 3DS's for a good bit of the morning. I tried to get them to come out and play good old fashioned tag, but they'd much rather play Doodle Jump and such. It scares me! It scares me how much technology has an impact on society, especially the kids! They're only 8 and 9 and they don't even want to go out on a wonderful, sunny day! D:

193420-ipad_iphone_350.jpg


How do you all feel about technology today and the effect it has on the kids?

And, besides that, do you remember what toys you all played with when you were a kid?

Any suggestions on what I should do to get my niece and nephew active again?

 
I feel while technology today is very useful, it has made people pretty lazy and not want to much of anything. I see my brother, nieces, and nephew all consumed by technology. I have not seen them without their Ipods, Ipads, etc..And even computers. Computers are probably one of the biggest things that keeps kids from doing other things, and that's no good whatsoever. Watching the kids [Brother, nieces, and nephew.] playing these games on Facebook on the web and not getting outside and sitting in a chair for hours concerns me. Even me, A guy who loves to play video games will go outside when it is pretty nice out just to take a break and really enjoy life. So, I manage to get the kids outside and walk around and just take in some fresh air, and show them there's more to life than an app to pass time.

I remember all the toys I played with a child..MAN! I used to have every Thomas the Tank Engine track and train that was out! Mom knew I loved them and would sit for endless hours in our basement just building all sorts of tracks. She probably invested over one-thousand dollars into tracks and such. But, besides trains I used to have so many little action figures from Poke'Mon, G.I.JOES, and toys from McDonalds use to be the best in the world..They've fallen off. o-o -ahrem.- But..I would be occupied for hours.

As for suggestions..You can be like "ALRIGHT! NO MORE THIS!" Flick off all the technology and drag em outside. Might be a bit aggressive..>< Uhm, you could just tell them that they'll be forevercouchpotatoes.jpg Which no one wants to really be.
 
I am an original MLP fan, I'm talking collecting and playing with tons of Generation 1 cartoons and generation 2 and 3 pony dolls. I even tried to buy the whole town of Ponyville so I could give all those pony dolls something to do, but I only succeeded in getting the castle and the shop for christmas presents. I remember doing their hair and makeup, a start for getting me into cosmetology.

I played with Barbies too...but I also remember making the Barbies have sex, or have two girl Barbies living together then make them get married....>.>...nothing to see here. Though most of the time it was pretty innocent, especially when I was small. I also did their hair and makeup, though typically I only made them worse, cutting off all their hair or smearing their face.

Other than that, I must admit I got addicted to video games at a young age. I played a lot of video games, watched a lot of tv. Yet I still managed to get outside a lot, when grandma would make me run home from the intersection, or would take me swimming at the lake. When there was nothing else to do, I would use my imagination and play by myself, going on an adventure around the yard in my head. Or come up with an adventure whatever toys were lying around to go on, and take them outside to play.

I think technology can be very negative for children, teaching them to become dependent on it and not understand anything else. Take it away and they are suddenly unhappy and don't know what to do with themselves, take it away and they don't know how to survive a day out in the sunshine. When I become a parent, I will make a point of not letting my children get addicted to technology, because I know firsthand how much I became addicted myself. Now I struggle to moderate my use of technology and usually fail.
 
Today, on such a bright, beautiful day, my niece and nephew stayed inside and played on their iPhones and they're 3DS's for a good bit of the morning.

Define "beautiful," because 94 degrees in a bad drought is not what I would consider "beautiful." ._.

As for how I feel about technology taking up more time with the children; I can do things and interact with people on a daily basis that I would never be able to do with "traditional" games or activities.

I used to play indoors a lot with my extensive (and I mean extensive) collection of TMNT toys.

If you want kids to get active so bad, have them join a sport.
 
I am not very old, so this is probably not my place to speak, but I remember playing a lot with Lego when I was smaller. And I do mean a lot. Sometimes, I would spend the whole afternoon playing with them. My family also had a large sandbox, which I used a lot. I used to climb trees a lot, too, and do stupid stuff with my brother outside.

I think that in general, technology has improved our standard of living, but it also resulted in many unwanted things, such as cyber bullying. Technology is starting to become an integral part of our lives, and what we see in Cyberpunk movies may come true in a few hundred years, I fear.

I have no advice for making the kids active, unfortunately.
 
Ugh, I never plan on becoming a parent, but if it happens my children are not getting an Iphone, an Ipad, or a laptop at these ridiculously young ages that they are getting them now. they are gonna play with dirt like I did, and they are gonna enjoy it! XD (Old school rant over).

I'm a 90s kid, just so you know what generation I'm coming from. My childhood was a bit unstable, because my mom had me much to young, and we didn't even have a home for a long time :/. I just thought we were lucky to sleep in a different friends/families home every night.

I don't even know where to begin actually. I just realized my memories about my childhood are really scattered. I remember having an N64 with one Donkey Kong game... pretending to be pokemon with my cousin, playing Oregon Trails with my train toy and plastic figures. I know I liked to copy things I saw on TV. I LOVED playing the monster in the games with me and my friends. I had to be the big scary dragon, or the mean sea serpent. That still hasn't changed. I liked to pretend I was a farmer with my cats. I'd put them in the shed "Stable" then let them out to graze. I liked to wrestle and climb trees. I never got into dolls, if I started feeling really maternal my stuffed animals were my babies. I remember getting into a lot of trouble and scary situations too. Sometimes from too much freedom. So maybe kids indoors isn't bad all the time.

Unfortunately, since you aren't their mom I can't help you. I was going to suggest hiding their Istuff and making them figure out how to have fun without it. That might make their mom mad though.