Gadgets do not help a child's development

It is not uncommon now to see kids, as young as two plus, playing on their iPads. Thanks to Steve Jobs, kids now grow up with Angry Birds, not Big Bird.

Is there anything wrong with this scenario? Parents who want the best for their children know the answer. Gone are the days when we observe such sights:

* A child playing an educational toy such as Lego or even a toy gun or those with detachable toy pieces. Toys are essential in a child's life, no doubt about this. They stimulate a child's mind and keeps a child occupied in an intelligent way. Children discover their own strengths and weaknesses in the process of handling and playing with toys and gain a host of other benefits. I used to keep my kids occupied with toys when we were out on trips, while waiting in line, etc. In contrast to this, you now hear deafening shooting sounds coming from a “book-like” digital gadget.

* A child engrossed in reading. With the hoo-ha about how little Malaysians read, what are we, parents doing about this phenomenon while our kids are still young? Do we now see parents reading together with a child, while waiting for their turn in banks or at the clinic or any public places? Sadly, what can be seen are situations where the mother is “watching over” a poor kid “struggling” to complete her homework. Or, kids glued to a rectangle gadget while the parent is busy surfing on his iPhone.

* How about just a mother-daughter's or father-son's small talks? Communication is important, what more in this society where everyone seems to be so so preoccupied with their life, pursuing, most of the time wealth or other things which ironically don't benefit the children as much. Lack of communication or bonding with parents is said to be a factor for juvenile delinquency. Yet, we find communication between a parent and child becoming so rare, especially in this IT era. Kids talk but to their friends via a digital gadget using poor grammar, they write in acronyms only they and their friends understand. Four-letter words are so commonly used on this era's most-loved book, Facebook.

Parents are well-aware of the dangers of exposing young kids to excessive television or computer games and yet you see parents bringing along the “must-have” iPad when they go out with kids. Isn't this bringing the computer games closer to them? The only difference is that the iPad is mobile whereas the computer is sitting at home.

Kids are now fed with iPad time, seen as a norm to occupy them with this “in” gadget. No longer do kids gather, to talk or chat or “fight” their kungfu stunts. They crowd around an iPad, shooting pigs. What a smart game!

The indispensable mobile communication tool has dominated most of teen life, especially with the invention of mobile technology married with the most popular social networking sites. Social time with friends is now spent sharing posts and so-called interesting news with “friends” they make in cyberspace. If the parents are lucky, they are allowed to become friends with their kids and therefore are able to be kept in the loop of their kids' life. Otherwise, they could be left in the dark.

Understandably, our family doesn't own any iPhone or iPad. Neither do we give our kid a mobile phone yet despite being at the ripe age of 14. A secondhand older version of iPad is very much within reach and it's rather tempting to purchase this as a digital toy for our younger kids and be part of this current trend of technology. However, we opt out in this aspect.

Giftedmom