Technologies Children

As a parent ... raised in the days of voice contact, seeing children converse in the same room via cell phones and fingers ... I feel like a throw-back, a relic of some lost age. Even today, I find myself cringing when I call and get an automated system.

What happened to our conversational skills.

The question today is, who needs a voice when our children can tap on a touch screen faster and more efficiently than any of us ever though possible. Hung up on inflection and tone, can't we just hop on Skype for those important conversations (yes, you can connect Skype directly to the television).

Parents are important in this new age of technology ... someone has to buy the phone, maintain the plan, and replace damaged devices. We even have to tell our children to stop texting at the dinner table, as well as to turn the phone off before going to bed.

Being a parent and watching my child's fascination ... and, eventually becoming an extension of the phone, I sometimes wonder if the tech-child I am raising will become just one of many in an army of tech-adults. Is this the army that will be the end of mankind, or will it just move us one step closer to that "paperless" society we imagined when personal computers came into the home?

What will Patrick's teen-age years be like ... what will relationships be like ... will he find his way and fit into an ever more complex society. In every age, there are great minds ... great thinkers that come forward. Are we seeing the beginnings of some new technology or communication that will befuddle my son as he watches the next generation growing up?

At some point, we have to stop doubting. We have to assume they will move the world forward ... with a cell-phone in hand.

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