365 Days of Photography: February 2011

Okay, I have a rant. It's a pretty big rant but I'll try to spare you from the full force of it. While I was home visiting my parents and seeing my dentist, I accompanied my mother to the Family Math Night at her school. She, the art teacher, was required to go and help out (even though none of the other teachers are ever required to attend her art shows... *cough*BULLSH*T*cough*). I had just arrived in town and rather than sitting on my butt and doing nothing, I joined her and photographed the madness. Elementary school on it's own is madness. Schools are lucky to have such dedicated teachers - but I digress, that is another rant for another time.

One thing that really bothers me is shown in these pictures: Children with smart phones. Now, I didn't get a cell phone until I was 18 and moving off to college and the only reason for that was because dorm phones no longer existed and my parents needed to stay in contact with me somehow. Did you hear that? I WAS EIGHTEEN BEFORE I EVEN OWNED A CELL PHONE. It was a Razr, and then that broke so I got a temporary phone from WalMart, and then I got a cool slide-phone which was awesome until the speakers went out and I couldn't hear a thing from anybody calling, so I went back to the temporary and now have the cool slide-phone I use now. I have never owned a touch screen. Also, full keyboards confuse me. (I did have a pre-paid cell phone my senior year but once the minutes ran out, it didn't work anymore. You had to conserve those minutes.)

I have promised myself when I have kids, they won't be getting cell phones until they can drive - that means SIXTEEN. Not this elementary age crap! A cell phone at that age stunts the growth of a child's imagination. I attribute my creativity to the fact that my parents always kicked me and my sisters out of the house every day to play outside. We had to figure out things to DO to entertain ourselves - not stare at an electronic device in our hands.

I think parents have gotten to lenient on their kids. "But mom, everyone else in school has one!" I can hear my future daughter begging and I will just look at her and tell her, "Yes but I don't care. You know the rules - not until you're 16." (At sixteen she will be able to kiss and go on her first date too).

Cell phones are such an easy distraction. When I was in elementary school, I played "Indiana Jones" in my backyard and dug a hole that my sister eventually fell and got stuck in. That hole was awesome. The sand had crystals in it and every now and then we would find that Barbie that had been missing or spoons we had previously used and forgotten in the sandbox. We had a swing-set, a playhouse, a trampoline, a garden, a pool! We spent very little time indoors and I am so grateful for all of those memories with my sisters.

So, with that said, every time I see a child with a cell phone in their hand I get the angry shivers. "You're missing out on so much," I think. Sure, technology is cool, I love it, but when it comes to a child, there should be consideration of the developmental process that is occurring in their heads and cell phones should be treated not as a toy but as a tool.