The cost of technology

ARE cellphones, social media and television destroying individualism in children?

When none of the modern devices were around, the main meeting point for children was school. And since the learners were often from different backgrounds, they copied words, mannerisms and even some skills from their peers, and, of course, from their parents.

Today, the “whatever” attitude, with upward rolling of eyes that one sees on almost all TV sitcoms and movies, has become a standard fixture. Private personalities have disappeared.

In addition to this, ask children to write about well-known past heroes and all of them will produce the same information.

This is because little personal and varied research is done. Encyclopaedias are seldom used. Libraries are hardly visited. The modern system of using technology numbs the senses.

WhatsApp language is being used in essays. Alternatively, the essays are short and display little imagery that initiates from individual thought. Few children enjoy writing short stories. Their vocabulary is limited to words encountered on social media.

Most children and many parents do not bother to read newspapers or watch the news on TV. Many children pretend they are doing their homework when they are busy shooting down some robotic monster on PlayStation.

All this numbs individual imagination. That is the unfortunate cost of advanced technology.