So, last week a colleague asked me without a trace of irony if I could recommend some age-appropriate apps for her one year old. She did.
It's got me thinking: when is technology itself age-appropriate?
While outwardly I may be a complete wanker with a wireless tv and stereo set-up where I download movies* onto one of my two laptops** and watch them on my taking-over-the-house sized plasma while setting the TIVO from either my BlackBerry or my iPhone***, deep down inside I am a total Luddite.
Hear me out.
I didn't mean to get addicted to technology. I can think of a hundred more interesting things I'd rather be doing than watching tv or playing some mindless game on my phone****. For that reason, I don't believe in television for the under 2s (although I admit that this failed miserably for The Badoo who has been tuned in since birth due to her two siblings). I certainly don't believe in computers and apps for the juniorburgers - in fact I think school age is about the age that games and google should appear.
Which is what I really do believe, but is not what happened at our place.
In this day and age there's a fear that if your child isn't unwired from birth, she's missing out. It's almost as if being able to use technology has become a developmental milestone. I was never one for propping the Tsunamis in front of the giggle box and to this day they are not huge tele watchers, but I have failed in all other aspects.
I think I freaked out when Maxi-Taxi was three and thought the only mouse in existence squeaked and terrified his mumma. Within the week he was googling Diego and by the end of the month he was busy searching for the Chipmunks on Youtube. These days all three Tsunamis know how to use the iPhone and each one tends to animals in a Tap Zoo thingy that I honestly don't have a clue about. Technology for the under tens is LOML's domain.
There's something really wrong about that. But I'm not sure what. Is this just a generational reaction that I'm having? I think our grandmother's felt the same way about television and their mothers probably thought that radio was going to corrupt us all. And they were right, of course...
What do you think about technology and the youngsters? What age is the 'right' age? Does it worry you when you see kids in nappies glued to their parent's smartphone?
* Yeah, okay, so LOML does all the techy bits.
** Work and home.
*** Seriously. What am I like? I can't give up the BlackBerry email and I can't give up the iPhone apps.
**** But only one thing I'd rather be doing than blogging.
[Image by pyxelated]