Now vs. then

Mary Clare Bean

Would you rather watch life happen through a screen or go out and experience it for yourself? Much of this younger generation of kids watch people do outdoor activities on YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms when the door outside is steps away. These kids find watching people doing what they should do as more entertaining than doing it themselves.

My childhood was very different from what some of these younger kids consider being their childhoods. My siblings and I jumped at every opportunity to go down and play with the neighborhood kids. We would spend almost the entire day jumping on the trampoline, riding scooters and bikes and creating our own little “town” in the driveway. Our idea of fun was roughhousing, having little competitions, going to the “tunnel” (which was a big tunnel that we could stand up and walk through), playing in the creek and creating forts with the broken branches and rocks.

Sometimes it got to the point where we did not even want to go inside because all of the fun games occurred outside.

Other times, when it would get dark, we would convince our parents to drive down the street to pick up our bikes because we “didn’t want to bike home”, when really we just wanted them

to talk to the other parents so we could get more time to play. One could say kids growing up in this day and age are adapting and using what they’re given to create their own childhoods, it’s not like I didn’t have access to any technology growing up. We had access to a Wii, tablets, NOOKs, Xbox and TVs. The difference is that we decided that technology wasn’t going to be our main source of fun and entertainment. Who knows, maybe having these kids grow up with more knowledge of how to use technology at such a young age could be beneficial with their futures. If they are interested enough, they could be making new advances in technology, which could also mean new advances in medicine. These possibilities are kind of a big stretch, but I do not want to belittle the potential accomplishmentsofthatgeneration. To me however, the term “childhood” does not mean being glued to a screen whenever you have the chance. One can always learn about technology later in life. It means having fun creating your own games, creating your own scary stories about a silly red sled, creating personality and character to further grow your imagination. We should not have technology determine the quality of memories we make, the amount of bumps or bruises we receive or the amount of popsicles we eat on a hot summer day.