Childhood Long Lost

A few months back, I happened to watch the latest advertisement of MTS 3G Plus, wherein, the newborn baby knows how to access the internet as soon as it is born and quickly uploads its picture on social networking websites, leaving everyone around perplexed. The ad is brilliantly made though quite hypothetical. Although the ad tickled my funny bone, one question certainly crossed my mind. Are today’s children growing up too fast? A report which I read a few years back stated that according to half of the British parents, childhood ends at 11. I was shocked to read that. How can childhood, the most precious phase of our lives, end at a tender age of 11? I got answer to my question gradually. Technology and Media have a lot to contribute to this premature omega of childhood.

Recently my 4 year old cousin visited us. For her age, she is very quick to share a lot about her friends, school and stories which she learns at school. She asked me about my teachers, hobbies and interests, as if to develop a rapport. Usually I don’t get along very well with children, but I actually found myself interacting a lot with this little girl. She could operate my uncle’s cell phone and could click pictures too, though distorted ones. She was a true ‘selfie’ and loved looking at herself in the mirror striking various poses. She did really take me by surprise. Looking at her, I went down the memory lane thinking about my own halcyon childhood.

I consider myself fortunate, that advanced technology did not exist in India during my childhood as it is today. I remember that longing for Diwali and summer vacations to do the activities which I liked. How much I enjoyed colouring the pictures in Colouring Book or waiting to get a new box of crayons! As a child, my greatest treasures used to be my crayon boxes and toys. I was so possessive about them that I did not like anybody touching them. During vacations, like a ritual my sister and I used to play interesting games like Scrabble, or name-place-animal-thing. Though video games were available, I never enjoyed playing with them. We were inquisitive children and used to have a lot of fun using Atlas, where we used to find countries and cities in a world map. Making craft articles and drawing sketches with help of art books which were gifted on our birthdays brought so much merriment.  We bought a computer when I was 6 years old and could not learn fairly about it until I was 10 or 11. ‘Luxuries’ like mobile phones were not known to me till I reached junior college, as it was necessary during heavy rains and emergencies.

But today children can handle devices very well. I have seen children using them so efficiently that even adults might take time to get acquainted to the device. In some of the articles which I read, parents said that they kept their smart phones and Ipads away from their children so that they don’t addicted and play games on it. Some parents also said that they ensure about the content which their child watches on TV and if possible, watch the show or movie with them. According to most of them, they try to engage their children in one or the other hobby classes so that they engross themselves in some creativity. Such optimistic approach of the parents does really give a ray of hope that children do not stray away and get into activities which are not suitable for their age. But once I came across a disturbing fact that parents are forced to buy cell phones and other hi-tech devices for their children, out of the guilt that they are not able to spend much time with them. Also, if children do not have such devices, they are looked down upon in their schools by their friends. A few days back I read in Bombay Times a list of offensive, violent and pervert toys which were so-called ‘meant for children’. In other article, it said that girls as young as 3 or 4 wear provocative clothes, which may become a habit in the long run. The most shocking case was about a 13 year old British boy fathering a child. There are so many teen pregnancy cases around the globe. All these cases raise only one question: Where is the current generation headed to? What does their future look like? Technology and Media can influence these young minds a lot. So it is the parents' responsibility to check how much and to what extent children are being exposed to these pleasant looking foes. Daily dialogue and bonding between parents and children is therefore a requisite to prevent these mishaps.

When I was in school, our Principal had said on one of the occasions, “Be child-like and not childish” which meant that throughout our lives, we should be innocent and pure hearted like children and not immature. So let’s imbibe that innocence into today’s children because they are like sponges that can absorb the good or evil very quickly. Let’s make them better people who carry the same legacy to the future generations.