This Nature Valley Ad hits you between the eyes about kid's addiction to technology and what they are missing

THE VIDEO BELOW WILL HIT YOU HARD...

As a mom who is very good about making sure our kids spend most days out in the world and moving around, this video brought tears to my eyes. I wonder what the  future will be like for people who communicate better with machines then with other people.  For those who would choose a screen with pixels over  the colors and grandeur of the outside world. 

I don't know if it is applicable, but I have seen many behavior changes in kids, that seem related to this addiction to technology. We were eating out and  it was a place where kids could run, which was fine. We noticed that lots of the kids seemed to have a problem knowing where they were in relation to others. One of the girls who was definitely old enough to know better was playing ball almost sitting in my daughter's lap as she sat and ate her pizza, almost as if the girl didn't realize my daughter was there. Like she was still in a video world and no one around her was real or would respond.  I believe there is something  related to the cyber world about this. A world where characters don't respond in a human way. 

I remember watching the first  editions of the Wii games coming out and in particular, the Disney Pixar "Cars" game where the cars would crash and just bounce and there was no damage to the car or anyone else.  I remember thinking about how dangerous it was to have kids repetitively playing a game where you could run over people and things and you had no damage.  I brushed it off after thinking it until I heard my 8 year old tell me , while we were sitting at a stop light, about how I should just go through the cars. We had a really good talk after that statement when my worst fears about that game world were confirmed and our kids don't spend that much time on their screens, but that programming still got through.

We had the  video games in the 70's and 80's when  I was a kid, but the car crash  showed damage and your car was destroyed along with one of your turns. You did not get to roll over others or crash into them on purpose. At least I don't remember that. I think this lack of reality they live in in the screen world,  and lack of consequences  in that world is dangerous and very destructive. 

What about communication. Kids have gone from the playground and riding bikes and running around to playing Minecraft as on screen presences and talking to each other without looking at each other's faces. Again, this is not how humans are supposed to communicate. Is it awesome that we have that tech to be able to do this? Sure it is, but if it becomes the only way someone communicates or the most prevalent way, we are no longer social beings, but rather  just become pixels on a screen as well. 

Don't even start me talking about the point of view shooter games. I think there is a big reason why there has been such an increase in violent  kinds of behavior  especially among kids. It is not about guns. It is about constant point of view training of how to shoot as many people at once in these games as possible, without any consequence or damage again. The element of human reaction and emotion is taken out and replaced with points and laughter. Not cool!  These games remind me more of simulators for how to kill. I wrote an article called "Innocent Games or Murder Simulators" many years ago and since that time, the games have become more vivid and the violent acts have increased as well. 

I completely value the boon that computers have been to all of us. The ability to research something without getting up to have to go search microfiche is awesome, especially for a visual migraine sufferer who would get dizzy and sick for the rest of the night after scrolling on those awful  machines.  That said, people are not built for living in a virtual world. We have been provided with a beautiful, real world around us, with  so much to see and do. This video shows  the stark differences in what is happening to our humanness and our connection with that world around us and while I know that in many places it is too cold to touch nature right now , it is so important to balance  things for kids so they have more than just a cyber world to live in. 

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Next week...Find out why quitting activities is not ever a bad thing for kids...