“Dat one” is a phrase I hear a lot. It is usually accompanied by a tiny finger pointing at a laptop screen, as my two-year-old daughter indicates which YouTube video she would like to watch next (these days, usually one involving a snowman or dancing banana).
All right, let’s get it out of the way: I have deprived my child. She has her own laptop, yes (mine ‘til she ravaged the spacebar and other essentials), but standing between her and Frosty? A cumbersome process requiring fine motor skills that are in her yet undeveloped and that even grownups find somewhat taxing: using an itty-bitty mouse. Let’s face it: this kid needs an iPad or touch-screen tablet of some sort. Of what use is that modern marvel of instant gratification, The Link, if she cannot access it? It’s more than a necessity; it is her right! Free access to information and all!
Plus, some of her friends’ moms have them…
“Dat one.” Essentially, we all have this thought constantly: “I see, I want”—and today, it has become our expectation to get it. The old format of static text and images in books—a pre-determined, linear path, and that’s all that you get—will not fly with this new generation, and is even starting to feel confining to the rest of us. It is human nature to say, “Dat one,” i.e., “This part especially interests me—take me away and tell me more, right here and now.” We have all just had to be very patient until The Link was at last invented. Now with touch screen, getting to “dat one” is even more immediate.
But until those chubby fingers can operate a mouse, my kid is trapped, dependent on me to swoop in and bring her to the rapping Elmo or sarcastic talking orange.
What I have observed of small children who do have familiarity with touch-screen devices, however, gives me pause. Before I open up this Pandora’s Box with my own child, I need to think. And insofar as what I’ve seen is indicative of what we will all be seeing down the line as this generation grows up, I worry!
First of all, these devices unleash the power of our least contemplative, most impatient and impulsive selves to continually find satisfaction. I have caved to a toddler’s demands in moments of weakness, but let’s face it: six dancing banana videos in a row does not a good life make. Enabled by a touch screen to link her way through to her own chosen entertainment would only take her down longer and emptier paths. (Which on an airplane, we might resort to, but…) Grown-ups are for the most part not much more capable of making healthy choices. Do we make it too easy for ourselves to choose cheap thrills rather than the kind of material that will give our minds and souls real sustenance? The remote control has for years already made this self control hard, but touch screen, thought-free access to anything in the world surely means a lot more Jersey Shore-esque junk food and a lot less thought-provoking literature.
Secondly, by enabling us to “choose our own adventure” rather than sticking to someone else’s well-crafted path, we miss the lessons that writers, filmmakers (even cartoonists?) have to teach us, which may well prove more beneficial than those we would chose for ourselves. You can’t grow unless you are forced to encounter new and strange things. We naturally shy away from the unfamiliar in favor of familiar yellow fruits, but it takes a guava or tangelo doing a jig to expand our horizons.
Finally, two-year-olds who have touch screen experience try to apply it everywhere! They’re up on the TV trying to make the lizard in the car insurance ad take over. When they find an interesting image on your tablet that happens not to be a link, they rage! They look at an enticing refrigerator magnet, say “Dat one” and expect to see it DO something. Will this generation expect immediate gratification, more options at every point…from books, from everything?
They certainly will.