In this day and age it is hard to imagine a world without the digital (at least for me, someone who was born in 2004). When I was born the internet was definitely a thing but it was still in its early stages and hadn’t quite taken over the world. While I definitely grew up playing outside I also remember playing on my Nintendo DS and listening to music on my small pink IPod. Nowadays, I see kids as small as one/two years old holding IPads in the grocery store to entertain them. This is still crazy for me to see because I remember having so much fun outside and I definitely had a balance between the digital and being a “normal” kid. When I was two years old I was exploring my tiny little world full of physical toys and my little hands were definitely not strong enough to hold up an IPad.
Besides kids getting an IPad shoved in their tiny little hands as soon as they are able to, we are utterly and completely dependent on the digital world. I wake up because I have an alarm on my phone and go to sleep listening to a podcast on, you guessed it, my phone. I struggle reading a paper map simply because I never had to, without my phone I would be lost. I communicate on my phone with family and friends, check public transport times, take pictures, book vacations, play games, listen to audiobooks, read articles, make art, watch films, etc. In short, if that were to fall away I and most other people would be completely lost and would probably struggle to function. It is a scary thought what would happen if the world had a digital black out, basically the whole world would collapse. Some people maybe would be able to get by but most people (especially the IPad kids) would be doomed.
On a more positive note, we are able to learn and be anything we want to be with just a click of a button. One of my hobbies is reading articles about science which would be way harder to do if I didn’t have the internet at the tips of my fingers. The reach people have is massive and for raising awareness that is obviously fantastic. We can be much more educated on every topic we could possibly think of and innovation is at its peak. We also saw that if necessary we are able to do everything online. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we all were at home learning new hobbies, working and going to school online. The world kept turning and so did the people which is definitely spectacular, that we pulled that off. We also learned a lesson in the pandemic time which is that although everything can be done online most people still want to go to school physically and want to go outside and appreciate nature since we were forced to stay indoors for big time periods.
All in all we are completely dependent on the digital world which is both scary and impressive at the same time and I will forever be grateful for my little pink IPod, for opening up the digital world for me (I still have the pink IPod).
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