The first time I have ever used something digital was TV. Whether it was for movies or watching the news with my parents. Clicking on the botton to turn on TV was actually the first thing I’ve learned to do in the digital world as a child.
When I was around 6 my parents decided to keep our TV only as a screen to watch movies on. So it wasn’t possible to watch like cartoons or other TV programs anymore. I would watch TV only at my granparents’ house. Sometimes for way too much time. To me going at my granparents’ and being able to watch TV was a way to feel like the other kids who would constantly watch TV when they were bored.
However, not growing up with a TV always ready to be watched was a great thing, despite being seen as “the weird kid” because of my hyperactivity, or “the girl who knows nothing” because I had no clue about the latest trends among kids my age, which came from TV. Thanks to not having a TV, I developed a lot of creativity and imagination.
Does that mean that who grew up with TV could not develop any creativity? Absolutely not. It really depends on the person. I’m afraid that, had I been raised with an actual TV in my house, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. But it’s not hard to imagine that someone who used to watch cartoons for more than 2 hours a day as a kid is even more creative than me now.
And it’s not only about creativity, but also how much do you know about the world. And of course, something like TV or the Internet can be useful in that.
I have to admit, I hate it when I get in the bus and I see children in strollers scrolling on Tik Tok (with very loud volume sometimes). Or when you’re at a restaurant and a kid is crying because he can’t use his mom’s phone. At least watching TV was something you did only at home, when you were too bored or too tired or probably sick. But when I see children using a phone in public transport, or while walking in the streets, or in whatever public place, I can’t help but wonder, how will their perception of the world around them be different compared to mine? What will happen to their way of behaving in public places if they have a portable TV everywhere they go? How will their sense of direction develop if they grow up walking head down or never look outside the window of the bus? Will they ever be actually independent? And how will they develop any creativity or imagination if they have other creative people building a huge and constantly renovating entertainment world for them?
Probably these questions make me sound like someone from the older generations going around saying “aaah the young people with their phones!”, but these are genuine questions I still haven’t found the answer to yet. And I hope these answers won’t be as bad as I think.
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