When I think back to being a child, my favorite toys were Barbies, dolls, Beanie Babies, Laser Tag, Nintendo 64, Gameboy, Pogo Sticks, Easy Bake Ovens, Polly Pockets, Pogs, and even a simple board game. I believe I was fortunate to grow up in the 90’s compared to the children who are growing up today. The children born today are born with some type of handheld electronic in their hand. These children are taught to look at a screen for entertainment, which I find so depressing for their generation. Where do children learn how to imagine or learn how to socialize face to face if they are constantly looking at an electronic screen?
I remember growing up and my cousins and I were always being creative. We had an imagination by playing house, school, store, and many more imaginative games. We also played outside. We went sledding, rode bikes, played with sidewalk chalk, and we went swimming. Today, I do not see many children outside playing. Where are they? I see many of my young cousins today who sit in the house and constantly play video games. They have game accounts where they can play video games and talk to each other over the internet. When I see my cousin, who is a girl, she is always on her phone. How do children stay fit and use their imaginations when they have an electronic screen to entertain them?
When I was young my parents would take my brothers and I out for dinner. At that time, there were some handheld electronics but we never brought them with us. We were taught to behave and talk to each other when we went out to dinner. The one thing we could do was color because that is what the restaurant gave us. When I look back, that was how most families behaved. Today, I see most children in a restaurant either playing an electronic game or watching a video. What’s worse is the parents are also on their phones taking care of email or texting. I once sat in a restaurant and watched a mother talk on her phone, the entire time, while her young daughter sat in silence eating. There was the perfect opportunity for the mom to ask her daughter about her day, but she felt it was more important to talk to the other person on the phone. My family continues to go to restaurants. We enjoy and respect each other’s company. There might be a quick text to someone else, but 90% of the time we are enjoying each other’s conversation.
When I was in middle school, the cool thing to do was write each other notes. We made sure those notes were written with our colorful gel pens and folded in the perfect way possible. The best part was trying to get the note to the other person without the teacher seeing you do it. My mom is a middle school teacher and she notices most students email, instant message, or facebook their friends. She does not see many students writing notes anymore. The students know if they get caught the note gets confiscated and then the note gets read. Notes will always be written. However, most students today do it electronically.
Finally, who can argue that the music, television shows, and gaming were the best in the 90’s. There was NSYNC, The Hanson Brothers, The Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, TLC, Destiny’s Child, Notorious, 2Pac, and much more. Not only did we have the best music to listen to but we had those fun little Hit Clips that played Britney Spears or whoever for thirty seconds. We also had great television shows to watch like Nickelodeon, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, All That, The Amanda Show. You also had The Cosby Show, That 70’s Show, Full House, Saved by the Bell, and many others. The shows were great because they were shows that took you away from reality and made you laugh. Finally, the best gaming systems were in the 90’s. Games like Nintendo 64 (MARIO PARTY all the way), Game Boys, Tamagotchi’s, Pokemon, Sega (all about Sonic and Knuckles) and many more. Today the music is more explicit. It is hard to find music that is not rated for mature adults. People do not tend to buy albums anymore. They buy more singles off of iTunes. Most television shows are reality shows or NCIS. There are not many shows that take you away from reality and make you laugh for half an hour or one hour. The video games have gotten more violent and children are playing games that are killing other people than playing games that are eating dots.
Many of you who are growing up today are thinking no way, today is the best day to be a child. The kids today are thinking all adults believe their childhood is better than what the children have today. It can be nostalgia for adults or it can be the truth. It all depends on how you look at it. My worry is there is less face to face conversation, more electronic babysitting, less entertaining shows, and more violent video games. You be the judge. What do you see? Are you seeing society’s children changing for the worse or for the good?
MDST 485 Class Blog 
I definitely believe electronic devices hinder creativity. I used to be a lot more creative, dabbling in drawing, crafts, writing, music, etc. until I got a computer.
I remember in middle school having a notebook that my friends and I passed around. We’d talk about our crushes and sometimes write little stories that the next person had to finish. I do think the 90’s were a great time to grow up because of the lack of electronics.