We went to Josh and Carly Maready’s house tonight for a small dinner party, and of course Ada whiles away much of the time watching YouTube videos on Josh’s MacBook Pro. She was a bit stymied by it, though; she kept pressing on the screen, expecting to be able to navigate the way she does on our–really her–iPad.
She has moments like this from time to time. The way she’s taken to the iPad is, in some ways, very heartening for a geek like me. She’s intuitively known since she was 18 months old how to navigate on the iPad and our iPhones, launching YouTube or Netflix and selecting the videos she wants to watch. Or she can pick the game she wants to play. I tell myself she’s a technological genius, but it could just be that iOS is THAT good. (She certainly hasn’t figure out how to use my Windows Phone.)
The problem with her iPad affinity is that I use it as a solution to sticky situations. When she’s grouchy or I have something I need to get done, I can hand her the iPad and she’ll happily watch videos as long as I let her. We use Corinne’s iPhone to keep her occupied when we eat out, and she eats more when she’s staring at a screen (but then so do I). I might have even (gasp) let her watch Curious George with the sound off in church this morning. Part of me says “Anything to keep her quiet through the meeting!” and the other part says “You’ve ruined her forever…she’ll never sit still again!”
That’s Issue #1: A video screen takes the place of behavior training.
Issue #2 is, I think, potential more impactful: She never sits with a show for more than a couple minutes. She’ll watch a bit of Curious George, then move on to Winnie the Pooh or Jungle Book, then on to Yo Gabba Gabba and then Dinosaur Train and Kipper. And, of course, she eventually ends up floating in the lake of swill called Disney Channel programming (the worst in the industry, by far).
What happens to a brain that can jump around between entertainment options in 30-second increments? We probably don’t know…Ada might be the first generation to be exposed to such an environment.
And should she be? This is a terrible question to be asking right before winter starts and she’s stuck inside for four months. Sorry Corinne!
P.S. — We really do try and limit her TV consumption and find other things to do, as is evidenced on Corinne’s blog. For instance, today we put on Bing Crosby and decorated our new Christmas tree. It’s the first natural tree I’ve ever had in my life (my family is allergic), and the first tree that Corinne and I have had in our 8+ years together. Fun!
