How much of your childhood can you remember? Well I can’t remember much, but I do remember being a gamer as a child, and I never understood people saying it’s a bad thing.
I believe it to be a positive thing, since parents are becoming busier these days, it’s a replacement. Some are afraid that it spoils children’s minds, I disagree, as a matter of fact I think it enhances and nurtures their creativity, by allowing kids to control and discover it themselves. A lot of parents fear hi-tech toys and look for more regular ones, like Legos and Barbie dolls, and I agree that those are better, since kids can feel them and move them around, but toys like that can be dangerous, what if your child steps on a Lego? They cry for hours, even adults get hurt by those. Barbie dolls are equally dangerous, considering the fact that they come with tiny shoes and purses and hairbrushes, in other words tiny material things that come with germs, that children can put in their mouths, or worse, swallow and get sent to the ER. According to askdrsears.com, these things are common, and some end up in the esophagus, and can cause excessive drooling, gagging, pain in the throat and more. The fact that some children have even swallowed batteries scares me. How are parents not alarmed by that? Children are better off playing with an IPad, because at least an IPad won’t end up in the wrong place, and won’t cause physical damage. I mean even if the child is young and doesn’t know how to use it, just the fact that they’re holding it can keep them quiet and engaged for a long time. And it’s like I said some parents are just too busy to take care of their children, so this is their solution. Sometimes even nannies who don’t know what to do, may just give the child her phone. The way I see it an IPad is the best investment for a child, instead of spending your time and money picking different toys that easily break, why not just get a device that does it all, fun games, educational games, videos, pictures, and maybe even a little something for yourself, plus, it’s portable.
The writer is a media student at Sharjah Higher College of Technology.
The International Government Communication Forum (IGCF), held in Sharjah, is an annual forum that shares global best practices in fields of government communication and aims to build a platform for better communication between governments and their citizens. This column is a collaborative effort with Gulf News featuring work by UAE-based students as part of that initiative.
