|
TED SIELAFF |
 |
|
|
 Today some children don't need to do anything but sit and watch a screen to have....fun? |
Can you believe the things
kids need to have fun now?
of TheColumnists.com
I just received
a monthly catalog from Radio Shack and have been thinking that
I’m not having any fun.
In bold type on their cover it says: “5 x the fun at your
fingertips.” Translation: “Five times the fun at your
fingertips.” I have to buy their $99.99 Digital Video Camera
in order to get that fun. Then in small type, I am told that
it is a “3.0-megapoixel camera with 4x digital zoom, digital
video recorder and 1.45” LCD screen.” I’m not
going to bluff. I do not know what all of that means.
Then, I turn the pages and see smiling young people looking at
their electronic cameras, and there is more and more talk about
LCD, iPods, PodPod. Fun. Fun. Fun.
I had thought that knowing how to type on a computer was an accomplishment.
I have friends who don’t even own one; so I have thought
I was sort of smart. For an 84 year old, I thought I was close
to the head of the pack. I can even do email.
I turn the pages of the Radio Shack catalog and find electronic
toys called: “XMODS CUSTOM RCs.” These are toys for
children that are driven remotely. So, a kid can sit in a chair
push some buttons and drive his tiny car all over. Have fun.
Kids in our neighborhood have them. Each one costs $49.99 and
a kid can get a fleet of six of them that look just like the
cars Dad and Mom drive, only more snazzy. The advertisement tells
me: “Each precision detailed 1:28-scale car includes a compact
controller with responsive digital proportional steering. Ages
12 and up.”
It takes money to have fun.
A strange thing about this matter is that parents can’t
afford to pay more taxes for schools, but they can afford to
buy these toys. They want their kids to have fun, of course.
To heck with this education business.
I guess I didn’t have any fun when I was a boy of 12, living
in Billings, Montana. All I did was push something that looked
like a car around in the dirt and make a noise that sounded like
a motor. I wasn’t able to race a car with a remote gizmo.
Moreover, it didn’t look like a hot rod. I didn’t know
when I was 12 that I wasn’t having any fun.
Too bad these things hadn’t been invented so kids could have had fun back in the good old days.
©2005 by Ted Sielaff.
The cartoon is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco
Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first
posted May 3, 2005.
You
can comment on this column online. Please address your message
to either "The Editors" or Ted Sielaff. To send an
email, click here: talkback@thecolumnists.com
|
|
|
Archives |
|
|