What the child of technology is losing in Pakistan of today?

What the child of technology is losing in Pakistan of today?

In an era where technology dominates; a person is judged more on how many televisions, computers, PDAs’ and other cool gizmos he owns rather than obedience, respect, kindness and moral values. When a child is born to middle or an elite class, parents strive to comfort their children with cartoons on TV, DVDs’, games on a laptop or a computer, and a cell phone considering these things a necessity.

Our parents consider the environment of today hazardous for their children, keeping their child at home. Trying to stop them from going out, the parents of today are more worried that their child might get ‘Dengi’ (Dengue), abducted, killed or get into drugs as a result of bad company. Giving in to the whims and tantrums of their children, the parents often let the moral upbringing and physical fitness take a back seat.

Although, Yes! Parents are preventing their little ones from getting hurt, the TV, cartoons, Computer games or cell phones, in short the electronic babysitters, are hindering the growth of their child into a smart and intellectual person.

A dear relative of mine had her second child, a beautiful daughter; back in the 90’s while living in a small town called ‘Kala’ in Jehlum, Punjab, Pakistan. Her child became more and more ill. Trying to prevent her other children from getting sick, the mother forbid all of them from going out of the house.

Watching her daughter get sick and near to a death bed, she started being extra careful about the one who was born after the second daughter, a boy. My first visit to her house in Islamabad sent me in a shock. Merely five years old the boy was playing Ages of Empires. Rather than being up and about exercising his limbs, the child was propped in front of a screen that was nothing short of brainwashing the child. In the spirit of “protection”, the mother gave in to more and more of her child’s wishes. My next visit and the child was a scrawny little kid with a PSP not to mention had no respect for elders or guests. Not only physical fitness, but morals were also being blatantly disregarded by the parents. In the name of “protection”, are we really raising our children right?

Mothers of our age believe that handing over a cool video game console would prevent their kids from going out and getting hurt but the truth of the matter is that these things make a child duller. I had nothing to talk about to that kid rather than sit and play a silly computer game.

Where did the entire cricket go? Why couldn’t I see soccer shoes in his cupboard? Some people might think, yes! They have done it! Prevented their child from getting dirt on their knees or torn jeans. The generation of today has no idea what the joy of cricket on the street or the football in the ground feels like.

In the name of protecting our child, morals have also taken a hit as much as the physical fitness. Although kids don’t take to sports these days, they are pretty comfortable staying out late at night and smoking ‘sheesha’ etc. We’ve lost it completely. Jumping from an immature agricultural country to a post-modern era made us lose more than we gained. We don’t strive for food, yet, we need the latest Iphone! We don’t read books because we already have the internet.

With all the diversions, how can a child do something for his society? Politically disordered, we don’t need to change our leaders; we need to pay attention to the building blocks of this nation.

Although technology can be a powerful tool, we have failed to use it for that purpose. With perhaps most of the technology of today in our hands, all we want to do now is log onto facebook at put up a status saying; “party all night!!” Parents of today need to address the concern before children lose all of their potential in the misuse of the gizmos and gadgets.

Posted by Khayyam Bokhari on Oct 15 2011. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry