It used to be that you would hang out with your friends, talking, or embarking on adventures. You would gossip, play a board game, or go out on the town.

In the past few years, this wonderful world has been demolished. Now a sleepover or ‘play date’ consists only of looking at separate screens while sitting in the same room. You may unleash a comment now and then like, “Wow! I just made the high score!” but they do not create conversations.
They do not count.
This new world needs to vanish, and soon, otherwise we will never be able to change back. And if we do not change, communication will disappear and technology will become the sole ruler of us all.

I am not against all technology. I believe that watching a show together is not horrible because you are interacting, and experiencing the same thing, and having fun together. I am also on the side of computers. They make many things easier, provide communication for those far and near, and are also great learning tools.
What I am against: I.

IPhones.

IPads.
These devices cause more harm then good.
They are all about the individual All about the I.

I do not disagree with the fact that they help with work, with taking pictures, with learning, and with communicating, but these things are all taken advantage of. Instead of using the Iphone to call home or work on a project, they are used to play games and surf aimlessly through things like iFunny and Instagram. If kids started appreciating and using IPhones and IPhones for their true purposes, I would be all for them!


IPhones also pose much insecurity among kids. They have made it so that social networks are available any time, all the time, creating a world where your amount of followers defines your popularity. If a kid is without access to these things, because of family beliefs or money problems, they are in some way shunned, or thought of as a loser.
These accessible social networks also cause the problem of privacy and drama. When pictures of a slumber party are posted on SnapChat, others become aware that they were not invited and the drama will become never ending. One mother states that “at a sleepover, my daughter was constantly worried that her friends were taking pictures and sending it to others that she was not able to invite”.
Without IPhones around, that huge ball of stress making you wonder who will hate you in school tomorrow, would be reduced to a small speck.

According to Piper, a teen survey taken in the fall of 2013, 55% of American teenagers own an IPhone and 56% own some sort of Tablet Computer (i.e. IPad, IPad mini). Because of these high numbers, the upcoming generations are practically being born with the knowledge of how to operate such technology. This means that this data will only be increasing.

And the up-and-coming generations are going to be the worst problem.
Emily Winston, who owns a daycare in Cambridge, claims that she cannot use her IPad mini to take pictures of the children for the families, because they will start to “swipe the screen, asking to play games.” “They automatically know how to use an IPad at the age of two! It is outrageous!”
If our future leaders grow up knowing only a life of technology how will we ever be able to change?

When I look around I see people whose lives have been sucked away. But I still see hope.
This hope lies in those who say no. Those who talk. Those who know the life beyond technology.
Help to create more hope by putting away the IPad and having a conversation with a friend. Play a board game instead of posting something on Instagram.
It is not hard, and it can change the world.