Groomed to text

Leapfrog, a children’s toy manufacturer, is releasing a BlackBerry for toddlers. The toy BlackBerry is called “Text and Learn” and has a full keyboard and strongly resembles a real BlackBerry. The device is designed to teach young children the months of the year, spelling, texting and basic computer skills.

Personally, I don’t think kids need to learn to text, it seems like they figure it out just fine. If you don’t believe me, ask a high school teacher. The device, while likely to be purchased by parents looking for a distraction for their kids, is completely unnecessary.

When I was a kid I had a toy phone and it was great, I loved that phone … for about three seconds or however long it took me to realize that toy phones aren’t as cool to talk on as real ones because there is no one you are talking to.

Seriously though, the way to market a toy phone is to make it so that it can talk to people. Think walkie-talkies. Sure the spelling games are a great idea, after all, real BlackBerries have games on them too. But apparently kids should be taught that if cell phones are going to be a big part of socializing it would make sense for toy phones to teach kids to socialize.

Think of the possibilities you could teach kids. For instance, if it teaches that it’s rude to text during a conversation or during dinner, and if you let your kids take it to class they could learn that texting in class is bad (if their teacher actually takes it away). But as is, it serves none of those socializing and grooming purposes.

One of Leapfrog’s major selling points is that this toy will keep children off their parent’s BlackBerry. Which is understandable, ’cause who wants a three year old playing with their phone?

My biggest fear is that kids will grow up without ever experiencing the freedom of living without a cell phone. That they will never know what its like to be unreachable and carefree. There will always be someone with the ability to check in on them.

Do you think these kids will just grow out of having a cell phone like they grow out of happy meals? The answer is no, because when kids grow out of happy meals they grow into full-blown Quarter Pounders. In 2002, a study done in France hinted that the reason that cell phones existed wasn’t because they were better than landlines or because they were more convenient, but rather that they blurred the line between personal and professional lifestyles.

This same study also found that most teenagers in France received their first cell phone from their parents so that the parents could reach their children whenever they wanted. I infer from my own experience of my own parents wanting to keep tabs on me, much like the kids in France, that American teenagers fall into the same boat.

Kids are getting started on relying on technology too early. They are going to watch mommy make sure she has her phone every morning and they will automatically try to make sure they have their phone every morning.

Do you want to live in a society like that? A society where anyone can be in contact with you at anytime? For any reason?  In any place? The real issue is about communication and when it is acceptable to bring certain groups into the fold. Even if the toy isn’t a real communication device, the perception of the child that a phone is important will be groomed into them at a very young age.

It’s not the Leapfrog toy that disgusts me, rather it’s what the toy symbolizes: a dependence on something that, as a society, we would really be just fine without.