What will the next must-have technological
innovation be? Jetpacks? Hoverboards? Wind-powered calculators?
A better
question would be to ask me if I really care.
I would rather see the pendulum swing back to kids playing outside more
and enjoying nature. I would like to see
a move for schools to incorporate more nature into their classrooms which leads
to more imagination, creativity, and innovation coming from the minds of our
little ones. Today, it’s all about toys and electronics. On a daily basis, the preschool kids I work
with bring in their video game figurines (i.e. Skylanders, Disney Infinity,
etc…) to play with and one of the most popular toys in the classroom are toy
cell phones. In the Kindergarten
program, pretend games, drawings, and 3-D creations revolve around video games
such as Mindcraft (one of the better games they could be playing), Halo, and
the like. What about going outside to
build forts and tree houses and to discover wildlife, insects, and the existing
flora and fauna? What about catching a
caterpillar, putting it an old aquarium and watching it turn into a butterfly? How about gardening and fishing…are these
lost arts for children and for their parents?
Unfortunately, I think that’s the direction the world is going. So, I would rather not see any new
technological innovations for awhile. I would like to see a refocus back on the
things we lost when screen time took over our lives. Jetpacks and hoverboards
might be really cool, but do they substitute for the awe of seeing the world
from a mountaintop or having a squirrel play games with you hoping you have a
nut for him? What about the wonder of
watching an eagle fly overhead or seeing a nest of baby ducks hatch and grow to
follow their mother into the lake behind your house? Take a break, technology or develop something
that helps us go back in time and remember what it was like to stop and smell
the roses again.
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