I'm pretty sure it was Christmas 1983 when I got an Atari 2600. If it was Xmas 1983, I was 4 years old. I had a pretty nice set up going.... The latest technology greats in the form of Pac Man, Combat, BurgerTime, RiverRaid, Pitfall, etc etc. I guess the earlier games were spelling and shape games with this HUGE Sesame Street controller. I can remember using it to catch eggs from these chutes, before they hit the ground. My dad had rigged up a box with a light switch, so I could easily turn on the Atari and TV without having to reach the actual controls. I'm blaming my Pop for the constant need for technology in my life. I had it figured out at the age of 4 that I heart technology.
Fast forward 30 years to Christmas 2013. I now have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. They know how to use my iPad, iPhone and can navigate the TV to switch inputs to turn on the Wii. Once the Wii is on, they can play games or watch Netflix. Sure, there have been a number of times where I have shoved my phone at them while we were out in public, while I'm trying to get something accomplished at home, while in the car, etc to ward off a meltdown...... or at least delay it. This was fine with I only had 1 of them doing this..... now BG NEEDS to play her food games....she NEEDS to destroy all of my lives in Candy Crush and Pet Rescue Saga..... But then there are times she doesn't really want to do anything with the phone/iPad, but she DOES want the phone so her sister doesn't have it.
I decided (I usually make most of the technology decisions in our house b/c my husband knows I am the self proclaimed "guru") they needed a tablet for Christmas. Yes, BG was only almost 2 1/2, but KT started to really start playing things around 2 1/2....maybe she was a little young, but it was worth it not to hear her scream that she wanted the toy her big sister had. If we only got one, I STILL wouldn't be able to use my own damn iPad...so I was on the hunt.
We purchased the Galaxy Tab 3 7" for both girls.... I had a Galaxy phone at one point and BK still has the S4, so we knew they'd be able to adapt easily. After a few days, and Android's lack to lock down "free" purchases, KT gave me her tablet to charge and I saw she had a new app on there. It was a photo of a woman's ass, wearing a thong. When I pressed on it, I heard in your best 1-900 voice, "Do you like sweets? Play candy crush to satisfy that sweet tooth." Uh.... the Tabs were back that night and returned for the Nabi2 - Disney option. 3 trips, and a LOT of swearing later, they were returned since I had significant hardware issues with them. On top of that, the kids KNEW they were "kid tablets" and still went for my damn iPad. We bit the bullet and got them EACH an iPad mini. Disgusting, I know.....but it was really the best option... they love them. The other annoying thing is that we walked into our house in December 2009 and I said, "let's make an offer" about 30 seconds in the door. We knew this house is the one we wanted without any discussion, reflection, etc.... Meanwhile, I spent a disgusting amount of hours looking at reviews, visiting stores, returning devices, setting up the tablets, testing and troubleshooting..... Something may be backwards here...... but it is what it is.
Before you start thinking that kids don't need these things, kids need boxes. Kids need to run around outside....kids need books.... kids blah blah blah. I know all that stuff. Believe me, we have boxes. We have dirt, we have a driveway to ride bikes and color with sidewalk chalk. However, we are suffering the most hellish winter I can recall here in PA, so some of these other things are good to have to break up the boring monotony of winter.
We've had our iPad minis now for just about 2 months. I have already seen some major improvement with BG. She has been delayed in the speech department. I really think that some of the apps on there (announcing colors, shapes, food, numbers, etc) have been a benefit to her development. I know and realize this is not a replacement for human/motherly interaction....however, there are certain things she has been able to accomplish with the device already that I am really surprised. Also, these devices are not known as iPads here..... BG calls them PiePads, so that's what we all call them.....
Since Christmas, I have witnessed this nonsense/entertainment:
- The girls like to take the iPads in the car (sometimes to the sitter's house, who lives less than 4 miles away). Whatever gets us out of the house easier, I'm all about it. BG was trying to play a Mickey App she likes and was getting frustrated because it wasn't working. KT said in her MOST annoyed voice, "THE APP DOESN'T WORK BECAUSE THE CAR DOESN'T HAVE INTERNET! YOU KNOW, WI-FI?" With that, BG said, "inner it?" Now every day, she attempts to stream Mickey from the backseat and says, "No Inner it, Mommy. Mickey no work."
- The other week, I could hear BG messing around with Siri. (Siri's Beep) BG: "PAY BABBA." Siri: "I don't understand." BG: "PAY BABBA." Siri: "Hey, JCK." BG: "PAY BABBA." Siri: "Hey, Bye." ........THUMP iPad hits floor. She's pissed. Apparently, BG was paying attention in the car once when I was trying to calm the savage beast. She was freaking and I was driving, so I asked Siri to play Yo Gabba Gabba...... Only Siri understood me....
- My mother recently updated her iPad (1st gen) to the Air. When we set up her knew iPad from her last backup on the 1st gen iPad, I think she may have used 1 or MAYBE 2 GB of space.... I have to delete ridiculous apps on their devices on a daily basis. 300 "pet vet" apps, which give you minimal ability to help cure animals without spending a fortune to "unlock" other animals/tools etc. How many pedicure apps do you think are in the App Store? I'm pretty sure it's about 500 and we've got 90% of them. It is a damn shame that we have to have such file management for these 2, yet others never fill 16GB of hard drive space after years with a device.
- Speaking of my mother and her iPad Air, she now has FaceTime. BG knows how to navigate the iPad to pull from the drop down of recent items/notifications and knows to select the icon for FaceTime. From there, she knows G is Grammy (since she only has 4 contacts to choose from in her iPad). I set the girls up with their own FT email address...... I was getting dinner one night, when I thought, "What is that ringing/bell sound?" All of the sudden, I heard my mother...."Hello? Hello?" BG called her and was having a conversation..... well a "conversation," but she was yapping away.... Other times, she calls and then puts the iPad down..... while my mother or one of my sisters hangs on the other end. She feeds them (puts food up to their mouth on the iPad) and once she had my sister "watch tv" with her. KT on the other hand, now has a rule that "if mommy is sleeping or if she's SUPPOSED to be sleeping, no FT." KT is REALLY good at getting up at 6 AM and just doing her thing.... watch some tv, play with dolls, play with her iPad and evidently, try to FaceTime family members. She's done well with abiding to the "only FT folks during normal hours" rule.
- Photos..... these things have cameras. This happens:
- KT says she wants to be like Mommy and make "holla videos." She's grown up watching my friends make complete asses of ourselves...... for the sake of fun, for friends. Sorry, Paige....but you made the video..... https://vimeo.com/86960128 - password for this video is piepad
(Insert shameless plug for Mommy's YouTube nonsense: http://www.youtube.com/alsumholla )
- Speaking of youtube.....
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