Growing Up With Gadgets

My mum constantly says "we didn't have anything like that when you were little" & I am sure my grandmother said the same thing while I was growing up. I grew up in a home where imaginative play & outdoor fun was fostered. I wasn't plopped in front of a TV or given handheld video games to entertain myself. I swam like a fish in the summer, played softball in different leagues & was mad when I would get called inside at night. I spent hours coloring & writing stories, played Barbies & dress up with my mom's vintage clothes (from the 70's-80's) my Gram kept stored in her attic & I had SO MUCH fun doing it. Don't get me wrong, I am sure, in fact I am positive, there were a few "but why's", "can't I just watch tv" or begging to play Sega (haha, shows how old I am getting) but I loved using my imagination & I loved being outside. I don't see that so much these days. Philip & I most definitely want to raise Addison where TV is a luxury & not a necessity. Where she would rather color or kick a soccer ball around in the backyard then play with a Nintendo DS. Enter the challenge in doing so: the world of gadgets. With iPhones (Philip & I both have one), iPad (we have), laptops (we have 2), Nintendo DS, XBOX, DVD players for the house & car (we have both), leap pads, etc. I think the challenge is not, NOT having these things but not using them as pacifiers or tools to get your children "out of your hair". Addison has known how to operate certain applications on my iPhone since she was 6 months old & is pretty savvy playing her games on the iPad as well. She is pretty fascinated with them & it's mind blowing that she even knows how to use them. While it's cute now, I don't want those things to become her source of entertainment. It really bothers me to see families out to eat & kids glued to their DS's, parents driving for hours to the sound of Disney movies because their kids won't ride in the car without watching a movie, parents telling their kids to go play the XBOX so they can watch TV rather than playing with their kids outside. As I watched Addison scrolling through pictures on my phone I kept battling this. I want her to be familiar with technology & enjoy it but I don't want her to be obsessed with it & need it in order to have fun. It really got me thinking. I guess with all things it's about balance & moderation. There isn't anything wrong with it in moderation but if we are allowing our kids to get their source of entertainment solely from the TV, movies, social media & gadgets, what kind of generation are we raising?