Frightening Ad Shows Just How Addicted Today's Kids Are To Technology

[news]

[news]

Parents, you may lament how your kids hardly look up from their smartphones and tablets anymore, but a new video shows just how scary our addiction to technology could be. 

In an ad for snack-makers Nature Valley, three generations -- boomers, their children and their grandchildren -- were all asked what they did for fun as kids.

The boomers threw out answers like picking blueberries, growing fruit, creating makeshift toboggans and going fishing. Their children listed activities like playing hide and seek, baseball and building forts. But then the youngest generation was asked what they do.

Play video games. Text or email. Watch videos. "Just last week, I watched 23 episodes of a TV series in less than four days," bragged one kid. "I forget I'm in the house, I have parents, I have a sister, I have a dog ... I just think I'm in the video game. I completely get lost." 

Their parents and grandparents were then shown their answers and were clearly affected, some being brought to tears. "I feel a little sad, because I feel like he's missing out on what's out there in the beautiful world," one mother said. "It's scary to think they'll never have to leave the house," another said.

Scary indeed. While some recommendations suggest limiting children's screen time to two hours a day, the children in the video said they spend anywhere from three to five hours a day connected to their gadgets. And they're not alone. In a recent poll, 41 percent of parents of children aged 2 to 12 said their kids would choose screen time over dessert. Yikes.

Let's all make an effort to get off our tablets and get on the playgrounds.  

 
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