iPhones the new super nannys?

Phones have become integrated into every day life, so much so I am willing to bet that everyone would panic if they lost theirs. I didn’t have a phone for a week and I panicked a bit, I had to organise things down to every detail because if anything went wrong I couldn’t call and rearrange. Phones hold our lives now, they hold our calenders, our contacts, banking details, and if you’re like me you keep your notes on there too. All in all I would have to say that smart phones are super handy.

However, being this addicted to our phones we could be considered as cyborgs as put forward by Donna Haraway. Phones have become apart of us as much as our own hands. We don’t leave home without them, we drag them around or house so we don’t miss a call or a text. They have become an extension of our own hands. In this instance we can consider ourselves as a cyborg. That is depending on what your definition of what a cyborg is. But if you consider a cyborg half human half robot, we can consider our phones as part of the robot half and we human therefore we are becoming closer to cyborgs.

I do however think that iphones are becoming lazy parent nannys. Its not uncommon for you to see a child chuck a tantrum and parents can’t be bothered consoling them properly so they just give them their phone to distract them. It seems to me that by taking that route your child is missing a very important part of imparting important socialising with your child. If you always just give them an iPad or iPhone they are going to miss an important part of social functions. In addition if you give your child games to play on the phone it encourages them to have rage problems with games earlier in life. It isn't uncommon for teens when they play games and start to lose they become angry. But what effects will it have on a younger childs behaviour.They don't get their way in a game they will become angry, that behaviour will become transferable to real life.

I think people really need to consider how much they let their child interact with technology, and consider that human interaction will be better for them growing up. We are becoming incredibly connected with technology but is it for the better or will it end up being for the worse?