Old-school pic of me and my twin, Emily, from back in the days when we could play outside all afternoon and come home for dinner when Mom rang a bell.
I’m as guilty as many people when it comes to smartphones and technology these days. Just the other night at Think Drink in downtown York, I was tweeting with the people sitting next to me as the presentation was going. In hindsight, it was probably embarrassing.
But every now and then I’m really reminded of those times when we weren’t so plugged in as kids.
In Monday’s paper, we ran a story about a study claiming that parents limiting TV time doesn’t necessarily lead to physical activity.
While I’m sure this was something my parents thought about when we were young, it made me think about how often.
We were allowed to watch cartoons in the morning as we got ready for school, and then some in the afternoon. But our afternoons (after homework), were spent running around the neighborhood with our Nerf bow and arrows or in our booby-trapped forts until Mom rang a bell on the porch telling us to come home for dinner.
I know it sounds silly, because I’m only 27. But we didn’t have cellphones until we were able to drive (and they were prepaid and only used to call home). And we never had video games.
We did watch TV, but we were outside more. And we were lucky to live in a neighborhood where we could run around safely with our friends until the bell rang. We walked to school often (uphill both ways of course).
But I’m not sure if it was something our parents actively thought about. We had PE in school, we played sports. And obesity wasn’t something that was talked about as much.
Now obesity and too much technology is all over the news. As a parent now, I can’t imagine it’s easy to avoid or not thinking about. If I had a child, I hope I’d be all about limiting TV use and promoting physical activity.
I feel like this should end with some comment about the good old days or “kids these days.
How about get off my lawn?
Did your parents encourage playing outside or limit TV when you were growing up>