Electric Youth

Kids today have such a passionate love affair with Electronic devices. At this day and age, everyone should have at least 1 computer, 1 TV, 1 DVD player and 1 video game machine at home. My family isn't spared from this want and need. We actually have 3 computers, 3 TV sets, 1 Xbox, 1 PS2, and a host of other diversionary devices that need to be plugged in.

I, on the other hand, am living in a flat with no TV, no DVD player, no computer, no microwave oven, and no refrigerator! (The last 2 i'm planning to buy this weekend, though.) This makes me one of the most electronically challenged people in this country.

Seriously, i'm not planning to buy a TV set for the flat. I was never big on TV, even in Manila. I'd only watch it to catch the latest commercials coming out, or watch a film that I missed, or play DVDs of concerts I like (notably Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears and The Beatles.) But out of a hundred percent, my TV viewing experience would only account for about 8-10% of my time.

Maybe because I was born and raised in an era where kids loved to stay outdoors: rough it up, play, climb a tree, swim in a lake, go to the neighbor's house to play patintero, taguan or habulan upo. My generation was a more social one, preferring to play with other kids rather than kids nowadays who prefer to play with imaginary playmates generated by this black box with 2 joysticks. My generation would create worlds and live in it, rather than download a prefabricated world from a disc and kill as many people as they can.

I'm beginning to fear that the next generation might not have too much imagination, because the ones they fill their minds with now are created by people from my generation, and trapping them in electronic gadgets. I see it in school where I teach: kids would rather watch the movie than read the book. They would rather exercise their fingers rather than their arms and legs.

When I look at the cool toys and gadgets available in the market today, i often think: "these kids are lucky. We didn't have these when we were kids." But now, i'm beginning to think that we're luckier that way.