Favorite Word ~ Flabberghasted!

This is not the norm! My 14 year old begged us for a cell phone for Christmas and even resorted to writing Santa a letter requesting one - to no avail. He doesn't have his own laptop either. Alas, he has to use our our old desktop when we're not on it.

i have a 7 & a 9 year old and neither of them will ever have either without their saving for it (unless of course a massive lifestyle change would necessitate them - and that only for schooling or emergencies - not for social life).

what we have found with the 100's of teens we've worked with is that those with large amounts of access to everything (especially technology) appreciate little, feel entitled to everything and are not very grateful for any of it.

they become bored easily and treat things like they are disposable. next and new is the only thing that satisfies, and that satisfaction is superficial and fleeting.

My 12 year old has a cell phone,it's very handy when he we are at Walmart and go in different directions or when he is at a friends house over night. We live in the county and when he goes out for a walk or out on his dirt bike I like him to have the phone so he can be found.
He also has his own computer because we home school and a lot of his schoolwork is done on the computer.
So, there are reasons for kids to have this stuff.

Is it just you who doesn't get it? Nope, count me as one of the dinosaurs.

There may be valid reasons for kids to have ACCESS to a computer, but for 8 year olds to each have their own? Cell phones are also handy in some circumstances, especially for older kids, but again, for 8 year olds? Sorry, I don't get it either.

Consumerism gone nuts... But that is only my opinion.

Ditto

Mine two won't be getting cell phones any time soon - though my 3-yr-old daughter LOVES pushing buttons on mine! And while I'd like the kids to become computer-literate as early as makes sense, I think they'll have to share a cast-off Mac, no lap-tops for them.

At the same time, I do think when you have a smallish family, you do tend to get the kids stuff before they've even had a chance to want it. My kids are still little, but as the grow, I'd like to wait on getting some things, at least til they have a chance to recognize a desire, long for it a bit, and maybe contribute to the acquisition of the item!

Hmmm, dinosaur? Probably not.

But my 5 year-old niece and 7 year-old nephew have brand new ibooks. I think that it's starting to become more accepted, but not necessarily the "norm."

Are they Hello Kitty laptops? There are Hello Kitty guitars, vacuum cleaners, and toaster ovens. Food for thought. ;)

Nope, no way. Ours get cells when they get to junior high, but limited: their main purpose is to be able to communicate with Mom for pickup/schedule changes.

Laptops? Again, for the 'laptop program' in junior high, but as was said above (in paraphrase), "No sense of earning/value yields ungrateful and 'expectant' kids".

...although having a geek for a father, both of the boys had computers at relatively early ages (courtesy of the 'cast off' program).

Just got my 11 yr old a cell for Christmas, but with very heavy restrictions and limitations, and after a great deal of debate between me and my husband. (Now the nine year old thinks he needs one, but that ain't happenin' for awhile.)

The kicker is, it seems that the 11 yr old is one of the last in his class to have one - go figure...

Interesting... this has has been one of my most popular posts to date. After reviewing feedback it seems as though kids around 11-12 years old have laptops, and they're usually hand-me-down models. The frequency of 8 year olds owning computers and cell phones appears very slim, so I guess being flabberghasted was understandable.

I go out into nature on a frequent basis, and I'm alarmed by our younger generation... how they spend so little time communing with living things, but instead interacting with plastic buttons. Certainly, I am not an expert at these things, but it appears quite obvious to me that something very important and sacred has eroded out from under our young people in the rush to be busy and computer literate. To me, it's a warning sign for the future... and for the health of our planet. If future generations have no appreciation for nature, will they step up to the plate to protect it?

I am very concerned.