Just came back from vacation and while there I was observing many families with children and ,being curious as I am, was watching their behaviors.
What got me were the sad cranky kids with their faces stuck in their mobile phones while sitting on a beautiful beach with their families on a beautiful day. But on the other hand there were many playful children enjoying their time there, playing with their parents and new friends with smiles from ear to ear on their faces.
Then we made some friends and most of them were complaining about their children and “their phones” and how scared they are and the usual things we hear and think all day.
Well this got me thinking so I did some soul searching being a father of three girls, one of which has a so called “phone issue” (writers note: we are working on it, new bike is on the way)
What was hard to admit to myself is that we are all blaming our children for their overuse of phones and not being social… Why do we blame others, namely the software corporations, AI, marketing etc. Worst of all we blame our kids!
We are the guilty ones for their behavior because we are the ones educating them and importantly supply them the tools for their every day occupations.
Yes we are the ones buying very expensive Iphones for 600,700,1000+ euros only for them to be immersed in the unknown world of social media where other strangers are educating our children without us even knowing. Then afterwards it happens that we can’t recognize and understand our children because they come from different educational background of who knows where.
Our kids simply find friends through the tool we supplied them with and live in this online world. They mimic the behaviors of their online friends and act differently form us because this is their social network.
Same as mobile phone, a bicycle is a tool for building a social network and having fun for kids. With a bike they meet and go out with their friends to explore the world together, have something in common, learn and educate themselves. The difference here is that their education is coming from their real friends who are same age and don’t have any underlying interests. On top of improving the children’s mental abilities, the tool of bicycle improves their physical condition.
I ask myself: why do we easily spend 1000 euro on a phone which lasts max two years and then later struggle to spend 300,400, 500 euros on a bicycle saying that the kid will grow out of it in 3-4 years time ?
Wouldn’t we be motivated to spend even more money on a product that helps out kids be healthier? How come we have such a cognitive bias that we spend double or triple amount of money on a piece of tech, which makes our children impaired physically and mentally, then on a bicycle which improves both ?
So I blame myself and all parents complaining about their kids on the phones for this situation. We are guilty, we need to spend more money on a good, enjoyable, safe, cool bicycles. What we have left over from expensive mobile phones we can use for a great family trip together 🙂
Get rid of your cognitive bias, stop blaming your kids and buy them more better bicycles !!!
P.S. I want you to understand that my angle of this article is compared with a bicycle because it is my hobby, job and passion. There are many other “good tools” for kids to go out and have a great positive social network (scooters, skateboards, balls, skates, rackets, paddle boards….)
