Sixty years ago children entertained themselves by hopping on their bikes and going for a ride around the neighborhood, playing baseball at a local park, or walking to a nearby creamery to order a root beer float. Back then, children were active and creative with the ways which they played and interacted with one another. However, the children of today seem to have lost the imaginative and energetic way of play which once defined childhood. Children in this century are born and raised with technology. They interact with new gadgets and gizmos everyday and see advertisements on television which encourage children to buy the latest technological advancements. Because of video games, cell phones and computers, children have forgotten how to play as children of the past once did in an interactive and creative way.

Within the past couple years, video games have been on the rise and have become extremely popular, especially among middle school boys. Instead of middle school boys inviting friends over to play a game of backyard football or pick up basketball, they are inviting their buddies to video game sleepovers. The adolescent boys try to break all time high scores, compete against one another, as well as other players from around the world. Although the boys are technically playing together, there is no creativity being displayed. They are simply sitting in front of the television, staring motionlessly at the screen, except for the constant movement of their fingers over the controller. Video games are causing children to be less creative in their play.

A new technological invention which appears to be normal and a way of every day life to teenagers, but yet amazes and befuddles the older generation, is cell phones. Cell phones have proven to be convenient and useful when trying to call someone. Even more recently, cell phones have reached a whole new level of convenience with texting. With a couple clicks of a few buttons, a message instantly can be sent to someone. Although cell phones are convenient are they becoming too convenient? Teenagers have quickly accepted and even grown to love cell phones because texting is an easy way to communicate with friends whenever they want. Even though teens are to some degree interacting with friends, they are not one on one, face to face engaging in conversation. Instead of driving to a coffee shop to sit down and talk with a friend, teens today are simply texting friends and not interacting on a personal level.

Computers are extremely helpful for researching information, sending personal messages to friends and completing school assignments. They have made tasks that are strenuous and hard to do; now easy. This is the mentality which children have grasped all too well. When a teenage boy has a crush on a girl but is scared to get to know her better or have a better acquaintance, he can simply log on to the internet to pursue his intentions with out actually having to talk to the girl. On the computer he can friend request her on facebook and look at her pictures and personal information which she posts. From the information he can then learn more about her and know how to approach her and what topics he can talk about. Teenagers today are using the computer as an easy way to meet people without having to talk and go to different functions together in order to get to know a person better through verbal communication.

Video games, cell phones, and computers are all ways that children and teens have forgotten how to play and interact like the children of the past. Video games have caused children to be less creative when playing within a group setting. Texting on cell phones has caused teens to not engage in personal, verbal communication. Also, computers are creating an easy way to find personal information about other people, instead of asking or inquiring about certain information in person.