There are some days I wish I could return to my 10 year old self. I miss waking up early on weekends, shaking my siblings awake so we could spend our mornings engrossed in Teddy Duncan’s video diaries from Good Luck Charlie and the unmaskings of the surprising villains of Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated. I miss playdates with my friends, where we would pull out my family’s Goldfish-crusted iPad and film iMovie tutorials of “How to Make Chocolate-Covered Strawberries.” I miss connecting with my friends over games of MASH or making-believe with our American Girl Dolls and Barbies.
Where did that thrill of games go? The heart-thumping excitement of playing? Of fun? I believe that in our world, children, adolescents, and teens have lost a true representation of childhood, innocent fun. We are disconnected from activities that ignite a rush of adrenaline within us, spark laughter until our stomachs hurt, and make us so resistant to ending the fun that we throw tantrums in response. Maybe this is just my nostalgia for easier times, but perhaps it is not such a stretch to say that today’s forms of entertainment simply cannot compare to previous ones.
A New York Times article called “Kids as Young as 8 Are Using Social Media More Than Ever, Study Finds” notes that from 2019 to 2021, “on average, daily screen use went up among tweens (ages 8 to 12) to five hours and 33 minutes from four hours and 44 minutes.” We all know social media and technology usage is one of the biggest aspects of our current society, impacting young children as much as the rest of the population. When I go out to eat at restaurants, I’m always saddened to see the young kids in high chairs glued to their iPads, refusing to eat until they are allowed to watch their cartoons. When I scroll through TikTok, I’m taken aback to watch videos of girls decked out in mature outfits and caked in makeup, only to find that they’re only 12 or 13 years old. I’ve slowly started to understand and accept the idea that social media, TV, and video games have now replaced the forms of entertainment that I once cherished and love. While young children growing up in this generation may form connections online through their followings or networks, they will never understand the true bonds that were formed playing make-believe with friends or gathering a group of kids to play Lava Tag on the play structure. Now, the digital world forces kids to confront the realities of our world and pressures them into conforming to the behavioral norms that they see through social media and technology. There’s a loss of the ability for young children and adolescents to play without limitations, to indulge in a world that only exists in the minds of their own selves and their friends.
Even as a teenager myself, who enjoys watching movies, staying in touch with my friends through social media, and even wasting away hours on TikTok, I do sometimes feel a longing for those childish games. A sense of maturity and independence came with growing older, but it also came with the erasure and suppression of the things that brought me so much joy. Today, I can’t even imagine asking my friends if anyone would want to play Capture the Flag or put on an impromptu fashion show with the craziest outfits we can create. Perhaps this hesitation results from a suppression of childish temptations because we feel as though society’s “acceptable” forms of entertainment for teens are only partying or talking (although now, conversations with friends often end up being a circle of everyone just scrolling through their own phones). There’s an unspoken expectation to the activities that certain age groups should partake in: it’s normal for kids to play with dolls and toys, while conventional teenage pastimes include driving around with friends or hosting house parties when their parents aren’t home. As is too often the case, most people avoid stepping out of the “box of norms,” for risk of being perceived as weird and unusual.
There’s something sad about being the last wave of kids that grew up before the infiltration of social media and a digital world. There is no one to carry on the legacy of board games, playground activities, and imaginary worlds — we are all “too old for that” and those who are at an acceptable age now prefer immersing themselves in digital forms of entertainment.
This is a small farewell to that innocent time in my life, and a simultaneous call for action. I don’t want those versions of childish fun to simply die out and only exist in our memories. Would the only time we get to re-engage in these activities be when we have children of our own? This is my request for a reemergence of play and fun for us. Even if “fun” takes different forms than the past, I have to believe there are pastimes more exciting than a circle of phones. Hopefully it means a revival of cringey, poorly made YouTube videos and pickup kickball games. If so, count me in.
