A $300 Coloring Book

I remember why I become a fan of organizations like PBS and Mana Energy on Facebook. It is to participate in the sometimes mind-exercising discussions that occasionally arise. And, not to mention, the free stuff that sometimes comes with it!

While lolly-gagging online when I should be doing my morning crunches and preparing for school, I noticed an SXSW 2010 PanelPicker idea board regarding something called the "pass-back effect." It turns out, there is a name for act of parents handing their iPhones, Blackberries, and otherwise overly expensive communication devises into the backseat for their car-seat-aged children to just play around with. I had heard of this phenomenon, but I didn't know it had reached Swine Flu status and was now an epidemic!

Even since before working at [a popular video game franchise] I had a very high repect for my technological devises and gadgets. Almost nything that runs on AC current or batteries is destined to be destroyed by little innocent hands. When parents buy the Nintendo DS or PSP or even a Leap Frog, it is a short-term investment to entertain their children for a car ride, a plane trip, or possibly a school year, max. That $200 is their own to drop, stab, kick, spill on, and lose for as long as they like, since next Christmas they'll likely get a new one.

Knowing that the lifespan of technology is comparable to the time it takes to potty train a 2-year-old, why would even the busiest of parents toss their smartphone into the backseat for their young one to manipulate their only means of reliable communication? Did they forget that their phonebook was full of important numbers and contacts that at the slightest unintentional touch could each be called--or worse, deleted? And as much as children love to toss things, you would need to replace your flimsy silicone sleeve with a Nerf cocoon for it to withstand all the shock.

I know it might seem cute that your 3-year old knows how to use an iPhone and is now asking for her own, but in reality they are still children and apt to make innocent mistakes with a pricey piece of hardware. Like I mentioned in the panel's comment, there are devices made almost exclusively for children to play with. You can buy a handheld game system for less than $100, insure it for a year, and buy a couple of $10 games that they can button-mash on the same way they would with Mommy or Daddy's $300-400 toy.

If you want to see how others think, check out the SXSW 2010 PanelPicker discussions.