It's been 3 days since Christmas gifts were opened, and our life has taken a turn from simple to tech-laden.
Let me explain. I have twin girls who will be turning 10 in April. This year marked the huge turn away from the list to Santa being pleas for a certain Barbie, Polly Pocket village, puzzle or game. Gone were the requests for $9.99 plastic toys. Instead, we found ourselves faced with a wish list only 10 items long, and the first four were an iPad, iPod Touch, a Mac and an iPhone or a cell phone.
How to satisfy everyone in the family when price is supposedly not a deterrent to Santa Claus, in what is looking like one of our last magical years? Well, after weeks of debate and some last minute decisions, we gave in somewhat, knowing exactly how lucky we were this year to be able to even have those decisions. We dove into the icy cold water head-first and went with a techie Christmas.
The waking hours since then have had us downloading apps on iPod touches, helping to charge free family-plan cell phones, teaching the girls how to power and care for their instruments, adding wallpapers, voicemails, add contacts, apply for email accounts. It's a whole new world. In one fell swoop we now say things like "No tech at the table," or "Who is that beeping?" We are all together, but all looking at different things for the first time.
Since they are the same age, they are going through the tech phase together. So too is the entire family going through it all at once with no older child to ease us into this new world. It's no new story, but it is new to every family that goes through it, although the ages will inevitably be younger and younger. At Christmas Eve mass, the priest asked the children nestled around him at the altar what they were asking for for Christmas from Santa. A chorus of answers that matched our Christmas wish lists rang out from children as young as two --
"My own itouch!"
"A new computer!"
"An iPad!"
"Has anyone ever heard of Tinker Toys?" the priest responded in bewilderment, to a spew of laughter from the adults.
They haven't once asked to watch TV since Christmas morning. When that dawned upon me today, I thought it was a good thing -- but now I am starting to understand why. They have YouTube. They are recording each other performing plays. They are taking pictures and manipulating them. They are creating animoto presentations -- for fun. They are leaving each other voicemail messages while they are around the corner from each other (thank goodness for family-plan unlimited calls). They are trying to get to the next level of a game and figure out the tricks to them, and then have to quickly share that information with their sister. Who needs TV?
They suddenly seem so old. We held off on tech items in the past in an attempt to keep us innocent, and granted, it's in an environment where all of their friends have had iPod touches for years. But in one fast morning, it all changed. They are teaching us how to navigate the new family computer they are already adept to using at school. Like parents of teenagers past, we are now the parents jockeying for our kids' attention. And at the same time, we have them sitting snuggled right next to us while trying to get their attention.
Is it too early for all of this? Our own family circumstances led to the decisions to invest in these things that were not taken lightly. That said, for the most part, I really didn't know what the heck I was getting myself into. I didn't know that each hour that passed would seem so different from our old life just four days ago that was comprised of building and imagination toys. I'm thinking that I'd rather be cursing while I wrestle open those Fort Knox-style plastic Barbie packages. Happily.
This will take some getting used to. The water's still very cold. But with them snuggled up next to me trying to add apps, I'm hoping I warm up soon.