Connecting Disconnection
There was a time where life used to be carefree. There was a time where I used to run around parks and playgrounds with my siblings having the most fun ever. My grandma used to bring us to the playground downstairs everyday at 4pm so that we could have that daily dose of fun and giggles out in the sun.
I think a lot has changed since then. Due to the advances in technology, children can be exposed to ipads and tablets from as young as a few months old. According to a study in 2017, about 80% of children have access to a tablet, and 40% of children have used an ipad or tablet even before they can speak. Instead of going out to play in the sun, children nowadays spend their time indoors, glued to their devices. There seems to be a divide between the generations as well, the most obvious being people of my grandmother’s age (think people born in 1930-1940s). People of my grandma’s generation did not have the luxury of having smartphones or other smart devices growing up. In fact, things like ipads and tablets are quite unfamiliar to them and a lot of elderly frown upon these digital devices. This led me to wonder, what if we swapped places? What if the older generation was more tech-savvy than us, the younger ones? What if our grandparents grew up in a time of no electronics but we did not? As my grandma ages, I see her views on life becoming simpler and more childlike.
This led me to explore Connecting Disconnection through Childlike Play, while highlighting the difference in how children have spent their growing up years. Enjoy.
There’s a moment in our Singaporean childhoods that we all become more ‘serious’. We learn how to read and our mothers start stressing us to study and get good grades. Similarly, there’s a moment in our golden years where we start living simpler, where suddenly, a lot of the things in life don’t matter and the little things are the things that are the most important. This contrast between young and old, serious and simple, is something that most of us would end up experiencing. I brought us back to everyone's favourite place growing up: the playground. Everyone can have fun in the playground, even if we are enjoying ourselves in different ways.
[Number 1]
[Number 2]
Maybe this is a familiar sight…except the roles are reversed. Usually, a young child– a toddler, perhaps, is glued to his or her ipad, while their young mother with eyelash extensions tries desperately to feed them their meal… which they ignore or make faces at. This is a very common sight at any restaurant or dining area in Singapore. Today, I present Grandma refusing food from Granddaughter while playing on her ipad. While the roles are switched, the same thoughts run through our minds: The ipad was a good idea at the start to keep her entertained, but now it seems to be more of a problem than help!
[Number 3]
Finally, we come to a consensus. As young people we read books and study through our youth, all stressed and studious, we take our work very seriously. As elderly enjoy their retiree years, having fun and relaxing, they take their play very seriously. Even though we exist in the same world, and we live in the same house, we have lived in very different environments in our lifespans. In the end, we are all trying to live our lives and enjoy the time we have. Even if we find our joy differently, we can still sit and do it together. Life is too short to disconnect from the people we love.
