Nora knows how to work the iphone almost on her own. Many nights she requests to draw on my phone with her doodle program, where she knows exactly how and where to touch the screen so that she can select a new color. She used to adore the phonyphone app that changed my phone’s screen into exactly what it claims – a phony phone that would speak the numbers she pressed and even tell her hello. She likes the animal sound app where she presses the animal and hears its realistic noise in response. These tools have come in handy in the car during meltdowns, in the doctors office while waiting and on rainy days when all the other toys were old news.
A few nights ago I paid for (which I never do) the Elmo build a monster application. Nora loves Elmo and I was curious what a Sesame Street app would be like. Some parents had warned that the initially faceless monsters scared their child, while others reported that their child was fascinated by building their own monster to play with Elmo. Tonight Nora fell into the fascinated camp. And as I watched her immediately pick up on how to navigate through the program – which buttons made the monster dance, which ones changed the eyes and the nose, which one made the new monster “go bye bye” so she could choose yet another one to design – I started to wonder how she will be interacting with technology in 10 years.
She’s two and she knows how to use a basic touch screen. What will she know how to do when she’s 12? What technology will be available to her? These questions both amaze and scare me.
Toddler Summer 
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