M

y boy and girl are perhaps the perfect example of opposites-attract siblings.

The boy, 8 years old, is sensible, creative, laid-back and the only serious question he has ever thrown at me is “how much longer can the sun still shine and give life to earth?” The girl, a year younger, is serious, critical, competitive, and thinks that erasers should be included in first-aid kits.

If there is one thing that would bring them into commonality — not only among themselves but also among their friends — it is that aura of modernity and technological savvy that blankets them.

Every child is unique, but when it comes to technology, and by this I simply mean gadgets and the Internet, all are almost identical. They are absolutely glued.

These days, the phrase “don’t leave home without it” also applies to gadgets for children. You see gadgets hanging loose around children’s necks, bulging in their pockets, slung over their shoulders, clutched in their wrists, or even tucked under their arms.

They seem to speak gadget language. No matter how new our satellite receiver is, our children will be talking to it long before we figure out how it works. In no time, they will master the art of switching languages, booking a program, rapid flicking between channels and even find the operator call center number.

This language is not limited to remote controls, apparently, but is also used widely in cameras, tablet PCs, smartphones and even microwave ovens — you name it.

Do you think having too many chat groups is strictly an adult issue? I know 9-year-olds who have five! One for the class, one for the whole school, one for the music school, one for the ballet gang and then, finally, one for the family. And don’t even get me started on social media.

Their homework is more research-intensive now, and befriending search engines for school research is a must for children. Anything they are in doubt of or intrigued about, they go and console dear Uncle Google, who indeed has never failed them.

You may be surprised at how SWOT analysis is taught in the third grade: Students choose any famous person to be analyzed, search for information on them on the Internet, cut and paste and prepare a presentation using the slides app, and then save this to a flash disk [or what my boy calls “my top-secret” drive].

With the flow of knowledge and information that comes with technology, not only has the choice of gadget and application become more diverse, but also life options

While grandparents still try to convince us that engineers, doctors and architects are of among the top professions, children have fallen in love with the cupcake baker, the dog whisperer, the animator, the traveler, the zookeeper, the singer idols and the next top model.

Some have lamented this rapid pace of evolution. I have weighed my options as to whether I will provide access to technology, especially the Internet, for my children.

I’ve decided to accept the invasion with grace, because I think it is inevitable and the positives outweigh the negatives, although there are many times when I have wished there would be a day when all electronic gadgets were switched off, just to hear the wind to speak, for a change.

I used to lament more not on the excess, but on the gaps among children in this country. When I speak about all of the above, I know I’m speaking on behalf of a very small percentage of children. But who am I to think of myself as heroic to pity those with less access? Bless their uncontaminated brains, and pity us, who have become a little more robotic each day.

So, accepting with grace for me means to apply password to Internet connections, ban violent games, laugh when some keywords provide unsuitable pictures when the children are searching for images, and try to keep up with my children’s preferences. What they watch and listen, I watch and listen.

Most importantly, I listen closely whenever these little people approach a staff member at a restaurant asking “Excuse me. What is your wifi password?” because I also need this information.

— Prita Sujudi