Modern childhood

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Last week we visited an aquarium. In fact we spent the entire afternoon in there enjoying all the different things to see. But one thing that startled me somewhat was not an unusual sea creature, but rather, an all-too-common human ‘sub-species’, which I’m going to call the techno-toddler. This small child, who must have been around two years old, was equipped with a smartphone and at each exhibit they toddled up to it, reached up holding the phone, and snapped a photo (which can’t actually have shown anything other than the out-of-focus surface of the water from below, if you see the height of the child and the angle at which they are holding the phone) and then toddled on to the next display. I suppose it was a handy way of keeping an impatient toddler happy. At least the adult with them was pointing out interesting things to the older child, so I guess all is not lost. They may yet grow up to appreciate seeing things in real life! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2023.