A couple of weeks ago, just to escape from our home where we were dealing with a broken Central AC system on a very hot and humid day, my husband (Jay) and I went to see the summer 2026 sequel of “Toy Story, ” entitled “Toy Story 5.” The last time we went to see a Toy Story movie, it was when we were in the early stages of dating and it was showing as part of a series of free outdoors movies at the Charles River Hatch Shell in Boston. That was the summer of 2000. How things have changed on the digital and technology fronts since then!
The premise of Toy Story 5 is simple. Kids don’t know how to play any more! Many children don’t know how to use their creative minds and they don’t know how to interact naturally or normally with other children, i.e., without technology and devices being involved. Many are both afraid and/or unable to figure out how to make something fun out of very little — without using a device — and they don’t feel comfortable asking other children to play. They fear they will be viewed as silly if they want to want to host a teddy bear tea party, or simply ask another child to play with yo-yo’s or fly kites. Jessie, a tough-on-the-outside with a heart-of-god-on-the inside main character gathers and rallies other members of the Toy Story cast to change that dynamic for the good related to the current child in her life!
While I’m currently making a living helping clients with both “digital” and “traditional marketing,” it doesn’t mean I think all recent technological and digital advances are good or that they don’t come with pro’s and con’s, or that there aren’t any downsides to them — as evidenced by my past blog post about the benefits of unplugging from devices once in a while. As you’ll see, I’ve encouraged individuals to “de-grid” for a while, and try to do this as much as I can, particularly on the weekends!
I’m particularly not a fan of filter-less Facebook, but I’ll let you read my recent blog post about why I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook and why I don’t think it’s healthy for children AND adults to do so! And, related to the “creativity” discussion above, I don’t like how AI engines and tools are keeping individuals from using their creative brains to write their own content or create their own images!
Jay and I have had many a nostalgic conversation about how we spent our childhoods outdoors — playing with siblings and neighborhood kids. We weren’t on laptops, computer, i-pads or phones. As Adam Ezra sings in his song, “Sweet Beautiful Thing,” we’d just go outside and “see what trouble we could get in on,” such as an after-dinner game of hide ‘n go seek or “Red Light, Green Light.” We weren’t texting to arrange something fun in advance (although we might have talked with friends or family members in-person earlier in the day about it), and we also weren’t on social media spying on friends to see what they were up to, or being hurt, if we were left out of something like a girls’ pajama/sleepover party. Friends of our same generation echo the same. We are all so grateful we had the opportunity to live an “unplugged” childhood, and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Our lives were and have been so much richer for it!
So, let’s all take Jessie’s from Toy Story’s lead and, not only encourage children to be present and to use their creative and sociability skills, but let’s remember to do the same as adults!
