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Gadgets o' Plenty
Does Your Preteen Really Need That Stuff?
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Dawn McBain's daughter wants a cell phone. Her best friend got one with a built-in digital camera for Christmas. "While she wanted a cell phone before the holidays, this reinforced her desire for one and confirmed her belief that her request is quite reasonable," says McBain of Clifton Park, N.Y. "Fortunately, she is smart enough to know that she doesn't need a cell phone, though she is racking her brain searching for a need that would qualify."
Marilyn Hilton of San Jose, Calif., has a slightly different story. "My husband and I both work in the high-tech industry, and we have seven computers in the house between us," she says. "The kids have ample accessibility to these computers, but my daughter still wants her own. It's interesting how they ask, not can I have it, but when can I have it?"
Why do kids insist they need all this stuff? Why do they need iPods when they have CD players or the latest video game system when they already own more game systems than televisions? Of course marketing plays a role. Chris McGhee, academic director of the Visual Art Institute of Phoenix, says marketing simply points out what our kids need in order to make life easier. And while most of the stuff won't literally make life easier, it does become very attractive. "Well, an iPod won't really make life easier, but it will put me more in tune with modern culture," says McGhee. "I'd like an iPod, too, but I haven't figured out how to convince my wife it's a better way to store and transfer images than the methods I've been using, which work just fine."