Times have changed

So I walked in to Toys'r'us as my exams drew to a close.

I like to see how toys develop over the years. 

It reflects very much the world that kids grow up in.

The first thing that hit me is how similar the toys now are to the toys of yester-year.

But they have changed ever so slightly...

The new Nerf Vortex range shoots twice the distance of the previous Nerf dart guns. The latest range is transparent green, allowing you to see the inner workings of the firing mechanism. It looks cooler, because it seems more high-tech.

Technological advancement seems to be an ideal kids are taught through the toys they are given. In my time, we had floating boats to play with. Now even the fish have gotten high tech. In fact almost all the toys I took pictures of require batteries to function.

The darts fly further and the cars run faster... by relative scale at least. These little cars pack a punch, but of course like all high tech toys, they need a charger and batteries to bring them up to speed.

I guess toys like Tamaya cars in my day had a limit to the size of the track we could buy as kids. Those things were huge! So to cope with the demands of toys getting bigger and better and faster and more technologically advanced but still fit in a tiny flat Singaporeans live in, toy makers scaled down the toys. Now they can put in more loops than ever and make the same track seem more awesome while saving on material costs.

Evidence that bigger is better. The next generation doesn't play war with guns and rifles that make clicking noises when the trigger is pulled. They fight their imaginary battles with rocket launchers activating explosive effect sounds. 

I wonder what my childhood fantasies would have been like if i were to have fought my nightmare monsters with this bazooka rather than my bow and arrow. Probably much less scary... which meant I would have been much less brave.

Inflation!

From a board game to a card game, Monopoly is evolving to set the winning criteria higher and higher. Well at least kids will learn the importance of earning their first million before anyone else.

In my time, air guitar was played with air and the distortion was from my mouth.

Now they give you a pick that allows you to make sounds out of your "air guitar" without using your mouth. You'd probably never learn to imagine the whole thing on your own if you grew up now.

I'm beginning to think that at this rate, children are going to be conditioned to be creative only in the presence of batteries and power. No technology, no imagination.

Alright this is just pushing the boundaries. When i was young, spy gear was a periscope and a telescope pen. And maybe invisible ink. Now you have a real working night vision pair of goggles that costs a hundred and eighty nine Singapore bucks. This is incredible technology. But who would buy this for their kid?

Maybe this toy exists for richer kids to remind poorer kids that they are poor.

This got me excited. A remote controlled helicopter that fires disks. This is what dreams are made of. When i was younger we could not afford toy helicopters. Technology was not of a level that made toy helicopters affordable. But now... it is possible, and this toy, I think is so cool.

By the way, the helicopter is remote controlled, but the robotic surface-to-air missile dart launcher automatically tracks your helicopter and aims to shoot it down before you can use your disks to disable it by firing at its satellite dish. 

Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this toy. 

Man VS Machine. 

Technology is good, but it must also be reigned in. So use technology to fight technology!!!

This is where I draw the line.

This is a remote controlled helicopter with an adjustable camera that records using a micro SD card.

For goodness sake, this is not a toy.

Anyone with this box can be assumed to be up to no good.

Seriously.

But why are we selling it? 

After my walk through Toys'r'us, I realised how important technology is to our society. And we're getting our kids familiarised with it from young. Which is fine.

But irresponsible use of technology has serious implications, and I really think we should be careful with the kind of power we are entrusting to those without the responsibility or integrity to use it wisely.

PS: Sorry I didn't go to the girls' section. I'm not that sure what girls toys used to be like, but I'll take a look next time.