The Veldt: The Negative Effects Of Technology On Children

Nowadays, kids think they know much about the technology and some kids even think that they know much more than their parents. Most of the parents, these days, also let their kids use the technology unchecked. This carefree attitude towards technology by both parents and kids may lead to a world without safety. As we see the same issues brought forward by Ray Bradbury in his short story, “The Veldt”.

Children find the real-world and the daily routine activities difficult and boring because of the excessive use of technology. When George suggests turning the whole house off for a month, Peter says, “I don’t want to do anything but look and listen and smell; what else is there to do?”

This proves that the children are too dependent on technology; they don’t know, and they don’t even want to know what's in the outside world. Everything they do is technology oriented, such as tying their shoes, cooking, eating, etc. Also, we see when the father mentions, “…They live for the nursery.” The attitude of these kids to become angry and start throwing things, only when the nursery was locked for a few hours, shows their love for the technology and hatred for the real world.

Mostly we see the parents leaving their kids in the Nursery Room without even monitoring them. All they say is, “All right, go play in Africa.” Similarly, the reaction of the kids towards parents is also not nice. “Peter looked at his shoes. He never looked at his father any more, nor at his mother “ This shows that Peter does not even recognize his father anymore and that he doesn’t care what his father thinks of him or how he treats him, what he cares about is the Nursery room and that’s it. The parents do not receive due respect from their kids only because they let technology do their own