A rant about technology and kids

This is what we got our kids for Christmas (+ they got many, many more presents from extended family and friends):

This is what some kids from our play-group (siblings, aged 4 and 2) got:

When it come to our kids, we are pretty old fashioned on this one.  Our kids don't use computers, phones, or hand-held games. We will NEVER buy a preschool-aged child an ipad/ iphone/ ipod primarily intended for their personal use. Even battery-operated toys make me cranky.

I really don't care what the other kids from play-group are given for Christmas. Each to their own and all that.

But I don't like being harassed for the decisions we make as parents. Before Christmas, the mother of the iphone-receiving preschoolers told me; "Your kids will be disadvantaged if they don't know how to use computers when they get to school. A kindergarten teacher told me to get the kids independent with using computers before they start school".

Really? Really?

You mean it is better for my kids to be cooped up in their bedrooms by themselves, twiddling on an iphone than it is for them to be developing their physical, social and problem-solving skills as they play outside together? Is it more important for them to know how to turn a computer on than how to listen to a good book? Is it better for them to develop their "texting thumbs" on a keypad than to develop their hand and finger strength through craft, play-dough, drawing, or helping me put pegs on the line? Is it more important that they can operate a touch-screen than that they can retell a story?

I'm not silly. I know where the world is headed. Our kids will know more about computers by the time they hit high school than Matt and I will ever know.

But for now, can't I just let them enjoy the simple things?

And, are they really expected to know computers in kindergarten?