Let Your Kids Be Bored
On my last visit to the aquarium, I noticed something strange. The Tennessee Aquarium has installed screens throughout the exhibits. Some of these have relevant information about the animals, but many of these screens are for a different purpose: games. Yes, the games might be educational, teaching kids to build a turtle habitat or clean up litter, but what alarmed me was the attraction these screens presented. There were multiple exhibits where I found kids more entranced by the blue glow of a screen than by the giant fish two feet over. Children, who should be either terrified or in awe of water's many residents, were instead caught up in a virtual turtle coloring sheet. "It's funny how the colors of the real world only seem really real when you watch them on a screen." - A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess This is not to blame the Tennessee Aquarium. I think they are a lovely institution, and I greatly enjoy my membership. In fact, I think they rely far less on...
