June 7, 1997
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Tamagotchi Fever Hits GrotonElizabeth claimed she was cranky yesterday because the Tamagotchi kept her up past 11:00 the night before. Last week at Andrea's tee-ball game I saw a mom babysitting her kid's Tamagotchi while he played in the game. They're all over the place. When I first heard about the Tamagotchi on NPR I thought that'll never catch on in the US but I can see why they're popular with poor Japanese kids who can't have real pets! Wrong. They're all the rage in the UK and are infiltrating the USA. Beeping plastic key chains are everywhere. I was walking down Main Street the other day and saw little girls wearing the darn things around their necks. A search on Yahoo turned up an entire Tamagotchi category. Some dude even keeps an online diary about his Tamagotchi. Gee, the online journal craze and the Tamagotchi craze intersect! Fortunately, Elizabeth was simply babysitting a friend's Tamagotchi. She hasn't got her own yet. What is it with these things? Why burden yourself with a beeping demanding electronic pet that will die if you don't meet its incessant needs? Why not get a real pet? Why not relate to a human? If you need to feel needed that desperately, a virtual pet ain't gonna solve your problem. I guess it's sort of cute and novel to begin with, but the idea of committing myself to parenting a beeping plastic key chain leaves me cold. I have too many "Tamagotchis" already!
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