I think that I’ve honestly eaten 227 digital cakes since we downloaded the $.99 cake maker app for my daughter’s iTouch. How far we’ve come from the $.25 bubble gum dispenser/roulette purchase which would supply us with a 1” square snake tattoo or yet another pair of undersized vampire teeth!
These days I’ll often see my daughter hunched over her handheld, albeit gleefully selecting just the right shade of pink-ish mauve colored icing. That perfect hue, somewhere along the lines of cotton candy with a dab of periwinkle. With her hand waving in broad strokes, with the fluid grace of a seasoned Lincoln Center conductor, she’ll select another button to proudly apply her icing to my favorite flavor of cake. Sprinkle selection is of grave importance at this stage, as is evident by her focused, ninja-esque concentration. A few edits here, a few edits there and “DADDY, YOUR CAKE IS READY!!”
Following my Oscar winning portrayal of sheer amazement and elation, I take my pudgy little pointer and poke at the cake. This “naturally” causes small sections to dissolve away under my every touch. When I can’t eat another byte, I hand the device back to my daughter who, (judging from her face) is so very happy and proud.
Is she going to Yale due to this app? No. Are her test scores going to go up 5% as a direct result of it? Highly doubtful. Is this a plug for the app? Not unless I get 5% from them. The fact is that the majority of adults would chalk this up as a waste of technology or even worse, time wasted by my daughter. However, for a brief period of time she is happy and creative (to some small degree) and..
“DADDY!..” Sorry, gotta go eat more cake
