Tech Acceptance and Some Lingering Questions

When revisiting the section on language acquisition and learning a native vs. a foreign language, I started to think more about how this might relate to using technology.  For children who grow up in settings where technology is everywhere around them and they have access to tablets, computers, video games, etc.. from a very early age, could familiarity with technology for them emerge as an everyday concept?  I'm thinking about some friends and family members who just give their kid a tablet to play around with when they want to keep them occupied.  I'm not endorsing this practice. 

I'm still a little murky on this section of the chapter, so I could be way off the mark.  I'm wondering if a child simply picks up a tablet or piece of technology and starts playing around with it from a very early age, would their understanding of technology and whatever activities they're doing with the device still be mediated by existing concepts?  Or, would they be learning technology and whatever activities they're doing on the device in a similar way that they would learn their native language?

Conversely, as someone who is older and didn't gain much familiarity with technology until about second grade when computers were at school (and even later at home) for the first time, I do feel that my experiences with technology were mediated by previous experiences.  I remember playing around with my mom's typewriter and that being a sort of anchor as I later played around with the word processor on our family's first computer. 

For young children who approach technology usage at a very early age, does their early understanding of technology "move from below to above," whereas when folks are older this line of development moves in the opposite direction? (page 69)

To be honest, I am not a fan of young children spending much time with technology.  In my opinion it's much more ideal for them to be playing outside and exploring the natural world.  These questions were just on my mind as I revisited the chapter. 

Is technology at this early stage a concept, or is it simply a facet of the child's reality that they are still making sense of?

It may be the case that these thoughts/ questions are a misinterpretation.  For some reason when I revisited the later half of the chapter, it was less clear to me than when I read it the first time.

Also, in class (or in the comments if I am lucky enough to have a reader or two) could someone help me understand what exactly Vygotsky means when he says "object."  The last paragraph on page 72 is a good example.