Being an Economics teacher, I spend plenty of time thinking about the choices people make. With the emergence of so many new and great technologies, people now have so many more choices available to them on a variety of activities. I can pay my bills online, track the location of a shipment, watch a movie online, and even talk to friends across the globe. These choices and opportunities were not available 10-15 years ago and had led to an increased amount of data that people must keep straight.
The big question is this: What is technology doing to our ability to focus, make critical choices, and build relationships? Some experts would say that children growing up in our world, including my own children, are so used to technology that their attention spans have lessened. Others argue that technology has increased children's independence and has enhanced their ability to think on their own via learning toys such as the Leap Pad, MobiGo, and Tag. My children have some of these toys and at a younger age it has prepared them to start their formal education. My 6 year old and 3 year old both know more than I did when I was their age, much due to learning toys. Technology can also help and hurt relationships. Technology does enhance the ability to speak and collaborate with people across the globe but it can affect relationships at home. If two kids are playing learning toys, dad is checking his email, and mom is reading her Kindle, where is the family time? My point is this. Technology is a fabulous tool if used properly. It should be used with certain limitations, including both children and adults. What does technology do for your life? Has it created less face to face time with each other or is it just another way to meet more people and learn more? What do you think?
Your comments about family time in the age of technology hit home. My youngest son is forced to use the second desktop computer I purchased for the family. While he does his homework on the family computer, I do my homework on my desktop computer. In some ways it has actually brought us closer because we sit in the same room doing homework and ask each other “what are you doing now?” so we converse. My middle son hides in his bedroom when home from college with his laptop and iPhone 4s. I see him at dinner and on his way out the door attending one function after another. The oldest son is the funniest, when he gets home from college and is on break – he really means he is on break! He falls asleep, plays video games, and connects with friends on Facebook. My husband, the technician is the worst, he learned how to repair and build computers when they were huge mainframes. He is fantastic at fixing the hardware parts of the computer, but has not caught onto all the software applications. He still needs help with Word documents, creating groups on his e-mail, learning how to access e-mail from the internet rather than calling it into outlook, the kind of think I know enough about to teach him.
ReplyDeleteDinner is the only time that all five of us sit together and talk about our day and family gossip. I forbid cell phones at the table and let the answering machine answer the landline when we are in the middle of dinner. You have to build some kind of family time into your busy schedule; it has kept the line of communication open, a very important line when dealing with 3 teenage boys.
I can remember doing similar things to my parents growing up. The big technology growing up for me was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). I would sit in my room and play for hours and come out only to eat and go use the bathroom. I can assume that if I had the kind of technology as a teenager as teens do today I probably would have done the same thing as many of them do. I agree that building family time is important
ReplyDeleteIt really is a new world. I can remember eating dinner as fast as I could so I could beat my father into the living room to watch re-runs of Star Trek. Today you just go "on demand" and watch whatever you want when you have time to enjoy the show. What a difference time has made. I remember my sisters Hi-Fi stereo, then we had an 8 track tape stereo, followed by a cassette stereo system. Today, each member of my own family have our own iPod's. There are never any arguments about which record your playing, who scratched the album, etc. Sometimes I feel like technology is expanding so quickly that I just can not keep up with the newest hardware or software.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly amazing how quickly technology has advanced. Smart phones do more than our personal computers could do 15 years ago. Right now i'm on my iPad blogging while my is wife is on facebook, my teenage son litening to his music on his cell phone while remotely logged on to our school network, my tween son testing friend about homework questions, and my 9 yearvold daughter playing the Wii. With all of the different technologies, it easy for all of us to go our separate ways and entertain ourselves. But we need to limit ourselves and try to keep balance. We do the supper thing that Mrs. Charchildi mentioned, but not as good as her, but we try. Our children seem to be much better at the multiple-tasking gig than us. It is important for all of us to teach our kids how to be appropriate with technology and proper etiquette. This is certainly difficult when our kids tend to understand the technologies : ) Most of the time, technology is wonderful! Good luck!
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