Teens and Technology - A Good Match?

This article is very upfront about limiting teen’s access to electronic media, which surprised me considering that it was coming from a Tech site. I too, worry about inundation of electronic media our school age kids are exposed to and the fact it is coming so fast that we have to struggle to keep up with it (that if that is even possible).

Technology and electronic media is a fantastic learning tool, the amount of information for kids in school is second to none, all the libraries and textbooks in the world rolled into a laptop. The down side is that it is too easy to overdo, taking the teen away from the real world and real world experience to a very isolating, button pushing world where socializing is dehumanized and not face to face. True experiences are second hand.

Parents do bare the brunt of the responsibility for making their teens responsible in the use of electronic media. For many teens, time with electronics needs to be limited as it can truly be addicting for these kids. I had a teen working for me as a deckhand, a good kid. He could not get away from texting; as soon as his duties for getting the boat ready to go were done, he’d be busily texting away, ignoring or passengers who he was supposed to be serving. If I got on him about it, he would just become more furtive (like a smoker trying to steal a puff), until I made him leave his phone at the helm. Then it would non-stop vibrate from his friends texting him. It must have been worse at home, because his parents stepped in and removed text messaging from his phone.

First and foremost get the kids away from it to experience real life; this can be joining sports, after school activities, social organizations like scouts, 4H, church groups or the like. Make the kids go to camp or something similar- a kid is going to remember something he or she did in the real world; be it playing in a football game, swimming in the lake with friends or a family camping trip over “ I just made a another level in Dungeon Delve”.

The article recommends other ways of limiting the affects of electronics; making sure that the computers and game consoles are not hidden away in bedrooms but out where everyone can see them. This can help to avoid contact with inappropriate sites and people. Many computer and game consoles have parental controls for time and language; parents must step in and use these.

The idea of having kids pay their own way for cell phone and texting; will rapidly teach them the value of money and time. Along with rules that limit when a cell phone can be used at home (no calls during dinner) will go a long way in putting electronic media in a much healthy perspective.

Schools are also coming into their own for fighting this over usage of cell phone by banning them to the lockers during class with severe penalties for those who break the rules.

Many teens will rebel against these restrictions but in the long run I feel it serves their best interest as our societies feels its way through the tremendous advances in technology and electronic media and discovers its benefits and its hidden pitfalls.