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How To Balance Life And Technology For Kids?
brs165 writes "Being a newly minted geek father as of 4 months ago, I've thought about problems I've never had reason to consider before. One issue which I'd like to hear from the ./ crowd is introducing technology to their children. What got me thinking about this was a blog post about 'Nature-Deficit Disorder', and I think it brings up some good points. I grew up playing in the local woods and creek with minimal tech until our first computer when I was 13. I hear stories from coworkers how some of their kids/grandkids hating going outside because it is boring and they'd rather stay indoors. Should I avoid introducing them to technology until absolutely neccessary, or is it a matter of achieving a balance?"
There's a reason why they'd rather play with the box than the toy. Respect and support that creativity.
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Try to understand that you're not going to have nearly the amount of input you seem to think you will. Your kids are going to be introduced to a whole host of things without your consent/knowledge.
Once you wrap your mind around that, you can start to prepare yourself to teach them to deal with those things on a rational level.
You're thinking ahead, at least, and that's the first step to success. Good luck, you'll need it.
Pete (father of 8)
loyalty above all, save honor
I wouldn't be so sure of this. a good friend of mine has a 6 year old and he's glad that his son shows no interest in computers or video games yet- he's surprised there hasn't been any peer presure from his son's friends. the father is programmer and developer for the main gaming platforms and has all the developer kits in his office. the room is always locked and the son has a play area in the room while his father is working and needs to watch him, but otherwise doesn't participate or pay attention to what his father is doing, which can be particularly useful when he's working on a violent game like area 51. the father is very happy that his son just wants to run around outside and play with real toys for now.
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
obviously balance is key. i think the downfall we will see is crappy parenting more than the evils of technology. too may parents are too busy, just suck or are too paranoid and would rather the kids are in the den with a playstation then outside with kidnappers and drugs and terrorists.
i think most kids WANT to play outdoors. the thing is to find something THEY like. for example if you keep trying to play baseball and the kid would really rather ride a bike, they are going to resist. kids generally have an abundance of energy and if they don't get that out, they will end up overweight and/or medicated for having no attention span in the classroom.
if the kids show too much interest in technology you can always work that into outdoor fun. something like http://www.geocaching.com/ is total nrrd fun, and requires leaving the house and poking around.
i guess as much as i was not outdoors, i was not sitting in front of video games or a computer. i was taking things apart and making things. that seems to be lost on a lot of young kids today. the nerdlier ones are more likely to be computer kids. they will look up something online instead of taking things apart to see how they work. hopefully things like Make Magazine will spark a resurgence in DIY gadgetry? that seems to be vital to mechanical creativity. it's like reading about how to ride a bike instead of getting one one and doing it.
Which kid learns more about nature? The one who goes down to the stream, falls in and gets wet and finds a few frogs hiding under some branches, or, the kid that plays magic schoolbus field trip game?
Apart from exposure to nature, there are many other things that create a real framework for kids. Yesterday we (myself, wife + kids) planted 60 trees in a grid. We used pythagoras to set things up square. We did multiplication/division etc to calculate how many rows and trees per row etc. We talked about nutrients etc as we added compost that the kids had helped to make some months ago. We talked about harvesting, pruning etc. On top of this, the kids got some exercise!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I'm concerned that kids today are too dependant on technology. Take away the cell phones, iPods, and game consoles, and what are kids left doing? Nothing.
But couldn't you have said the same thing 50 years ago about different technologies? "Take away the bicycles, radios, BB guns, baseball bats, and mass-produced comic books, and what are kids left doing? Nothing."
Kids have always used objects to entertain themselves - they're usually called toys. Sitting around reading comics or novels wasn't any better than sitting around playing Halo, but even video games today can exercise your body as well as your mind (see Dance Dance Revolution).
But I think the premise here is flawed to begin with. We don't have to worry about what kids might have if we took away all their modern technology, because they do have modern technology. Feel free to point out problems with their use of it, but at least stay focused on the world we live in. Even if we're going to posit a situation where a kid who's used to playing Xbox all day is forced to do without--to go live on a desert island or something--entertainment should be the least of our concerns. We might as well ask how he's going to keep warm without all those new-fangled jeans and T-shirts.
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