NEW AND IMPROVED

This blog is now sugar FREE, fat FREE, gluten FREE, all ORGANIC and all NATURAL!!

Friday, February 21, 2014

PUT THAT I-THING DOWN


PUT THAT I-THING DOWN
 
My children are facing a situation I never had to deal with.  They are sailing through unchartered parenting water.  How do you control their children’s technology addiction?

From Matt’s three year old to the oldest Crankette in North Carolina the Cranky grandchildren are addicted to PC’s, i-pads, i-pods and i-phones.  My son recently found himself yelling something never even remotely conceived of in my day, “Would you kids put those computers down and watch TV!”

When I was parenting little people, it was a constant battle to limit TV watching time.   Reading was encouraged, even though I read very little myself.  Play with blocks, Legos and action figures were also encouraged. It was my belief, from personal experience, that too much TV would turn a mind to mush.

Computers teach this generation numbers, the alphabet, reading, geography, animals and their sounds, chemistry and history.  They also have games and can deliver movies and cartoons. 

Clearly these computers will not turn minds to mush, but they are anti-social.  TV is at least a social experience.  Sponge Bob Square-pants can be enjoyed and discussed jointly.  Computers act as companions which isolate the children from parents and friends.

Therein lies the new parent dilemma, raise intelligent introverted children, or socially well-adjusted mush-heads?   

16 comments:

  1. I see it often. Sitting right next to each other, each one on a device.
    Don't have an answer. Also, I'm not smart enough for a smart phone.
    So I just sit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So true. I see young people sitting 3 feet apart eating dinner and sending text messages (to each other?) instead of talking. I wonder if at the end of their date they just text each other "xoxo" and go home?

    S

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tell me about it! My grandson is addicted and devious about sneaking around to find where I've hidden them. He is now not allowed to have his i-pad except on school holidays and then only from 5.00 pm for two hours. The X-box and Sony playstation are now completely and irrevocably off limits for ever!

    ReplyDelete
  4. as an isolated adult who spends far too much time on her laptop, i can understand the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yep, and it's only going to get worse. Social interaction will become non-existent at some point. That's scary.

    I don't have a smart phone and I don't want one.

    Have a fabulous day and weekend. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  6. when in doubt, give 'em more chores .....

    it didn't take long before we never again heard "dad, i'm bored".

    that's how i roll.

    ReplyDelete
  7. No answer here, either, since my solution of taking everything away and returning it to the purchaser only works for me. I do know the local library loves my grandchildren, who have increased their check out rate exponentially.
    When my girls were growing up we had one TV. They watched it until Mom got home. After supper Mom watched the news and other boring stuff,they did homework and went to bed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't follow that many blogs, but yesterday I couldn't keep up. Some people blog three times a day. Isn't that just as bad?

    ReplyDelete
  9. And I spent too much time reading it all! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. There was a time I was very proud that my seven year old could use a computer, while I could not. I guess our children are proud of their children for being tech savy. It is just that they may have to be monitored for their own protection.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm not so sure we (meaning the older generation) make too much of this "anti-social addiction to electronic devices."

    How did the first generation of parents react when their kids started reading books, all holed up by themselves in their bedroom?

    I used to be a voracious reader as a kid. I remember my parents yelling at me for reading "too much" and not going outside to play. They gave me chores to do, to get me away from books. I remember stirring soup on the stove or kneading dough with my left hand because I held a book in my right hand. I'm sure my mother worried about me like we worry today about the kids with the i-Things...LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Will the future humans be, voiceless, big headed, small bodied with a finely honed thumb?? Could be.

    ReplyDelete
  13. My wife gets mad at me because I'm looking at my smartphone while we're supposedly watching t.v. So which is worse? I can't say. I think it's just a generational thing with new toys to keep us amused. Anyone ever hear of reading a book? No, I mean a real book with paper pages!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is both a pet peeve of mine, and a struggle of my own. It is so 'easy' to vedge and pick up a device and tune out. I firmly believe that technology hit us so fast that we didn't have time to think about the repercussions.

    Parents do need to be parents and set boundaries - we did. Parents need to be an example too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. One of the teachers at the lunch table commented how the kids at the Sweetheart Dance last week sat side by side while texting. Not much social interaction at that dance.

    ReplyDelete
  16. All I can tell you is my daughter's method. At a certain time each day, all electronic devices were turned off and put away. None at all were allowed anywhere near the table while meals were being eaten, this last one extended right across all ages. She only has two children, adult children now, but from the time they got their first games and continuing now, no electronics at all at the table.

    ReplyDelete