Since a great majority of today's population relies on technology, it's no surprise that social media is targeting every age group. But when are these new technologies going to change the way we live our lives or raise our family? According to the foxnews article http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/26/squirmy-toddler-theres-app-for-that/ there are many apps that are specialized for young children and toddlers for parents to use for teaching and entertaining kids. This article says that these apps work better at keeping kids quiet at dinner/etc. then traditional methods like a coloring book or quiet game.
I realize that kids are growing up in a world of new technologies and need to stay involved with current trends, but I'm not sure if I agree with this article. When I grew up we definitely did not have all of the games and gadgets that are available nowadays, but we didn't really need them. I spent almost all of my time outside... like all of the other kids I was friends with. I understand that these new apps and games are great learning tools for children and should definitely be used, but with a limited amount of time per day. I've worked at summer camps for many years and the attitude and actions of children nowadays are not very good. These kids rarely wanted to play games outside, they would rather play their video games or text on cell phones... at camp. It was really frustrating to see how connected to technology they were at such a young age. And I'm worried this will happen to these children that are playing with their parent's cell phones and ipads at the dinner table. Again, I think new technology could be great for children, but parents must limit how much time they use playing viral games.
I think today parents have a lot more resources to get advice on parenting and connect with other parents, find doctors, etc. online and through technology. My sister-in-law follows parenting blogs, blogs about her daughter, and gets advice from different forums and websites. However, I didn't know that there are apps you can download on your phone to help discipline your children. It seems like this may be part of the future for parenting. It reminds me of that commercial where the mom puts her child into a daycare run by robots because it's cheaper... Good article!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like there's self-help for everything these days, including parenting. It's interesting because when most of us were kids our parents didn't have these self-help luxuries. But like you said, we live in a world addicted to technology and it doesn't look like that will change.
ReplyDeleteChildren using the new technology for playing games, learning tools, etc. is a non-issue for me; I think it could certainly be used to a productive and educational extent (entertainment as well, just in doses). Although, if you're a parent using some app created by God knows who in order to govern/raise your children, Lord help us. This just seems so artificial and ridiculous to me. Its not my intention at all to offend anyone reading this, but if you need an app to help you rear your child, maybe you should have given more thought to birthing one in the first place... of course that's in my humble opinion. I'd ask my family physician or an elder relative any questions about child-raising before I consulted an application on my i-Phone. The self-help issue brought up by mrcarter above is something else to be considered within this topic. I hope that our society doesn't become entirely dependent on at-your-finger-tips-technology for things so intimate as child rearing, but I think it really depends on the situation and source you're getting your advice from.
ReplyDeleteI think though it is crazy seeing a second grader teaching their parent's how to use an iphone, it was bound to happen someday. Might as well be the present. I know that I will be that parent that embraces technology to help their child learn the ways of the world. It has been an afterthought for year's just lingering in our heads. The Jetson's had Rosie... we have iPad.
ReplyDelete-Thomas
I couldn't agree more with you. I think technology is great, but there is a point where it becomes overbearing and overloading for us. When a baby is born with a blackberry and an iPod, then we gotta problem! It would be interesting to survey elementary and middle school kids about their use of technology and ask what influences their decisions. I can remember back in middle school getting my first pre-paid cell phone. I thought I was the cool kid on the block! Haha...
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said about kids today and technology. When I was a kid, my mom shoved me outside until it was dinnertime, and hey, our generation turned out great! I don't think that kids need all this extra technology because in my opinion it takes away their own creativity. Instead of making up games like we used to as kids, they plop in front of the TV to play video games and now apparently play on their parent's iPads.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think that it's pretty neat that parents can also teach their kids via technology. When I read that, I thought of interactive games that might be more effective than the typical pencil, paper, and calculator in order to learn different concepts. Interesting idea!
Amen sister! Just to mimic what most are saying, there is definitely a limit to too much technology. Apps are awesome educational and self help tools but none of the generations before had a "Mommies for dummies app" and we are doing pretty swell.
ReplyDeleteYes the world is different, but really? C'mon take your kids outside to play!