OD'ing on Tech?

Wall-E

Prepare yourselves, I'm about to get up on my soapbox. 

This morning, I opened up an article on Psychology Today called, "Cyber Etiquette for Teens." The article starts:

"Computers and modern technology are taking up a lot of teen's time. While there are some perks to technology there are also some negative things associated with it. A national survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that kids between the ages of 8 to 18 are spending an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes per day using entertainment media (i.e., phones, computer, television, mp3 players or other electronic devices) that's more than 53 hours a week! And because our teens are so good at watching TV while working on the computer or texting a friend they have used their time-management skills to fit about 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those 7 hours and 38 minutes.

With teens spending so much time working on-line via social networking sites, emailing, texting, visiting chat rooms, or just surfing the net, it's important that parents review the following Cyber Etiquette tips with their teen."

The article continues on to discuss tips such as, don't use ALL CAPS when posting and don't talk to strangers. It feels a bit weird that parents should discuss internet etiquette with their teens but that's just because I didn't grow up with computers until I got to college (I mean, I remember a time when I had a typewriter...!). The tips the author discusses are all valid and I'm sure are important to discuss, but I have to admit, the article went in an entirely different direction than I was expecting. After that dire introduction, I had expected that the author was going to discuss limiting time spent on technology for children and teenagers. And, in fact, she does actually mention it, but only as a "PS" at the very end: "Bonus Tip: Set time parameters on how long you're on the computer. The computer will never take the place of a person. Too much of anything is unhealthy so don't let cyberspace consume your life." 

Now, let me be the first to say that I've definitely been guilty of placating children with a movie or a game on my phone when I lost patience with trying to entertain them in an engaging and personal manner. And, actually, I don't think this is too terrible of a thing every once in a while. After all, in order to care well for our children, we, as adults, need to retain some sanity, no? However, I do get worried when I think of having children someday in a world that is so dependent on technology. I worry about how socialized my children will be if they spend most of their days interacting with an inanimate object. With visual and auditory over-stimulation at its finest in video games and movies and communication via texting and IMing lacking subtle cues that are only available face-to-face (emoticons :) do not count), I wonder if my children will grow up lacking sensitivity and empathy. I wonder if they will be able to understand and value the simple joys of taking a walk, watching a sunset, or spending a quiet, lazy afternoon reading a book. Though perhaps I shouldn't be so gloom and doom, there was a time when people thought rock and roll would be the cause for great decline in children and teenagers. 

I certainly spend quite a bit of time on my own computer typing out blog posts, writing and sending emails, reading the news, watching last night's episode of Glee, Wikipedia-ing anything that comes to mind, etc. And, I don't actually think I'm any the worse for the wear. But, I didn't grow up with this. I grew up with Barbie, G.I. Joe, sleepovers, and playgrounds. I was an only child, left to my own devices a lot while my single mother worked to pay the bills, which meant that I was forced to use my imagination and develop creativity. There's plenty of up-and-coming research out there that warns against over-exposing children to technology. Remember the movie, Wall-E? (If not, take a look at the picture above and immediately queue it on Netflix, it's great!) The scenes with the fat, immobile individuals with fingers that touch only a console or keyboard and never another human being were darkly humorous and scary in that one can imagine that future as possible, however remote. 

As always, it seems that moderation is key. Technology is clearly here to stay and there are lots of ways in which our lives have improved (Angry Birds, anyone?). Sometimes, when I'm looking something up on google I marvel that there was ever a time when I wrote research papers for school without the use of the internet. Instead, I went to the public library, found books using the dewey decimal system, read encyclopedias, and scrolled through microfiche! How quaintly antiquated! In many ways, a ten year old is already light years beyond me in terms of computers and tech. And, good for him or her, because it will probably be quite an asset in future employment and his or her skill is to be developed. So, it remains that we try to model for our children and guide them to achieve balance with real and virtual life, a feat that is much harder to achieve than to say. At least once a week, I have to take a moment and remind myself to find balance in my own life. It's clearly not easy, and as I look forward to the time when I have kids, sometimes I get a little terrified. I'm most assuredly not going to make the right decisions every time, but hopefully I'll get things right more than wrong. Only time and lots of googling parenting tips will tell!