Technology has become a major part of our culture and the world of our children. Vicki and I have three teenage boys, and a daughter who is almost 11. The things that are a normal and common part of their world were miraculous fantasies when I was their age. As is the case with everything else, technological advances have up-sides and down-sides. It is our responsibility and stewardship as parents to become informed, and also to embrace this inevitable change in our world. I think we do our children a huge disservice if we try to shelter them from all of this. It is more important for us to teach them the values and techniques that will help them to use these marvelous resources to productive ends while not falling prey to the dangers. Please post your ideas and resources that you are aware of as comments to this post. This was a fun conversation today!
Technology: Friend or Foe?
March 25, 2008 by Dr. Paul
[…] Mr. Stewart wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptTechnology has become a major part of our culture and the world of our children. Vicki and I have three teenage boys, and a daughter who is almost 11. The things that are a normal and common part of their world were miraculous fantasies … […]
[…] Mr. Stewart wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptTechnology has become a major part of our culture and the world of our children. Vicki and I have three teenage boys, and a daughter who is almost 11. The things that are a normal and common part of their world were miraculous fantasies … […]
After the call today I was introduced to some ideas I hadn’t previously heard. One is the name of the generation of people born between 1982-2001, Millennials. They are technology savvy youth who have grown up playing computer games that require problem solving and lots of do overs. They tend to take failure with a grain of salt because they know they can try again. Their relationships are important to them and unlike the young workers of the past they are not driven by status or shiny clothing. In the marketplace management complains they want things their way, they expect flexibility, and they don’t understand why people would work from 9-5 or longer and on weekends. They know how to use the internet to make money and to connect with people. And they tend to have strong relationships with family that are more important to them than a “job”.
According to Scott Degraffenreid’s website, http://www.necessarymeasures.com this is the generation ready to take over the world. We need to stop trying to fix them because they are not broken. They are capable of amazing things. They will do it differently than the past, and I can’t help but agree in many ways, that’s a good thing!
Growing up with a bunch of technology-philes, it seems so natural to pass that legacy on to my child. I routinely call my mom on my cell phone, put it on speakerphone, so that my 5 month daughter can talk to her grandma. And she knows when grandma is speaking to her, even through a cell phone!
My brother, who fits into that Millenial category, has a Skype phone (google that if you don’t know what it is), and his 2-year old son recently requested that someone “Skype Grandma!” I about fell out of my chair laughing so hard!
Internet is a harder one for me because I am aware of the dangers it poses. And with internet access now on phones, I’m going to have a harder time controlling what sites my will children visit. I do know that on a regular computer, you can set up the internet to only go to certain sites without a password, but there are always other computers, so I will probably just have to teach my children true principles and hope they choose to follow them.
I agree with both of you. There are great challenges ahead, but I hope that as those challenges become more prevelant, so will the technology to try and keep parents in control of the telephone content and other things like that. I also believe we will increase our productivity as a nation as we embrace technology, AS LONG AS WE KEEP TRUE PRINCIPLES ALIVE. That is the trick, being sure this next generation is taught respect for human life, not just techenology.
I love Jennifer’s comments about the millennial generation. It’s hard for us older folk (ok, I’m only speaking for myself) to understand what it’s like growing up with computers, Internet, mobile phones and X-box ever present and all around us. The ‘Millennials’ don’t know anything different. As Degraffenreid says, “their brains are literally wired quite differently than earlier generations.” They have grown up using CTRL ALT DELETE, knowing that the best way to get out of trouble is to reboot.
Not every person born in this era is wired exactly the same. However, if you look around (for me it takes simply looking at my own children) you’ll see big differences in how millennials use technology to interact. As parents of this generation, we need to understand the technology they use and why they use it. We need to understand it well enough to protect them from its evil or malicious uses. Instead of withholding the technology we need to help them understand the potential dangers and equip them so they can make correct decisions. We need to have open and effective communication.