The world my Sweetchildren will navigate is lightyears away from the one that I did as a child.
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How do we teach them that there’s not only an App for that, but also an appropriate social interaction, too.
We used to ask the Grampa. Now they ask The Google.
Tweets are no longer lovely sounds from a bird in nature.
It’s not all bad, though. Sitting around the kitchen table this weekend enjoying some family time (you know, where each of you sit with an electronic device of some kind and “enjoy each other’s company?), I received this text from Sweetboy:
I’ll overlook the grammar for now…
Does anything worry you about technology as a staple of our children’s diets?
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crazy wonderful
Thank!
I will be the first to admit that our kids get too much screen time, but we are trying to get better about it. When they don’t have a choice (i.e. banned from Wii, iPad, computer games), they are extraordinarily creative. They move around a lot more, which I know is better, but sometimes I do want to say,”Hey! Just sit down and look at a screen!” 😉 They are already much smarter than I am when it comes to tech-related things, but I think it’s because they are not inhibited; they will try anything. “I wonder what would happen if I clicked/pushed this button?” And tada! They just discovered how to turn my camera on the phone into taking blue pictures. 😛 This really happened, and it took me a very long time to figure out how to fix it back. Sigh. I am pleased to say that they are not socially awkward, and usually behave very well when in the company of grown-ups (myself not included, haha).
Christina, isn’t it Just awesome when our kids figure out how to do something in a moment that takes us about, oh say, a month to figure out how to undo. Ha ha. And I agree, when they aren’t allowed screen time they are so much more active and creative. It makes Me so curious about the creativity level of future generations.
Cute.
To seriously answer your question, Yes, it worries me a little. Here’s why…I see a real lack of basic social skills among kids. They don’t seem to have or even know enough manners to politely address someone, much less carry on a casual conversation.
There will always be face-to-face interaction in our world and maybe we should not neglect teaching our kids social skills that don’t require an app.
And for the record, I am a technology lover, despite my flip phone that doesn’t connect to the internet. 😉
~FringeGirl
Fringe girl, yes! ‘Zactly! And shouldn’t these kidlets of ours know how to acknowledge the human in the room before the computer in it?