Whenever I hear parents complain about their kid's technology use, it
is almost always about smartphone use. Rarely do I hear any complaints
about their children's use of a computer, and not many about tablets.
So
why then, do parents lump all technology together when they want to
limit screen time or when they discipline their kids and say no
technology. That is like finding your kid reading a dirty magazine and
saying, "Your punishment is no more reading for a week".
Smartphones are the troublemakers. Smartphones cause or allow our kids to:
- Never look up from their phone, cutting themselves off from the world and putting themselves in danger.
- Send text messages to anyone at anytime.
- Be extremely rude to everyone around them.
- Not pay attention in school because they can have the phone hidden.
- If they have a driver's license, they can drive and text, which is the worst offense of all or talk and text, which isn't much better.
I am all for taking smartphones away for disciplinary reasons and limiting their use.
In fact, until your kids have earned it, you can get them simple cellphones
instead of smartphones. These allow them to call you in case of
emergency, but do not have all the other functions. I also recommend
that parents try to model the way that they would like their kids to use
smartphones.
Tablets do allow texting, but if you don't pay for
cellular, your kids will be very limited in where they can use it. And
most tablets are rather large to carry around.
The computer,
whether a laptop or a desktop, is the innocent victim here. You can
easily have a family computer in a common area to make sure your kids
aren't using it for inappropriate activities.
What can kids, tweens and teens do on their computers, that hopefully you are not limiting or taking away?
When on the computer, they are doing something. They will either use a search engine
or type in a url to go somewhere. Being online is not passive. Almost
any website they go to, even if it is to watch something, involves
reading. Many websites involve writing, even if it means just adding a
comment.
Teens love looking things up online. They might not
necessarily look up what we consider educational. But the act of
searching for information is a great skill. Who cares if they want to
know what year Dumb and Dumber was produced or how many games the Knicks
won in 1998. They are satisfying their curiosity by doing online searches on reference websites.
Do
your kids love video games? They can play many online for free. Video
games have many benefits, so don't worry unless that is all they do. And
even better, there are websites in which they can learn how to create video games. I'll be writing about them soon.
Your kids can listen to music, find book recommendations
and learn about anything they want. There isn't anything that they
can't learn online. Not to mention that they probably need a computer
for much of their school work. My sons feel bad for me that I didn't
have the Internet when I was growing up.
Conclusion
A
computer is fantastic resource for anything and everything. Don't take
away a wonderful resource where no harm is occurring because your kids
are wreaking havoc on another device. Take away that device.
By Jennifer Wagner
Family Technology Expert
