To be getting irritated with all the "woe is society, children shouldn't use technology" ideas

[BlingLoving]

I see it here all the time. I see it on FB. I hear it. Real life, "oh, i never let ds play with my iPad, he only does wholesome things like roll in the mud and draw with organic crayons".

And when these people are challenged they just ignore it.

I am not talking about the people commenting on children spending literally hours on the computer, tv etc. we can probably all agree that too much of anything is bad. But the self righteous comments about children being given iPhones while their parents are standing in a long post office queue or whatever justbdrives me crazy.

We live in a busy and crowded world and expect our dc to fit in with our lives. A little technology helps us!

Feel better now?

We don't allow our children to have access to any computer fiddlies, why, they are only 5 years old, plenty of time.
One can teach a monkey to use a computer, it won't take long for them to catch up.

I want my children to read for pleasure, play in the garden, climb trees, build tree houses and wigwams, play rugby, roll in the mud, ahem, but most of all, learn to use their own imagination by making up games.
I don't want them to be spoon fed someone else's imagination via computer games.

Oh, and I judge, with raised eyebrow, all and sundry, who buy their offspring iPads etc for their 2nd birthday. Oh, how I judge.
Do I give a fig what they or you, OP, think of my choices? No, dear, I don't.

We didn't have a telly even when our dc were little; it hasn't turned them into miraculously outdoorsy people at all; in fact they can't stand nature despite our best endeavours.

They are imaginative and fun to talk to- but so are their mates who grew up with the modern technology; I can't really see that it's made much difference.

In cases, where it does seem to make a difference, there is something underlying that probably explains why the children have become obsessed by technology; e.g. SN or a parent who is unable to engage with them due to MH problems.

Come to think of it, there is no reason why children of my generation who read lots of books should be more outdoorsy and social than modern children who use iPads. Books are pretty well the least social and least outdoor adapted medium you could think of. I should know- I was an anti-social bookworm.

It's normal for one generation to fear the developments that are coming for the next. Every single batch of children has some "new fangled" thing that their grandparents and parents are wary of, partly I think because it reminds the older generation that they are being left behind and that the world is moving on without them. A desire to move back to "simpler" things is more a desire to keep the world from changing and to assure ourselves that we're sending our children into a similar sort of society that we encountered. Of course we can't assure ourselves of that, at all, and the society our children will become adults in won't resemble our society very much at all. Scary thought but our children will manage, same as we did.

My ds is only 2 and he can use my DH's tablet far better than I can. Makes me feel a bit redundant tbh.

I'm not anti-technology, but I do think that as a society we're sort of losing the ability to be bored or un-stimulated for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm not really sure this is a good thing.

What dreamigbohemian said. We all have the attention span of gnats!

I dont like the instant infornation or entertainment that comes with technology.

I worry that our children will not know how to research in a library or debate a side of an argument as they can just click a button and the answer is there for them.

Well folks, everybody is responsible for themselves. If you worry about your ability to be bored, you can do something about it and get off Mumsnet. Personally, it won't solve my problems as there are some 3000 books in this house that could the gap for the foreseeable future. I've never had to be bored and wouldn't know how to start.

As a kid I spent a lot of time outdoors doing the above mentioned things. This was partly because we had a small house and partly because we only had 3 tv channels and games consoles hadn't been invented yet :)

When I compare my DC's tech laden lives I see it as different rather than better. Apart from the child obesity argument, I don't see why climbing trees and stuff is that big a deal.

It's part of life so we allow access. It's like with anything when taken to excess it can have a negative impact. DD1 has computer lessons at nursery, uses our tablet and watches TV. But she has oodles of imagination and also loves exploring the garden, long walks and generally climbing everything. When she's watched too much TV, however i do notice a change in her behaviour (for the worse) but I think this is more because she needs to have a good run around every day and too long in front of the TV means that doesn't happen (convincing DH of this is difficult as he is also a telly addict - the same happens to him as well but he doesn't notice....). It's part of their world.

I'm not anti technology as such, but I do want to avoid my LO (11 weeks) having a penchant for stuff that is too expensive to easily replace - e.g. seeing a small baby using mums smart phone as a teether, or a toddler dribbling all over an iPad and then dropping it/stepping on it etc. I know small people are clumsy, thats fine, but I would prefer them to be clumsy with cheap stuff!

When my baby is big enough to play 'nicely' i.e. sat down, reasonable attention span, appreciation of other peoples things then I will happily introduce expensive technology - until then we will be delighted with hand me down leapfrog 'laptop', Vtec mobile phone, board books and play doh.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

This weekend my son built dens, played monopoly, wrote a book (!), baked with
me, went swimming and we read harry potter along with playing minecraft on his tablet and a couple of hours on the ps3 over the course of the weekend.

Why do people assume the wholesome and technological aspects can't coexist?

The irony has just hit me.

It is a sunny, albeit crispy cold day, and we are on the Internet discussing how children should spend more time outdoors.

I just don't understand why it's binary. The idea that if your child touches a computer or spies a television screen means that their imagination is KILLED FOR ALL TIME.

Good parenting will mean making sure that these things are used in (extreme) moderation. I've got a 24 hour flight with a toddler coming up - you can be very certain that I'll be letting him use my iPad. But he'd rather read a book - he's the resident bookworm at his nursery - or run round and round in circles for half an hour.

I want to do what my parents did. We got a computer when I was about 10, with limited screen time and encouragement to do things that helped us develop. Learning to manipulate a mouse did more for my co-ordination issues than two years of occupational therapy.

But there was balance - we grew up on a farm and we spent hours out of doors doing utterly mad things.

We did ok, two lawyers and a civil servant who still live pretty out of doors lives, but can also build computers (not me), identify an authoritative online source, do coding to various levels of proficiency and argue a point online as well as in person.

Thanks, MrsK, you put what I was trying to say much more neatly.

i don't understand the reticence either. i happily let my 2 year old use my ipod touch. we also sometimes go on the cbeebies website - i find it really interesting to watch how his computer skills are developing. it's one of many activities we do together. he will also sit happily and poke drinking straws into a box for half an hour, it's just as interesting for him.

why would i not let him use computers? they are a fundamental part of modern society. i love the way we have access to so much information and so many resources, it's an amazing time to be living in.

I let my 2yr old use my iPod, he's learned to be very dextrous with his fingers, has better control than me and has a nice little collection of apps which he enjoys doing himself. He puts his own playlist on as well. He doesn't get it all that much but it is very useful in places where no toy is available and there is a wait.

He does all the other things too, plays outside, gets dirty, imagination etc. The iPod is just a tool the same as his other toys.

Everything in moderation.

I agree with the OP, as long as kids get everything they need in other areas, technology isn't some evil that's magically going to undo all the good.

I wouldn't be where I am today if I wasn't given free access to computers (PCs and games consoles) in my spare time from an early age, it's a lifelong interest no more or less valid than any other and happily I've made a good career out of it.

And yes, I do still have memories of climbing trees, bike rides, playing football etc etc, the two aren't mutually exclusive.

It's annoying. My DD is one of those imaginative children who will play with anything and doesn't need much technology. My DS on the other hand finds it hard to entertain himself so giving him the ipad to play with gives everyone a break. He learns lots from it and it fires his imagination - he then does lego play based on his ipad games.

My 2.5 has a folder full of apps on the iPad. It is amazing what he can do. Not just with the control he has learned for drawings but he can do all colours, shapes, count and knows the alphabet. Technology as a learning took is phenomenal.

Obviously he does all this while still dong all the outside and creative stuff. He will often jolly on iPad instead of watching any tv.

Dd watches TV, plays on the laptop and can write in web addresses for cbeebies and PBS games, she can also use our iPhones and navigate through games by herself. She is not exactly outdoorsy, but we go to our local parks and stuff and she knows names of birds and trees when she sees them.

Technology isn't evil. She was saying simple words in mandarin aged 2.5 thanks to the Lingo Show game on the cbeebies website. It depends on how you let them use technology. Watching endless crap on YouTube isn't really going to help them learn anything.

I also disagree that kids won't be able to search for information effectively or debate, so much is beyond a simple Google search and there is so much uninformed bollocks on the Internet that critical thinking and evaluation of sources will be more useful to them than to someone 50 years ago in a library.

Hopefully they'll do better than the adults on my Facebook who believe everything anyone posts. (Free ipads!)