Screens, tech and society - hate it

[Flippetydip]

Apologies if this has been done to death - and yes before anyone points it out I am typing this on social media and therefore embracing the "modern age" but I find it deeply depressing seeing everyone buried in screens to the exclusion of all else.

So far I've managed to avoid tablets/phones etc for our DC (7 and 9) but I'm aware it won't be long and then we lose them as well. I hate the fact that they will not live their teenage lives without constant exposure on social media. I feel fortunate to be old enough that I could be stupid and think stupid things when younger without feeling the need to show the world (or have someone else show the world without my permission). I hate the fact that home will no longer be a safe environment for them - you used to be able to switch off from the shit of the day by coming home but now it follows you everywhere.

How do I learn to like it and how do I keep my children safe when the time comes?

As a teacher, I cannot see how technology has improved my job at all

What, none of it? Printing, radio, the telephone? None of it?

White boards,3D printers, interactive lessons,computers, coding, game based learning, the technology hasn’t aided teaching?
Do you use chalk and blackboard then?

The irony of moaning about it on the internet though 😂

If Bill Gates & Steve Jobs can manage to bring up their children without 24/7 technology, I’m sure you can too, OP.

There's a fantastic clip the BBC roll out now and again of a terribly posh 20-ish woman, superficially dressed in the clothes of the day but unfortunately thinking the thoughts of her mother, interrogates a popular beat musician. "How long do you think audiences are going to keep on accepting this music, that hasn't got any quality?" You can currently see it here from 12:45 onwards. I wonder what became of The Who? And I wonder what became of her?

For any societal change, it is very easy to decry it. Social networking? Women getting degrees? This fire business? That's not to say that all change is positive progress to a better world, what one might loosely describe as the Whig view of history. But it's hard to think of something we now see as good which wasn't widely decried at the time. By and large, we take the good and fix the bad, and finding tendentious quotes from reactionaries doesn't really take us anywhere.

Did gates and jobs bring their kids up tech free,or did they simply impose limits?

I have two teenagers, neither of them are into social media. They have issues with the lack.of privacy, think FB is for "old people" and txt their friends, or talk to them over head sets whilst gaming (or chatting whilst watching youtube vids)

So yes, they are on screens/PCs, but are not into social media.

Not everyone is

Did gates and jobs bring their kids up tech free

Jobs didn't raise his children at all and in one case, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, he went to court to deny paternity. Anyone who wants to read the account of his behaviour (see here) and tell us about the lessons to be learned from his behaviour is welcome to.

I am setting DD(4) Up with heaps of hobbies, interests and hopefully confidence. She is horsey and athletic and i hope she will focus on hobbies and interests but accept make up and boys with cars will probably replace this in due course Anything other than the current self-obsession trend.

I used the word improved as in added value since I began. I'm younger than the printing press! I can't think of anything that has been introduced in the last 20 years of my career though.

I can't think of anything that has been introduced in the last 20 years of my career though.

No child has benefitted from Google, ever? Wikipedia? All worthless? My, that's a strong claim.

Most routers now have parental controls blocking sites
AND you can set timers (2 hours between 3:30 and 7pm) or off from 8pm for individual devices. Some devises lets you see what the children are doing online when 'homework' just doesn't sound right (unless they're are writing a 1000 words on the pros and cons of you tubers)

There will be a bigger demand for this technology to give the parents the control back

"At the very least it atomises kids and actually reduces their contact with a real, flesh and blood, social community."

That depends. My dc seem to use it very much to arrange social contact, to find out where they can meet up with their peers, and to plan activities together.

When I was young in the late 70s, I sat at home with my books, a complete social recluse. Now I used twitter to keep in touch with colleagues in my field, learn who is coming into the field, and find out about events I can go to to meet people. During recent upheavals in my profession, I have found it an invaluable source of information and collegiality. It also means I can support vulnerable students when they need me, even if I am on the other side of the Atlantic.

No, my 5 year old pupils have not benefited from Google. Not one jot.

In the upper school, I would say research skills have become far less robust since Google.

I don’t like social media for kids and teens as I don’t think they are well equipped to understand it is fantasy land and extremely competitive.
Many of my friends limit their kids screen time and have put off smart phones as long as possible.
The French have banned mobile phones in schools.
Tech and this type of media certainly have a place but I don’t think it is particularly healthy to sit around on a phone for very long each day.

I have two teenagers -
Both have phones, tablets and laptops. They know the rule is never to post anything they would not be prepared to say/show to me or their Grandmother. They have lots of interests that get them out
of the house and off their tech. It's about balance! You will not 'lose your children'

I agree. I don't own a smartphone because I don't want the internet with me all day. I hope I don't ever have to get one.

I waited until dd was 10 before she was allowed any technology. In the space of two years she's acquired 2 games consoles, a tablet and a smartphone.. I'm really glad she had 10 years of childhood before it all arrived. If I could go back in time I'd wait until she was 12 or ever later.

I feel like a lot of our day is wasted on this stuff. In some ways it makes life better, but in most ways it's worse.

As a secondary school teacher I wish teenagers didn't have phones! So much angst and they seem to be the main way girls bully these days. Kids sat next to their friends on the school bus ignoring them for other friends via their phone. Not to mention the constant "you were warned not to have your phone out, now you need to hand it over" "no I won't I'm waiting for a call from my mum!"

There's actually a bit of an older teen backlash against social media IME. The cool thing is to use it to make arrangements and nothing else, apart from sharing the odd holiday snap, and to actually talk to your friends in person the old fashioned way. It's a snobbery and elitism thing in part, I think, wanting to be different - like the revival in hard copy magazines. They also think a lot of social media - especially Facebook - is for young teenagers and people over the age of 35.

Figment, my experience exactly

She is horsey and athletic

What? Aged 4?! I expect it's a bit too early to tell that just yet!

I used tech for my kids from birth,I installed a webcam to see they were ok in their rooms

They Started with the kindle fire when toddlers, progressed to iPad

What really annoys me about tech is parents ignoring their children because they're engrossed in their phone

At the very least it atomises kids and actually reduces their contact with a real, flesh and blood, social community

My kids arrange to meet,play dates,check homework etc on iPad & phone. I am in contact with school mums to arrange meet ups with their real flesh and blood, in the social community

There is this affection and angst that kids using social
Is dehumanising, they’ll be zombies I tell ya

Decreasing face to face meet ups and community participation.when social media actually arranges & encourages meet ups

Exposure to risk and predatory individuals. Potentially,so as a parent one manages it.duscusses risk. Puts on filters on iPad,router etc

We have relatives who live a distance away,my kids use face time,they make videos and send emails. All maintaining social contact

Recently a friend forgot to bring homework book home,didn’t have the question & instructions. Txt my kid who sent back a photo of the question. Homework got completed.

DS1 is 15. He has a mobile phone and a PlayStation which he goes on and plays games with his friends a few nights a week.

He also plays football in the park, goes to town, eats in Nandos and McDonald, goes to the odd football match and spends time with his family.

Social Media doesn't mean you'll lose your kids. They just use it and do all the same stuff we did.