Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Children and the Digital World

I grew up as a child living in the paradise of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I lived with my parents and 7 brothers and sisters. After breakfast on Saturday morning we girls cleaned the house while the boys worked in the yard and tended to the animals.  We usually worked until lunch time hopefully finishing in time to be allowed to watch a couple cartoons, if we were lucky.  After lunch that was it, my mother said “get out”.   We were not allowed to stay inside to watch TV, we had to go outside and find something to do.  Which we always did, we lived near lake Superior where we would swim until dark.  We also had a tree house, we rode our bikes, swung from a tree rope, searched the woods, anything our imagination could get us into.  It is sad how our children do not have that luxury now.  In this day and age you can’t let your child out of your sight for fear of what or who might happen to them. 

I don’t know about you but I do not have the time to do all of these things with my children and since they cannot be out of my site I turned to the Digital World.  As babies I would put on a video or TV show to occupy my children while I cooked dinner, cleaned or had something to do.   Oh what that has turned into.
My children are very different my 20 year old is the total jock, a social butterfly and an average student (with a lot of prodding).  He played every sport year round during school but still managed plenty of time for video games.  Now that he is older he still plays all of the latest and greatest sports video releases and is a twitter and Facebook addict, always tweeting about some sport something or other. 

My 12 year old is a braniac, he is a straight A student, not very social, he is consumed with reading, reading one book after the other and is addicted to the computer, Xbox, and YouTube. He is a walking encyclopedia, he is constantly saying "well actually" and then informing you of some knowledge he has absorbed to correct or enhance your statement.  He does not want to go outside and throw a ball, shoot hoops or even ride his 4 wheeler.  His plan is to be an author, software developer, or develop some kind of new technology.  My, my how the digital world has affected this child.  

I think almost all children are now affected by the digital world in some form or another, is it from the technology or the society we live in?  I think it may be a little of both.  Children are not free to roam, use their imagination and explore like we did and we did not have all of the technology and luxuries that they do.

Cindi Davis, DIG2000

4 comments:

  1. I think to be well rounded is best.

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  2. I heard a term today that I think applies - digital autism. Tuned in, but tuned out at the same time. So many people are so engrossed and wholly absorbed in the digital world and being connected that it affects their real-life social bearing. Many are very uncomfortable in face-to-face situations. The art of conversation is fading, and few are comfortable in situations where you just sit and observe what's going on around you.

    Maryellen Bailey

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  3. I think that when you get children to interact with one another, ie sports; it helps them develope socially. Most of the instances I read about kids shooting up the school or being bullied are un-socialible kids. When you interact with society it is good not only for social acceptance but for society as a whole. The problem now is that many children are sheltered because of computers or video games. Not to say that your kid is bad or anything, he is a product of his generation. I am 33 so for me I have seen the difference from when I was in high school and college in the 90's to now. It is very different because of the accessability to digital things. But at the end of the day, I think each individual must understand the role they play in society.

    Chris Todd

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  4. Social media is great in some ways, but not so much in others. My kids want to play video games all day. It is like pulling teeth to get them to go out side. When I put my foot down and make them go outside; they complain that it is too hot or that there is nothing to do. When I was a child I loved being outside, there was lots of things to do, you just had to get creative and use your imagination. Times have really changed.

    Lori Quarles

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