Writing for life

Published in the Wow! supplement of The Evening Echo

Technology does a lot of things to make our lives easier. Every day we use our mobile phones, our computers, ATMs, credit card machines, POS systems (or computerised “tills” to you and me) digital television systems that automatically record the programmes we like… without tapes. The list goes on and on and on, and everything is talking to everything else over myriad global communications networks.

(image by Homer Township Public Library)

If you think about it for too long your brain starts to sizzle gently in your cranium… but that’s okay, because you tend not to. Most of us aren’t that interested in how it all works… we’re just happy that it does, because all of this digital wizardry makes our our lives just a little bit easier, allowing us to squeeze more into our busy lives. There are times though, when technology makes life harder, and that can be especially true for parents.

Why? Because technology is everywhere and our children are often better at using it, and embrace it more readily than we do. Mobile phones and the internet are obvious examples… while many parents struggle to understand them, to the children of today they’ve become practically second nature. That’s worrying on lots of levels – but mostly because it means we’re incapable of keeping up with them… let alone keeping track of them.

Our children are growing up in a digital world, and that throws up a host of difficult questions for parents. How young is too young? When should we introduce children to computers? When should children get access to their own mobile phone? What about the Internet? How about social networking sites like Bebo, MySpace and Facebook? They’re all tough questions… and because we’re the first generation ever to face them, we’re fumbling in the dark. We can’t draw on conventional wisdom for guidance.

Some parents are very happy to provide access to technology even for very young children. An article in the New York Times on 12 June looking at just this issue quotes a mother who’s four year old has been “on the web since he could sit up” and whose six-year-old is proud owner of his own iPod and is looking for his own mobile phone. Other’s are much more cautious, wary of allowing children access to technology too early in their development.

I think we fall somewhere in between. Conscious of the fact that technology will play a much more central role in the girls’ education and their work lives than it has in our own, we’re naturally keen to afford them every opportunity to acquire the skills they’ll need. Just not at the expense of real interaction and real experiences in the real world.

The girls use the computer and the internet, but in the living room in plain view, and are only allowed to visit sites we’ve approved. The twins have MP3 players, and love listening to music – but we’ve limited the volume and upload all the music. Mobile phones aren’t even on the horizon yet, and won’t be for some time – but Nintendo DS consoles are already on next year’s Christmas list.

The article in the NYT cites the four stages of cognitive development identified by Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (0-2, 3-5, 6-11 and 12+), and suggests a range of suitable gadgets and gizmos to which parents can introduce their children at each stage. A lot of it is common sense, and of course is exactly what parents have been doing with all manner of toys for generations. So perhaps we can draw on a bit of good-old conventional wisdom after all….