Susan Maushart has recently written a book called ”The Winter of Our Disconnect” about an experiment she did with her teenage kids. Basically they took screens away for 6 months; TV screens, computer screens, ipods, video games and mobile phones.
This quote from the article sums up well why Maushart decided to do this ‘Experiment’. “Like so many teens, they couldn’t do their homework without simultaneously listening to music, updating Facebook and trading instant messages. If they were amused, instead of laughing, they actually said “LOL” aloud. Her girls had become mere “accessories of their own social-networking profile, as if real life were simply a dress rehearsal (or more accurately, a photo op) for the next status update.”
She states in a recent interview that they rediscovered small pleasures, ‘like board games, books, lazy Sundays, old photos, family meals and listening to music together instead of everyone plugging into their own iPods’. Her son took up the saxophone again as the video console was put away and she states in her book that his friends elected to come to his house to play board games. Her 18yr old daughter’s friends thought the ban was ‘cool’ and she took to reading and going to library if she needed to use the internet. Her youngest daughter took to spending hours talking on the land line to her friends instead.
Our society is already so technology dependent and recent statistics state that facebook has now overtaken google in it’s amount of use and 1/10 of every internet minute is spend on facebook. (http://manojtech.com/manoj/?p=1275)
How is this affecting our kids and their futures? What can we as parents do now to help our kids grow up with a balanced, healthy perspective on the use of social networks and other various technology. Leave your comments on the facebook page for open discussion.
View the article at – http://www.valleynewslive.com/Global/story.asp?S=13861727
Her book ‘The winter of our disconnect’ can be found at this site for just over $13 with free postage. http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781585428557/The-Winter-of-Our-Disconnect
