In the New York Times, the article Devoting Attention to a Child and a Phone, All at Once caught my eye. This article talks about a new Iphone app that helps parents keep track of children’s play dates and also helps track their growth, health and emotional welfare.
Okay, this does seem like a useful app for new parents but whatever happened to doing things the old fashion way, or at least devoting more physical time to your children. Parents, put down the phones and interact with your children face to face. I have seen countless instances where parents have been with their children and have had a smart phone attached to their hand as well, or a family sitting at a table for dinner with their baby or young child being distracted by an Ipad. I understand that the internet has useful information about being a new parent but save that research for when the baby is asleep and don’t relay on a new app to help you keep track of your child’s growth.
This also connects to the way in which children will then use the internet. If new parents are being sucked into the world of Iphones and Ipads then what kind of impact will that have on their children? This all connects back to the discussion we were having about the ability to monitor the use of your child on the internet, and how it may be harder then we think. If a child grows up seeing their parents constantly connected to a blackberry or an Iphone then they will soon do the same. This involvement with the internet will soon lead to the issue that children do not know how to navigate the internet as responsibly as adults. Also, the constant contact that children have with the internet will then lead to children of younger and younger ages being able to navigate the internet. This will never lead to anything good, as children have a hard time seeing the division between public and private and also the fact that the internet has plenty of mature information not meant for children to see.
With the internet already surrounding children’s lives I think that it would be useful for parents to help in slowing down the process, not make it worse.
I totally agree with you. I think that nowadays parents give children too much information that at their young age they don’t need. They also give them gadgets such as blackberrys and iphones, which is not necessary for a 10 year old to have. You can just imagine what a 10 yr old surfing the net and finding things that are not appropriate for their age.
I think the “old fashion way” is better. I think we take advantage of all the new technology that we have access to, to spend less time with people. Children need love and care that you cannot provide through facetime. You need to be there and pay attention to them so you can correct them if they do something wrong and let them know when they are doing something right.
Going back to the Iphone app where “parents keep track of children’s play dates and also helps track their growth, health and emotional welfare.” What can your Iphone really tell you about your childs growth, health and emotional welfare? It is not a doctor to diagnose anyone with any type of problems. For all you know your Iphone could get a sad mac face and everything is wiped out from your phone. How would you remember what time your sons play date was?
The solution to this problem is that everyone should have an agenda, where they take a pen and manually write down info to keep track of important dates, and not rely so much on their smart phones for everything. When it comes to your child’s welfare, then maybe you should pay a little more attention to your child if you don’t realize that there might be something wrong with it.
-Armenis Perez
I completely agree with all the points you make about the New York Times article. The internet and technology have progressively taken over more and more of our lives. It has now come to the possibility of raising a child using various apps. I can’t believe there have been apps created to check your child’s growth and even monitor the welfare of a child. The technology is taking over the responsibilities of parents. I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal that talked about a Baby’s first app. This just blows my mind. Children’s minds are made to mold; Do we really want an iPhone or other smart phone apps to do that for us? There taking over the task of what a parent should be doing. There are various apps and games available to younger kids. The author of the WSJ article mentions how he let his children learn and use apps so that they can become tech savvy. Is it really that hard for a parent to let a child wait until they are at least in their teens before they allow them to use all this technology? I mean where’s the fun in being a kid anymore? There are a few generations (for example those currently in their 20-30’s) who didn’t grow up with all these apps and were still able to become tech savvy. It’s coming to the point where younger children are expecting everything to be touch screen. They automatically assume all they have to do is swipe their finger across something without having to hit any buttons. Everything probably will be that way soon, I just feel it shouldn’t be such a priority for children to have to learn all this technology at such a young age or for parents to rely on it so heavily or even at all.
i agree, i feel that certain things are suppose to be put off until a child is old enough to understand and be ready to use the internet responsibly. childhood memories are found going out with your parents, hanging out with friends, going places, going to the library to study. not texting your parents, instant messaging your friends, surfing the internet or downloading books on an ipad. as college students we are all guilty of utilizing the internet in any way possible, but we grew up in a age where this technology wasnt available and we enjoyed our childhoods without surfing the web for things to do. we have become accustom to new technologies and when we have children we instantly want to give them more then what we had growing up. but we need to remember that the good times were not surrounded by smart phones tablets or computers. my step brother went to LA with his choir and as a part of his trip went to the oprah show, in that show everyone got galaxy tablets. insane but hes a very imaginitive kid who altough uses it sometimes to find out about comics or super heroes, he stays true to his toys, books and imaginations so we should embrace technology, but in moderation, too much of anything isnt good, but we cant deny the importance of the internet.