Digital Nation
Did anyone watch the Frontline episode called Digital Nation? If not, you should check it out online. It's quite enlightening and shows how wired our kids really are. Certainly not all kids, but a good majority of them. It is changing everything, from the way they are taught in high school and college to interactions in the workplace in the future. Even their hearing is being altered from being wired all the time to their iPods and computers listening to pop music, which has certain frequencies, they can no longer hear the nuances typical of classical music, which has more complex frequencies. What used to take hundreds of years to evolve is literally happening before our very eyes.
It's crazy,sometimes scary, and it's happening now. Kids multitask constantly and what this has meant is that they can more easily switch between one thing and another BUT I think it has compromised their ability to really look at problems in an in-depth way. Without a little quiet in their lives, they will never be contemplative and without this ability, I think they are bound for a much more stressful life than we have lead. With the next generation looking at the world 140 characters at a time, our world is likely to evolve in ways we can't even imagine at this time.
Remember when we used to take vacations and check messages when we got back? Those days are gone. Everyone is expected to be connected all the time. Even when people are together in a room, often they are off in other worlds, chatting with their friends on their laptops, skyping with their boyfriend or receiving a text from a friend who is planning what to do on the weekend. What may seem on the surface as technology ripping relationships apart, may in fact be technology starting to bring us back together.
I remember as a high school student being gone from morning until night. My parents knew where I was, but we didn't talk while I was gone, except for the phone call home to tell them where I was. Now I am more likely to talk to my kids multiple times per day, whether it is via cell phone or texting. And most of the time, it is them initiating the call. I think we are closer because of technology.
What do you think? Has technology brought you closer to your kids or brought a wedge between you? I'd love to hear your story.
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