There is no question in my mind: the youth in our culture today are obsessed with technology. Maybe addicted is a better word. Either way, it is a serious attachment that permeates the world of young people. We have discussed this often in class, and it is important to realize that young people are very interested in finding ways to be independent from their parent’s and have their own ‘space.’ As we talked about in the classroom, young people need their bedroom to a space just for them. This way they can maneuver through the difficult world of adolescents with a home-base of their own. So it is natural to see young people jumping on this technology that allows them a space to be in constant communication with friends and be apart from their parents.
But my concern is that parents have allowed this to become far too prevalent in the lives of young adults. When kids are younger, parents are not going to let children control where they are going/who they are visiting. And parents are not going to take the family dinner up to the kid’s room and eat outside the door so the child can remain in his/her separate space. But, without parental restrictions, these two situations have become a reality with technology. Students can now ‘visit’ their friends (or whoever) whenever they want. And, while at the dinner table, they could be texting or checking Facebook while on the phone.
And what do parents do? They accept this addiction to technology as normal. They let their child become more and more immersed in the preoccupation with texting, iPods, internet, etc. The kids are quiet, right? And they are at home, right? But in the world of media, they could be saying or doing anything. And they could ‘be’ with anyone, anywhere, at any time.
I think this is not an issue of government control. This is an issue of parents being lazy, unaware and out of control. Parents need to find the time to talk to their children. Discuss the hard topics: sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. And they need to limit usage of technology while children are young and impressionable. With age comes greater understanding, and the access to technology should work the same way. But, once again, I don’t believe these limitations on media should be a government issue, but a parent issue.
American families. Wake up. Do your kids have problems? Don’t look at the world ‘out there’ with judging eyes. Look inward.
I completely agree with all that you have said. I still believe in all the old school stuff of sitting down with your child and giving them the talks, and making eye contact with the person and not your electronic device during a conversation. It seems like that all has gotten away with these new generations because parents just want their kids to be quite and preoccupied while they do things that they enjoy. So now these kids are just glued to there electronic device's screens and don't pay much attention to reality, and a change of this would be great because I get tired of asking the person I am talking to if they heard what I just said and they reply, "No," do to they were sending a message or playing a video game. Like you said, this all starts with the parents and not the government.
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