Raising Tech: A Child in the Always on World (Premium)

Anyone who has been following me for 5 minutes will know that I have a daughter; I've even written about how she used the Surface Studio. But raising a child today is vastly different than when I grew up as a kid and I'm not always sure it's for the better.

When I started writing this post, it was about tech empathy as this is an important topic of today but as this post was compiled, the tone changed. I may go back to that topic one day but what I realized is that as a writer, I use this type of canvas to clear my head and what I was really looking for is how to raise a kid in a world surrounded by tech.

I want to be clear, I think tech is a good thing when used correctly. But like everything else in this world, it's prone to abuse but more so, it can also be an inhibitor as well. As a parent raising a kid growing up in the always-on world, it's a tough balance of when, where, and how much.

Let me explain, technology enables a mind to explore the entire world through a single screen. No longer do you have to venture out of the house to research a topic or find a movie for the family to watch as everything is now in the palm of your hand but there are challenges as a parent you must face.

How much screen time is too much for a child, how do you restrict the Internet but also enable the creativity of the mind on these digital devices? Simply saying 2hrs a day isn't really an answer because if my daughter is using an app to learn math, is 2hrs all that bad?

Children are addicted to screens, hell, I am addicted to screens too, and it's a very tough balance to tell my daughter you can't use the laptop but dad can look at his phone for 7 hours straight.

When taking our daughter out to dinner we have a 'no phone' policy...meaning she must be able to sit at the restaurant without digital entertainment for the duration of the meal. The idea is that she should be able to sit and be social for the period but we know that not everyone has this rule.

This sounds easy, but when every other human (adults and children) are looking at phones while waiting for a meal, a 4-year-old wants to know 'why can't I do that?'. And granted, technology is a fabulous babysitter. If your kid is acting up or you just want some alone time, shoving a screen in front of their face for a few hours is a great way to achieve peace and quiet.

I don't look down on those who hand their kids' screens and let them sit quietly in public spaces; everyone has a different way of parenting and I'm not one to judge how others raise their children.

But I wonder, somewhat aloud, about the impact this has on a species that is by its very nature a social creature. We also live in a time of competitiveness and when it comes to wanting your child to have a head-start in the world, is tech the way to do this or is it a long-term destabilizer to their self-confidence.

When it comes to tech and children, we are a living experiment about how far we can push the digit...

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