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 digital boundaries without socially and mentally handicapping our children with the digital educational opportunities. I know that as you add more children to a family, the complexity ramps up exponentially; by using technology, you can calm the calamity and appease your children at the same time.

Many years ago, this same conversation was had about the radio and later the television. The difference here is that there is no longer one screen in a home but many different ways to obtain the same style of entertainment.

One thing that my wife pointed out to me is that apps and children’s TV shows are hyperstimulation. Meaning, the interactions change so quickly, it keeps them engaged. Conversely, the real world moves at a much slower pace which puts non-tech entertainment at odds with digital stimulation.

This is a topic I think about constantly as my daughter gets older and technology is becoming more invasive with each generation. While we don’t live with things on our head, it’s only a matter of time before the first fully digital generation is being born.

So why am I writing this? It’s an open-ended question of how much tech, is too much tech?

As we raise our kids in the always-on world, entertainment is right around the corner but it’s also outside the front door too. Finding the right balance is not an easy task when your all your child wants is more screen time and you just want to rest after a long day of work.