The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.
The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.
We don’t expect enough from our teens. And it’s hurting us as a society, says Newt Gingrich in last week’s Business Week.
“At age 13, [Benjamin] Franklin finished school in Boston, was apprenticed to his brother, a printer and publisher, and moved immediately into adulthood.
“John Quincy Adams attended Leiden University in Holland at 13 and at 14 was employed as secretary and interpreter by the American Ambassador to Russia. At 16 he was secretary to the U.S. delegation during the negotiations with Britain that ended the Revolution.
“Daniel Boone got his first rifle at 12, was an expert hunter at 13, and at 15 made a yearlong trek through the wilderness to begin his career as America’s most famous explorer. The list goes on and on.”
That was then and this is now? Times change? Well, he makes some pretty good points and maybe it’s time to change back to a model where we expect our kids to be more productive. Not back to sweatshops, but how about letting them do things that they love and letting them make money doing it? Our laws actually prevent able-bodied and willing kids from working part-time outside of lemonade stands, baby sitting, or newspaper delivery.
We’ve created adolescence to keep kids out of sweatshops but we’re past that now. We keep inner-city kids trapped in a lousy educational system and this contributes to gangs, drug problems, and irresponsible sexual activity. Even middle-class and wealthy kids have a lot more to contribute to society, but that resource goes untapped. Haven’t we noticed a shift with adolescence being pushed into mid-twenties and beyond?
What does this have to do with the Internet though? Let me hand it back over to Newt:
“Fortunately, innovations in technology and in financial incentives to learn offer hope.
“The Information Age makes it possible for young people to learn much faster than our current failed bureaucracies and obsolete curriculums permit. New systems such as Curriki, founded by Sun Microsystems and now an independent nonprofit, allow a community of teachers and learners to collaborate via the Internet to create quality educational materials for free—giving every American access to learning 24 hours a day.”
Makes it possible, yes, but only if somebody takes advantage of the opportunities will it make a difference.
What an inspiring story of Ashley Qualls, who started with $8 from her mom to start a website at age 14, and by the time she was 17 had a million-dollar business.
Most stories about teens and the Internet revolve around wasted endless hours, aimless social networking, instant messaging addiction. But Ashley decided to do something else. With a strong work ethic, she applied herself and lifted herself and her family from living in a one-bedroom apartment and insecurity into a $250,000 house and no more worries.
What are your kids squandering their time doing? Is technology controlling your kids’ time, or are your kids using technology to control their future, because the opportunities are there, and they appear to be endless.
More reason for parents to be staying on their toes and knowing what your kids are doing online.
Mr. Zuckerberg pinned his optimism on a change in behavior among Internet users: that they are ever more willing to tell others what they are doing, who their friends are, and even what they look like as they crawl home from the fraternity party.
“I would expect that next year, people will share twice as much information as they share this year, and next year, they will be sharing twice as much as they did the year before,” he said. “That means that people are using Facebook, and the applications and the ecosystem, more and more.” (NYT)
If the CEO of Facebook is right, then we need to teach kids what is appropriate to put online and what the risks are.
Have you had “the talk” with your kids yet? Do they let you see what’s on their page? How does it work in your family?
The report said that those who listened for five hours a week at high-volume settings exposed themselves to more noise than permitted in the noisiest factory or work place. Maximum volume on some devices can generate as much noise as an airplane taking off nearby.
The study — from a team of nine specialists on the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks — also warns that young people do not realize the damage until years later. (NYT)
Later in the eighties, I remember hearing or reading that Kerry Livgren (keyboardist/guitarist from Kansas) put out his own PSA of sorts warning of hearing loss and he spoke from personal experience:
A recent occurrence in my life has compelled me to write this letter. It concerns a subject that is relevant to everyone — our sense of hearing.
I have been a professional musician since 1965. I spent years playing in clubs, schools, and all the other types of gigs that musicians do, not counting the myriad hours spent in rehearsals. As the
guitarist-keyboardist for Kansas, I have recorded ten albums with that group, two solo albums, and three more albums with the group A.D. In addition to all that studio time, my ears logged thousands of hours of high-decibel concerts, sound checks, etc., over fourteen years of touring.
I recently completed recording my first instrumental project for Sparrow records, and I was schedules to master it in Nashville. The night before my mastering date I was rudely awakened at 3 a.m. by a loud ringing in my right year. I had experienced something like this before, but never at so alarming a level. It was still there in the morning, so I had to rely on the ears of other engineers and friends at the mastering facility.
When I got home, I went through a battery of tests with doctors and audiologists who told me what I suspected anyway: noise-induced hearing loss. Even though for the last several years I have been monitoring at very conservative levels, my ears seem to have been seriously affected, and the prognosis for this type of damage to one’s hearing is not very encouraging.
Little or nothing can be done about it. Unfortunately, our lives do not have an “Undo” command. If I had one, I would most certainly use it, for in retrospect all those wonderful decibels that were so exciting at the time were destroying the very means I had of perceiving them. Now my career, and other areas of my life, are in question, for deafness destroys a great deal more than just the enjoyment of music. All of these wonderful toys we read about in this publication [Electronic Musician] become scrap metal without a God-given ear to hear them with.
It’s not worth it, my friends. Rock and roll takes its toll. I wish I had listened to my dad in 1965 when he opened the garage door and yelled: “Can’t you turn it down and still enjoy it?”
I have lots of friends. I don’t think I could count them all. You know, the types of people that you could go out to dinner with once in a while, have a few drinks at a happy hour with, and you see them every once in a while.
Then I have my really good friends. You know, the ones that will actually be there for you for the rest of your life. The kind that will drop everything for you when you really need something. These are the ones that you have fun with all of the time. And you can say or do anything to them and they might even get mad at you for a little while, but they’re loyal to you as you would be loyal to them. I could probably count those on my fingers and toes.
You make those really good friends by investing a lot into them over time. Being roommates. Spending endless hours on a team working the late nights to get a software release out the door. Sharing New Years Eve year after year, a ski trip, or regular road trips to fun places. Being part of the group that always helps each other move from one home to the next, or throwing baby showers for each other. Encouraging your friends to take a risk and being there for them even if things go bad. Good times. Bad times.
Hal in Toronto writes in the New York Times about how he was really proud of the fact that he had 700 friends on Facebook. Time to throw a party! He creates the event on Facebook and sends out his invitations.
Fifteen “Will Attends”, Sixty “Maybes”. Should be a good time!
“On the evening in question I took a shower. I shaved. I splashed on my tingly man perfume. I put on new pants and a favorite shirt. Brimming with optimism, I headed over to the neighborhood watering hole and waited.
“And waited.
“And waited.
“Eventually, one person showed up.”
Clicking on that “Accept Invitation to be Hal’s Friend” button wasn’t really much of an investment on the part of these so-called friends. Hal ponders the situation:
I would learn, when I asked some people who didn’t show up the next day, that “definitely attending” on Facebook means “maybe” and “maybe attending” means “likely not.” So I probably shouldn’t have taken it personally. But the combination of alcohol and solitude turned my thoughts to self-pity. Was I really that big of a loser? Or was it that no one wants to get together in real life anymore?It wasn’t Facebook’s fault; all those digital pals were better than nothing. For chipping away at past friendships and blocking honest new efforts, you really have to blame the entire modern world. People want to hang out with you, I assured myself. They just don’t have the time.
Hal, unless your last name is “9000“, I suggest that you leave the digital pals behind you. They are just made up of 1’s and 0’s and when you log off at the end of the night, they are erased from memory. Get back to the real friends that are in the real world and forge deeper bonds with them. They are probably sitting behind a glowing monitor counting their Facebook Fakefriends just like you were, and feeling about as empty as a result.
You might only have a dozen or so of those flesh-and-blood, loyal friends, but they are the ones who are really worth spending the time with. And when Facebook goes bankrupt some day and shuts down, you don’t have to worry about losing touch with your real friends.
The concerns about Families and Technology extend beyond this blog. SoftwareTime is a company founded on the idea that technology affects families in many ways. Balance and responsible use of technologies is important. SoftwareTime's products will help.
