by mark on February 18, 2011
CNN asks the question:
Have our brains become so desensitized by a 24/7, all-you-can-eat diet of lurid flickering images that we’ve lost all perspective on appropriateness and compassion when another human being apparently suffers a medical emergency? Have we become a society of detached voyeurs?
According to the most recent findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 8- to 18-year-olds on average spend 11½ hours a day using their technology.
Their brains have become “wired” to use their tech gadgets effectively in order to multi-task — staying connected with friends, texting and searching online endlessly, often exposing their brains to shocking and sensational images and videos. Many people are desensitizing their neural circuits to the horrors they see, while not getting much, if any, off-line training in empathic skills. And the effects may even reach young people.
I know quite a few people who enjoy watching those videos of people doing stunts and failing big-time. They seem to take particular pleasure with the ones where people get their grundles slammed on a railing, or get teeth knocked out with failed bike stunts. What do you think?
by mark on February 7, 2011
This NYT article presents the competition between the pros and cons of all of the technologies that we have at our fingertips. There’s an app for just about every kind of task you can imagine. and they can be used to help along your personal and work life.
But if you’re not consciously making sure that it’s working for you, it can own you, and before you know it, those same apps are taking away from your life.
From a family perspective, many of the ideas that are discussed from the perspective of adults can be adapted to kids as well.
You bought your kids cell phones so they can keep in touch in case of an emergency, or just for convenience. Have your kids been taken over by the cell phones? Do they text constantly to a point of being completely distracted all of the time? Have your kids turns into bad-manners-monsters because they can’t put them down even when they’re at the dinner table at the grandparents? Have technologies taken control of your kid’s reports cards?
by mark on February 5, 2011
by mark on February 4, 2011
A Dad, Mom, and six kids tried an experiment and totally unplugged from their gadgets for a week.
What do you it turned out like? Yelling? Arguments? Kids breaking down and going into total melt down mode? Will Mom and Dad even be able to resist their urges and overcome their addictions?
“But it was too hard, and I worked out I didn’t have room at work, so I unplugged everything from the wall and took all the remote controls and hid them instead.”
Despite the trepidation, the result came as a surprise to everyone.
Rather than fall apart, the family rediscovered the value of spending time with each other instead of staring at a screen.
“I didn’t think it would go as easily as it did,” Mr Mason said.
“Fortunately the weather was good, meaning the kids could spend a lot of time playing with the neighbours’ kids in the street outside.”
Puzzles, board games and conversation also filled the gadget void.
The Masons said the social experiment had changed their lives as a family. For a start, television viewing is now banned at the weekends, enabling them to spend more quality time together.
And this this part hasn’t surprised me one bit, because it echo’s what so many ComputerTime customers have told me over the years:
“We’ve seen a totally different attitude from the kids,” Mr Mason said.
He said it was fascinating to watch how his brood changed their behaviour and adapted to the altered circumstances.
“At the start of the week they whinged a bit, but by about Wednesday they were over it.
“By the end of the week they weren’t asking for anything because they knew it wasn’t going to happen.”
