The landscape of the world today is vastly different from when I was growing up.\u00a0 Having a viewport to the internet in your pocket has changed the game.\u00a0 In my adolescent years the internet hadn\u2019t really come of age, and for those that would argue, it\u2019s access wasn\u2019t nearly as ambiguous as it is now.\u00a0 Technology in general is a requirement today, how to interface, operate, and fundamental concepts will dictate your personal and professional life.<\/p>\n
With its prevalence we must do everything we can to make sure that our children have every advantage as they grow, which means introducing them to technology so that they can succeed in the world as we can only imagine it will be when they reach adulthood.\u00a0 Being an IT professional means that I have an affinity for technology.\u00a0 I used to say I am the purveyor of all things cool in the world of tech.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to think that I still am, though there are some boundaries to what I can obtain which leads me to make more careful considerations on what I purchase.<\/p>\n
Pulling back to the parenting theme; We as parents have a role in our child\u2019s life that is more impactful that we can fathom.\u00a0 We are the ones responsible for the introduction of technology to our children, and with it the internet.\u00a0 As powerful as it can be I think a base level of understanding needs to be in place before ever setting a child loose on the internet.\u00a0 It can be a great learning opportunity, but it can also be the first step down a slippery slope or even downright dangerous.<\/p>\n
Consider this; There are lots of things in the average home to drink.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got water, milk, juice, alcohol, etc. \u00a0Sure, you immediately dismiss alcohol as an option, but do you limit the amount of juice you give to your kid?\u00a0 Milk?\u00a0 Water?\u00a0 What if you give them Juice too often?\u00a0 It isn\u2019t inherently bad, but have you seen a child deny water in favor of juice? \u00a0This is curating the content that your child consumes.\u00a0 Basic interacting with the internet and technology is similar.\u00a0 There needs to be a balance in place so that basic skills and learning techniques are still present.<\/p>\n
With that analogy in place just how much internet are you willing to just blindly hand over to your child?\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it here, there\u2019s some applications you can get for mobile that are educational, but they are the beginning of the avalanche.\u00a0 How long before the application becomes boring?\u00a0 Now on to Netflix, or YouTube, or any other of content delivery networks?\u00a0 While trying to understand how I should introduce technology into my son\u2019s life, I had to take a few more steps back to appreciate where my understanding of it came from.<\/p>\n
Largely technology and the ambiguity of the internet have lead many to take it for granted.\u00a0 It has become my realization that more and more people don\u2019t understand where we came from.\u00a0 What did we do before the smartphone?\u00a0 What did we do before the internet was always on?\u00a0 I really think that missing out on physically reading a book, writing things down on paper, or interacting face-to-face with someone is incredibly detrimental to a developing child.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s tough to appreciate an always on fast internet connection without knowing what it\u2019s like to have to tie up a phone line for it.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult to understand the pathways that have opened because we can transfer data across the globe in seconds rather than days.\u00a0 This is not to say that I will subject my son to a decade of internet at the painfully slow 56k (or worse).\u00a0 But I want him to know how to talk to people, how to read a book, and how to write.\u00a0 Additionally, I want him to be able to learn at will and not rely on an internet connection.\u00a0 If all goes according to plan the light I\u2019ll have to tell him to turn off in the middle of the night will be a flashlight, not a smartphone or tablet.<\/p>\n
What I am trying to convey here, is I want to give my son, at the very least, a Cliff\u2019s Notes version of technology history before introducing him to all that the internet and technology has to offer, because I want him to understand how powerful of a tool it can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The landscape of the world today is vastly different from when I was growing up.\u00a0 Having a viewport to the internet in your pocket has changed the game.\u00a0 In my adolescent years the internet hadn\u2019t really come of age, and for those that would argue, it\u2019s access wasn\u2019t nearly as ambiguous as it is now.\u00a0 … Continue reading “Know the Content”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-imo","category-parenting","category-technology","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gypsynet.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}