Are Parents too Plugged-In?

We tell our young people to unplug, hang up, don't text and drive but as adults, ARE WE? Driving around Fargo–Moorhead, I have seen it all too often, head bent down at a red light texting or talking with the cell phone up to their ear. I have seen the crazy driver in front of me swerving as they texted. I will admit that I am guilty of the red light typing and talking on my phone while driving. I have changed how I am with my phone and now I don't text in my car unless I am parked. I don't talk on the phone when my son is in the car with me. However, I must have told Owen at some point to yell at me when I drove and talked because for awhile I was getting a very good talk from a 6yr old. He was very convincing and I have gotten much better with my phone.  I should just stop completely after reading the statistics of distracted driving.

• 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA).
• Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA)
• In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES)
• The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA)
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
• Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)

 We as adults teach our children by example - If we expect them to not drive and text/chat, then we should not either. This seems to be a huge concern with child development researchers throughout the US - are parents TOO plugged in now.

   There was an article in the New York Times on June 9, 2010, which stated that parents are often too involved on their phone or computer to give their full attention to their child. The reasearch concluded and found that children were having feelings of hurt, jealousy and competition through out the study. It all comes down to whether the parent spends quality time with the child and that distracted time is not high-quality time. Just as the NYT article states about a technology ban in the house, I have previously instated a ban on cell phone, computer use from when I pick my son up from daycare until he is asleep. The only people who we do answer the phone for are my parents and my fiance, everyone else can wait until I have had my family time.

I hope that by doing these little steps, I am starting to show the proper use of technology in our lives for my son. Being more active in your childs' life and putting the iPad/cellphone/laptop down is the key to having technology involved in your everyday life.

Technology in the Schools - Ipads for Kindergarteners??

Kids in classroom using Ipads

I remember back in the 80's playing the games like Oregon Trail, Where is Carmen Sandiego, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Oregon Trail taught me that life on the trail was hard and you may die from dysentery! Carmen Sandiego taught me my geography and crime solving skills. The grade school child inside me is thrilled to see these games back on Facebook. Today kids have the iPad and hundreds of educational games to choose from right at their fingertips. 
     However, when I was young we had computer lab two or three times a week for maybe one hour but today we are starting to see how things have changed and sometimes not in the best ways, I feel. Some schools are starting to use the iPad as the main way to teach children.  I am all for having technology in the schools and my son learning with it but not at the expense of losing the social aspect that school is there to provide.  Kids today come to school all to often with little social skills for being in a group setting or inappropriate skills. Having an iPad teach my child would cause more harm then good if the teacher is going to use it as a babysitter. Bonnie Blagojevic, a research associate at the University of Maine's Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies stated in a April 25, 2011 Education Week Digital Directions article:

"It can open up new worlds of learning for some students. But you need to have balance. You need to have intentionality. You need to have conversations about this."

     Recently in Auburn, Maine there was a project through the University of Maine to get every kindergarten an iPad in the classroom. This has drawn debates, cheers and mainy people asking "who is paying for this?" The cost is going to be over $200,000 (roughly 400 iPads) which the district says will come from grants mainly then from the school budget. With most public schools struggling with funding, I find this crazy. If this was my son's school district, I personally would rather see the money used to hire more teachers and purchase less Ipads for the classrooms (maybe 5 per room vs 30 per room). Also, to give any 5yr old a $500 piece of equipment is insane. They say they will have cases but really - they lose their gloves, shoes, homework and small toys. What makes them think they will care for a iPad when they have no sense of the value of money.
     I like that my son is learning with computers but I firmly believe that the basics need to be taught from a teacher or parents. A child should know how to read, write, do simple math problems and comprehend what they are reading before an iPad is given to them. Basically, the horse should go before the cart as my grandmother would say. Children need order and instruction not the latest greatest fad in technology.

Video from Fox News about ipads in schools