Are kids tethered to electronic devices? Tarmar Lewin writes in the New York Times that the “average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/educat…
Here’s my question: are adults tethered to electronic devices? And why is there a sudden moral panic about children texting and talking on their cellphones when adults spend so much of their time doing the same thing? Are kids getting older younger? Are they exposed through electronic media to words and images that even they do not want to see? What is lost in the transition from print culture/books to Kindles, Nooks, and i-pads? Will children get lost in stories? Can they still practice what Tim Wynne-Jones calls the deep read?
“The deep-read is when you get gut-hooked and dragged overboard down and down through the maze of print and find, to your amazement, you can breathe down there after all and there’s a whole other world. I’m talking about the kind of reading when you realize that books are indeed interactive. . . . I’m talking about the kind of deep-read where it isn’t just the plot or the characters that matter, but the words and the way they fit together and the meandering evanescent thoughts you think between the lines: the kind of reading where you are fleetingly aware of your own mind at work.”
These are some of the questions we considered this week in my class on Childhood. For the first time, I began to have the feeling that the medium affects not only the message but also rewires our brains. Is there such a thing as deep reading in an age of electronic devices. When I read books on a Kindle, I have a slightly eerie sensation: the words seem to disappear as I “consume” them. But who knows–that may change over time as I become more adept at using the various features on the device.
This is very interesting. I am wondering, are we as adults so desperately committed to staying hooked up to our devices in a kind of twisted competition with our children? And is this, in turn, changing the dynamics of their childhood..
Good point, but it seems to me that the work environment now requires us to be connected in many different ways. And since children are expert imitators, it seems to me that we are modeling behavior for them, lunging for our blackberries in the morning, logging on to e-mail when we come home, and surfing channels on cable, etc., at night. Will we soon be “alone together,” as Sherry Turkle’s forthcoming book suggests?
Note: This comment was far longer than intended sorry but I hope you see the points I’m trying to make.
I would argue (to be devil’s advocate) that our children are staying younger longer – not growing up faster at all. While many of the kids I come across (20’s down through grade school) are very tech savvy, so tech savvy sometimes, it’s mind boggling, when it comes to living/being responsible, managing their lives, finances, relationships etc these kids are exactly that – kids. Kids are now not leaving home till their late 20’s or even 30’s; they’re not financially responsible for anything beyond extra toys, gas in their car etc until their mid-20’s, etc. It’s quite astonishing. It used to be that at 18 (or 21) you were an ‘adult’ and expected to act as such – get a job, work on a career, be responsible in relationships, become independent etc Now university ‘kids’ are treated often like older highschool children – still having to ‘study’ because their parents bug them, still living at home, still without anything but summer jobs. (Yes I’m generalizing but it’s both the trend and the mentality of the YA set, not to mention their overwhelmed-trying-to-catch-up-and-intimidated-by-much-of-the-fast-evolving-tech parents). Being tech connected seems to make kids knowledgeable ABOUT many things – including ‘adult’ things – but common sense, dealing with life issues etc aren’t expected of people until they’re well into their late 20’s these days. Even TV young-people role models are often mid-to-late 20’s or early 30’s now. University used to be something you choose to do as a young responsible adult as your first step on a career path, not to tread water until you figured yourself out.
The irony is that we’re now so well connected we should be gaining experience and knowledge like never before but instead, most often our worlds are reduced to a screen, not the multidimentional/multisensory existence should have at all. Occasionally a connection will foster action and then it’s amazing what can be achieved/learned/built but as I look around me it seems most people don’t want to get involved. They read about it, comment (if you’re lucky) and maybe retweet (or Facebook it). The anonymity we have while doing all this protects us from being seen as inactive too. Initially I thought it was the area I’m living in but gentle inquiries of far flung family and friends reveal the same trend in every tech-connected place. The relatively new option of donating to causes directly online has helped engender some involvement but until we figure out how to get people interacting properly in conjunction with tech we’ll be more alone than ever as soon as the screen goes dark.
The problem with technology is it gives you a false sense of understanding but unless you put things into practice it’s just theory. It seems to me we have generations growing up who know a lot of ‘stuff’ but are mostly removed from reality. The power of stories is that the have the ability to not only inform you of ideas/theories/information/etc but can take you to places inside yourself, preparing you internally for things that happen in the real world. If you look at kids programs (even for toddlers) they’re often very politically correct, or big on teaching facts but there isn’t the ‘story’ – that black and white/good vs evil struggle and risk (both PC and not) that tells you, not only are there wolves in the wood but you can learn from others mistakes and find a way through without being eaten.
I got a Kindle for Christmas and within a week, my 4-yo daughter was asking when she would be old enough to have her own Kindle. It got me thinking…my daughter knows that I use my Kindle to read books, and perhaps she has over heard my excited chatter to my husband about how many free books I’ve downloaded. But she doesn’t observe me browsing the Kindle storefront, she doesn’t understand that I’ve purchased only three books so far, and do not plan to purchase more for some months. In my daughter’s eyes, books are just THERE! My iPod is a similar marvel. The purchasing of books and music, the monetary transaction, is completely electronic, and therefore abstract for my daughter and this is of concern for me, perhaps more so that the question of whether all these electronic devices are aging her beyond her years sooner than is healthy.
On that note, having worked with teenagers for years before becoming a mom, I have long pondered the questions, are the kids 13 going on 30? Or are the adults 30 going on 13? I think it’s a little of both—kids know more about, well, everything these days, but so do the adults. Information access has us all bursting at the seams with knowledge. I don’t equate knowledge with wisdom though, and there seems to be rampant immaturity across all age levels.
To return to my Kindle—I think a “deep read” is possible with it. I read Little Women a few weeks ago, and I found myself as lost in the story as I was when I was eight, reading the Little House on the Prairie books.
Children are definatly getting older younger, most of the time they imitate what they see. Mobile phones are becoming hugely popular especially with its low prices and such so its no suprise that they’re jumping on the band wagon. Moderation is needed sometimes
Caroline
I am reminded of a book i read , called INKHEART , which depicted the wonders of the world of stories and books … a world soon to be gulped by electronic books etc.
But an ebook is just too easy … gone are the days of browsing at the local book store, the cover page a glimpse of an unexplored world, the smell of books – old new , browsing through bookshelves … the magic of a few books … of revisiting them …
But then i have been accused of being nostalgic often as well !!
I found your perspective on the movie Aladin very interesting …