Technology vs The parent – 4 reasons why you’re losing

parenting technologySo here’s the thing, I LOVE tech! The buttons, the lights, the whizzbangery, the apps, the ability to do everything and nothing all at once, the way it connects people, places, memories, hopes and dreams. The very fact that I can write on a keyboard and express my love of writing is a testament to the coolness that is technology.

But there is another side to the speed, the power, the life altering versatility of technology that has become somewhat of a frustration of mine over the past years, especially when dealing with young people. Parents, with all the love and respect that I can muster, I implore you, stop using tech as a surrogate parent, cheaper version of outsourced parenting, shiny carrot or some other harmless extension to your child rearing bag of tricks. My take on what is happening with many kids nowadays, is that their parents are becoming less and less in touch with the reality of technology but have increased their reliance on it when it comes to their children. Again, with much love and honesty, I put to you 4 reasons why this happens:

  1. You’re Lazy
  2. You’re irresponsible
  3. You underestimate the enemy
  4. You’re ignorant

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Be Prepared!

As Fathers, we need to be informed of what is happening around us, especially when it comes to things that will affect our kids. More than that, we need to be educated and equipped to deal with a society that is moving so fast that we can hardly keep up with the changes.

One of the biggest areas and fastest growing areas is technology. We need to keep informed, we need to be able to relate to our children, we need to be able to predict potential dangers, and to do this we need to know about and how to use the tech that our kids are and will be using.

It’s a strange world where we allow our children to use tools that we have not first made ourselves familiar with, and have no idea about the dangers of using them. Get familiar! Your family needs you to know, so you can show, and they can go!

Check out this graphic, it gives an idea of the size of the task at hand.