do we do our youth a disservice teaching them

godblessourhome

about and with technology at a young age?

a topic that was brought up on the 'today' show. discuss.

rainunrefined

My kids are not me, nor was I my parents or grandparents. Can I milk a cow and churn butter, no. Do I need to know how, no. Do I need to know how to work a computer for my job, yes. Will my daughter need to know the same... more than likely she will need to know much more about technology than I will ever have the ability to.

Does she still need to go outside and play, yep. But so do I.

aliciagetshealthy

In a word? Yes!

Grokette

My kids are not me, nor was I my parents or grandparents. Can I milk a cow and churn butter, no. Do I need to know how, no. Do I need to know how to work a computer for my job, yes. Will my daughter need to know the same... more than likely she will need to know much more about technology than I will ever have the ability to.

Does she still need to go outside and play, yep. But so do I.

Kids should be taught how to do math, science and other studies in school the traditional way first and then add in the technology later after the manual, traditional skills were polished. I know that when I was in school we had to do math problems on paper showing all work first, then we could check our answer with the scientific calculator. Now days the scientific calculators are required for grade school kids.

I work in the technology field and I feel that we should know how to do the old timey things like milking cows, growing our own food and churn butter as well as know the technology.


I know I can do all of the above.

catwrangler

They will not excel at school without knowing this stuff and keeping up with the advancements. On the other hand, good stuff like penmanship, communication skills and artistic abilities may be overlooked in the process. It's a balancing act, like everything else in life, I guess.

MissingMyOldSelf

In the way I've seen it, I have a few friends who use technology, aka, iPads, ipods, TVs, video game consoles, etc as babysitters. They'd rather not work with their children on things they need to learn, so they rely on the games and technology to take care of that for them.

Plus, one of my top three pet peeves is going out to dinner at a restaurant and parents letting their kids play Angry Birds or DS at the table. To me, dinner time is family time: a chance to reconnect. Not a "here... play this and be quiet" time.

Plus, most of the children I'm describing have an issue with not knowing how to communicate with adults. They have issues with people interrupting their "play time", so they don't converse with others.

It's a pity, really.

The only time I've seen technology as a good thing is my husband's uncle has made a program on his iPad for his autistic grandson, and it's taught "T" how to come out of his shell, and learn extensively about different mechanical things that he's very much into. "T" will take apart things (like mommy's hairdryer), just to learn how they work. Plus, he can watch all the Discovery channel shows he loves on the ipad, as well.

Karen_145

I'm sure every generation asks this. It doesn't change the fact that technology always improves over time and it would be more of a disservice to pretend it doesn't exist. Kids need to able to function in today's society and that of the future, not the society of 20+ years ago.

sjkcarter

My kids are not me, nor was I my parents or grandparents. Can I milk a cow and churn butter, no. Do I need to know how, no. Do I need to know how to work a computer for my job, yes. Will my daughter need to know the same... more than likely she will need to know much more about technology than I will ever have the ability to.

Does she still need to go outside and play, yep. But so do I.

I love this. I think that is where things go wrong, is when I they have is technology. It's like kids don't know how to play outside anymore.

This is why me and my friends have an annual kickball game. Brings us back to our childhood.

russellma

In my opinion, it's really not the technology that's the problem.

I think we do our youth a disservice by not making them become disciplined to use their technology as a tool that is to be handled carefully and with respect. Technology is introduced early on as entertainment and ends up making them less productive instead of bettering their lives and making them more productive and informed, as it was intended.

sunkisses

In my opinion, it's really not the technology that's the problem.

I think we do our youth a disservice by not making them become disciplined to use their technology as a tool that is to be handled carefully and with respect. Technology is introduced early on as entertainment and ends up making them less productive instead of bettering their lives and making them more productive and informed, as it was intended.

This.

chanstriste13

yes.

*so* many children are losing their capability to think creatively or out of the box. i can't believe that there is such a huge push for upping technology in the education field - i find that it hampers student thinking in a major way.

of course, most things are fine in moderation. but when i observe most adults/teenagers/children on their techie-gadgety-pocket-computer-thingies, they are completely absorbed and cut off from everything tangible around them.

do understand, i don't even own a cell phone or get cable, though we do have a pc and really dig our netflix subscripton...

Karen_145

In my opinion, it's really not the technology that's the problem.

I think we do our youth a disservice by not making them become disciplined to use their technology as a tool that is to be handled carefully and with respect. Technology is introduced early on as entertainment and ends up making them less productive instead of bettering their lives and making them more productive and informed, as it was intended.

Agreed.

pnieuw

I think we have to stop viewing "technology" as a thing, and embrace it as part of life. Kids today learn and process information in a totally different way that we do. Send your kid to the library to research is next project, and watch him get his academic butt kicked by the kid who's figured out how to resource the proper information on the Internet, pull it together in Powerpoint, and email it to his teacher.

I have an eleven year old who uses our home computer to build new virtual "Lego" type worlds. Sure, he still has enough Lego to rebuild a small house, but he also uses the computer to build virtual spaces that he can't create in Lego alone. This expands his creativity instead of hindering it.

Ink that didn't come in a bottle on your desk, and flow from a quill used to be new technology. Nobody questions the Bic pen anymore.

Iamfit4life

In my opinion, it's really not the technology that's the problem.

I think we do our youth a disservice by not making them become disciplined to use their technology as a tool that is to be handled carefully and with respect. Technology is introduced early on as entertainment and ends up making them less productive instead of bettering their lives and making them more productive and informed, as it was intended.

THis