A mere 19 hours without electricity this weekend really got me thinking. I love blogging, as well as reading and connecting online; but at the same time, I know my limits. If I don't find time to step away and live the real, unplugged life, then my eyes start to burn, my brain gets fried, and I get very cranky!
That's why it upsets me that lately, it seems it takes a power outage for me to walk away for an extended length of time.
For someone who's spent most of her life relatively unplugged, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise to me that a day without power would be refreshing. I love all that the internet has to offer, and that we can communicate from anywhere via a variety of resources. But it's not real life, so why are so many of us treating it as such?
I'm not trying to judge, but what I see disturbs me. It seems that more and more people (and younger and younger children) are becoming addicted to advanced technology, and using it to replace living, breathing social interaction.
Whatever happened to moderation?
While parents used to be advised to limit television viewing to no more than 2 hours per day, for example, it's become almost impossible to enforce time limits when children are texting, Facebooking, video gaming, watching You Tube videos, and iPoding (although I do believe in the power of music). They could even be blogging and tweeting - which some say could be beneficial. Some even say that teachers should be bringing all of this into schools!
Should the technological world have no limits or guidelines? In a world where many children already have trouble focusing, in school or at home, should we really be throwing any form of moderation out the window?
It bothers me when my 12 year old goes straight from texting to the computer to his iPod. He's growing up in a world very different from the one I grew up in, and I get that. I really do.
The thing about him, though, is that an hour later he'll be running around outside, or reading a book. There's a definite balance. Sometimes, by his own choosing, and sometimes by my request. I am the parent, and I bear the responsibility of setting limits.
I also have to set a good example, and I'll admit that it's not always easy when you're a blogger! Some days are better than others. Yet, you don't have to be a blogger, or even work online at all, to lose yourself in it all.
You may be interested in reading StarTribune.com's How can kids think amid all that buzz? Katherine Kersten calls our attention to the following statistics, as per a Kaiser Foundation media study:
- "on average, American youths 8 to 18 spend more than 7 1/2 hours a day with electronic media -- TV, computers, cell phones, iPods and the like"
- "two-thirds of young people reported that their parents set no time limits on their use of TV, video games or computers."
Sounds like we all could use a day - or even a week - of life without any form of advanced technology, doesn't it?
How are you and your children managing to balance it all?
