Teens and technology -- a good match?

"The amount of electronic media kids are exposed to is growing rapidly, but experts agree that parents remain the most effective filter to keep it from going too far." -TMCnet.com

This article from TMCnet.com asks a question that spends a considerable amount of time on my own mind. Are teens and technology really a good match? The article points up the massive amount of time teens (and kids in general) spend plugged into the digital world, asserting that anything our kids spend that much time doing is bound to have an effect on them, which is why it's important to know what kind of effect that might be. The article also makes the extremely helpful observation that parents setting limits on electronic media consumption is a truly effective tool for. . . well, for limiting consumption!

It is also discussed that schools and parents need to be aware that middle-school in particular as a "training ground" for healthy habits regarding technology, and that the warning signs for unhealthy dependence on electronic media are generally the same as those one might expect for substance abuse: interference with home or school life, relying on it to fight feelings of depression, or simply having difficulty cutting back. The best suggestions offered for making sure teens don't develop unhealthy technology habits? Require them to be physically out in the open while they're using it. Set time limits. Involve yourself with their digital lives so that you can monitor and guide them.

In the end, the article's answer to its own question (Are teens and technology a good match?) seems to be, "Not always, but technology is a given for teens these days, so here are some suggestions for what we can do to make it a healthy pairing!"


From the Article:

• When multitasking is figured in, teens are actually absorbing almost 11 hours of media daily. And this does not even include texting, which consumes another hour and a half a day for seventh- through 12th-graders.
• But the report reveals that when parents do set limits, their teens spend nearly three hours less per day using electronic media than those without restrictions. . . Deskins suggests that everything to do with technology and the family should "really be out and in the open," and that televisions and computers shouldn't be in the kids' bedrooms.
• If the level of involvement with technology is affecting home, school and social life, there is likely a problem. If a teen is using technology to deal with feelings of depression or anger, there is likewise a cause for concern. Failing in efforts to cut back is another red flag.
  These are the same criteria used in determining alcohol and drug and addiction. . .
  
• Middle school is a crucial training ground. It is during these years that teens latching onto technology are the most vulnerable to everything from cyber-bullying to online predators.
• Technology is not something that can be ignored or wished away, but must be channeled, Winter said.

What this means for me as an educator:

The most obvious conclusion to be reached after reading this article is that it's very important for educators to team with parents to foster healthy at-home technology use. I think the other two biggest responsibilities that teachers face in regards to students and technology are 1) to teach them that technology is for much more than just social networking, and 2) to help them become less obsessive about and dependent on their electronic devices.

It's never the easiest thing to give parents advice on how to raise their children, as sending out this sort of suggestion could be taken the wrong way by any number of them, but I think it's definitely something I could mention in my beginning-of-year letters and in discussions or periodic letters home. A factual statement about the negative effects of excessive unsupervised "screen-time" would fit in nicely alongside such usual advice as, "Make sure your student has somewhere quiet to study at home in order to help them succeed."

As for encouraging students to go outside their technological comfort zone, my students may be members of the digital generation, but most of them hardly knew how to do anything more than Facebook, Google, text message, send e-mails, and word process when they came to me this year. And they balked at word-processing. Or anything to do with creatively using technology. Requiring students to use technology for a variety of projects over the school year, and perhaps daily or weekly as part of an ongoing set of e-mail or blog assignments might be a remedy.

Despite their reluctance to use technology constructively and creatively in the classroom, they expend an enormous amount of energy trying to finagle ways to use their phones during school. It is an obsession with constant electronic communication; they panic at the idea of being without their phones for one hour, much less a school day. This is unhealthy, and I feel like it's part of my job to help my phone-addicted students see how similar their dependence is to substance addiction, and to help them break it.