Several weeks ago, my wife and I were at a concert. In the row in front of us sat a teenage girl and her mom. During intermission, mom was posting pictures on Facebook while her daughter was rolling her eyes at her mom on Facebook. At the same time, the girl held her phone close to her chest to check out snapchat out of mom’s line of sight. How challenging it is for this mom trying to be cool and connected while her teenage daughter seems to be in her own little tech world that mom likely knows nothing about.
And that’s the tricky thing about technology. Many of us are neck-deep in frustration over the power that technology has on our lives. Some of us are sick and tired of seeing families out to eat all staring at their phones, void of conversation. The internet is abuzz in people talking about getting a divorce from their cell phone or going through some form of digital detox. Yet, the power of technology and media is so pervasive that we just can’t seem to live without it.
My kids are five and two and both of them know how to unlock my cell phone and get to their favorite apps. They enjoy their fair share of Amazon Instant video. My eldest looks at pictures on my phone and tells her sister that “she’s just posting some pictures on Facebook.” They are the essence of digital natives. Yet with all the infiltration of media in our lives, it is tempting to step back and have great concern for the future generation. “They’ll never know how to have a conversation,” we say. Or “do they even know how to write a handwritten note?” The short answer to both: yes, they will.
Here are three reasons I am personally excited about my kids and technology:
1. Access.
My kids have access to more data and information than any previous generation. As time goes on, even more will be at their disposal in even smaller ‘byte-size’ pieces. This access to information will help them be more connected to what’s happening in the world and, in turn, have a better view of the world as God sees it. In turn, I hope and pray that they do something with this access and make a difference in the neighborhood and among the nations.
2. Affordability.
Historically, access to tools meant high price tags. My first computer cost nearly two thousand dollars and had a dial-up modem in it that I was certain I wouldn’t actually get around to using. My first cell phone cost several hundred dollars and was so fancy it had an alarm clock on it. Today, we have access to more information in the palm of our hand (soon to be on the watch strapped to our wrist) than ever before. And you can get it for virtually free. Access is good. Affordable access is better.
3. Application.
Access and affordability are only as good as our ability to rightly apply. More than hoping and praying that my kids do something with all of this, my wife and I plan to do all we can to rightly train them what to do with it all. This is where I am most excited about the age my kids are at right now. I’m rapidly approaching my mid-thirties. I’ve got a houseful of Apple devices, connected appliances, and do all I can to stay on top of social networking and all its quirks. Yet our family has had the unique challenge of bridging the gap between no access to this stuff to expensive access to affordable access. Our pendulum has swung from nothingness to a point where a cell phone ruled our lives. We’ve experienced every slice of enjoyment and frustration at what technology can do for us. And we’re continually getting closer to what we believe is a healthy midpoint. We’ve walked through the challenges of phones at the dinner table to making rules that they stay on the counter. We’ve dealt with the struggles of texting while driving to laws forbidding even talking on the phone while driving. And through all of this, we are working to establish healthy rules, boundaries, and appropriate application of technology in our lives.
Fortunately (for us) our kids are young and aren’t yet involved with this stuff on a deeply personal basis. They don’t own cell phones, computers, or iPads. If our kids were five years older, I have no doubt it would be much harder to establish rules of what to do and not to do. (We would still do it, but it would be a tougher fight.) If we were all 15 years older, we as parents would likely be relying more on our kids to show us how to use all of these things. Yet we are old enough to learn on our own and they are young enough for us to effectively teach them appropriate application.
I’m not foolish enough to think we won’t have our fair share of battles over technology, cell phones, what to use, when and where. I’m not implying for a second that I’ll always have the upper hand on apps and all that’s available. Yet I’m also grateful and excited for the time in which we live and the fact that we have the great opportunity to not just figure out what all this tech stuff is, but to be in a great position to help our kids best grasp how to apply it in a God-honoring way.
kevin white 