[Technology] Any NSC parents who think their youngsters are on line too much. Please watch

[Swansman]

And your list will go on, if that is what you are choosing to focus on.

Banning the internet will also take away the good stuff that it does, the stuff that you seem to be ignoring in your analysis.

I am not sure a blanket ban is the way forward here. My experiences with living with three teenagers suggests that the 'internet/smart phone bad!' and 'smartphone is the cause of all the problems in the world' narrative has also lost any credibility with the youth.

My feeling is that the answer to the problems faced by our youth is far more nuanced and needs some smart thinking and smart talking between the power brokers in the situation. Big tech companies need to take some responsibility, parents need to be open to talk to their kids and users need to learn to not behave like such dicks online.

We don't just ban the dangerous car, we teach people how to drive them safely. (no I am not suggesting you need a license to go online).

Yes. Kind of like with drugs, its nice but we cant have it.

A ban is never going to happen. In the best of worlds a ban on some parts of it would happen but were not living in that world.

Your solution requires a ****load of people and greedy corporations to take responsibility which is a nice idea but rare in reality.

I also dont think the youth are all that happy about it. From my experience (and I in my Peter Pan journey in life has met a lot of youth for a long time) older people are more pro-tech than youngsters, who for the most part sees it as more of a must than a pleasure and are often longing for the analogue world they never lived in.

 

[BadFish]

Yes. Kind of like with drugs, its nice but we cant have it.

A ban is never going to happen. In the best of worlds a ban on some parts of it would happen but were not living in that world.

Your solution requires a ****load of people and greedy corporations to take responsibility which is a nice idea but rare in reality.

I also dont think the youth are all that happy about it. From my experience (and I in my Peter Pan journey in life has met a lot of youth for a long time) older people are more pro-tech than youngsters, who for the most part sees it as more of a must than a pleasure and are often longing for the analogue world they never lived in.

As a parent and teacher I am not convinced of this. However, I kind of take your point about it being a must rather than a pleasure. My experiences suggest that it is a little more than this though. More like it is just a thing that is there. There is no frame of reference as kids now have no experience of not being in a digital/online world. You only have to go out to a restaurant or cafe to notice that the irritating screaming kids of yesteryear have been replaced by screen zombies staring at their parent's phones (or their own). Purely anecdotally teachers at my school have been discussing the falling standards in kids speaking and listening skills. Could this be due to their lack of practice and listening to their parents model these skills.

Anyway I digress, my point is that kids today are not aware of how deep they are into living in an online world, to them it is just the world.

My question is, are we doing enough to educate them about how to navigate through this digital world? Personally I think we have some way to go in this area. I keep hearing how digitally literate kids are these days with transferable skills across apps, devices, games and programs. My experience of this is that it is nonsense. Kids are really good at the stuff they access (much like the analogue world) but the skills don't always translate. My analogy is of a kid that can play the clarinet to a high standard, ICT logic states that if you give her a guitar she will be just as good because she can do 'music'.

Another example of this is my 14 year old, she has had a laptop for school the last few years, used them all through primary school and spends way too much time on it at home. When the internet drops out, she didn't know how to reconnect - like 4 clicks? Tech literate? my arse.

 

[Justice]

I just hope his kid likes pizza.

 

[Pondicherry]

Anyway I digress, my point is that kids today are not aware of how deep they are into living in an online world, to them it is just the world.

Good point. Although in reality the online world is or will be the world to all of us (not just kids) and the kids will become adults, parents and grandparents and the takeover will be complete. And therein lies the problem.

This isn't something that can be regulated or turned off. This is the present and future. And because the online world is a giant mirror (black) of the 'real' world all that is good and bad will be reflected here.

We should not be surprised that if we hold a giant mirror up to society, we see many things we don't like. What were we expecting to see?

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

The nasty people and the nasty views are just a very small part of the problem. Instagram, the leading platform for youngsters I believe (dont really use it myself as it is fairly useless without a smartphone) makes people constantly compare themselves with others, which is not healthy. All the advertising making people feel like what they have is never good enough. Addiction to computer games or TV series is very common. The dehumanising and objectifying meat market of Tinder. The list goes on.

Good job trying to look cool by not having a smartphone and not using Instagram.

But you have a computer and use this board which is social media.

You might wanna trade in your high horse for a miniature pony.

 

[Cotton Socks]

As a parent and teacher I am not convinced of this. However, I kind of take your point about it being a must rather than a pleasure. My experiences suggest that it is a little more than this though. More like it is just a thing that is there. There is no frame of reference as kids now have no experience of not being in a digital/online world. You only have to go out to a restaurant or cafe to notice that the irritating screaming kids of yesteryear have been replaced by screen zombies staring at their parent's phones (or their own). Purely anecdotally teachers at my school have been discussing the falling standards in kids speaking and listening skills. Could this be due to their lack of practice and listening to their parents model these skills.

Anyway I digress, my point is that kids today are not aware of how deep they are into living in an online world, to them it is just the world.

My question is, are we doing enough to educate them about how to navigate through this digital world? Personally I think we have some way to go in this area. I keep hearing how digitally literate kids are these days with transferable skills across apps, devices, games and programs. My experience of this is that it is nonsense. Kids are really good at the stuff they access (much like the analogue world) but the skills don't always translate. My analogy is of a kid that can play the clarinet to a high standard, ICT logic states that if you give her a guitar she will be just as good because she can do 'music'.

Another example of this is my 14 year old, she has had a laptop for school the last few years, used them all through primary school and spends way too much time on it at home. When the internet drops out, she didn't know how to reconnect - like 4 clicks? Tech literate? my arse.

They're not tech literate at all. The concept of even 'turning it off and on again' is something they don't believe in! Both my sons have done a BG (RIP) and not listened to the simplest of advice and before you know it they've done a factory reset on the Xbox. The difficulty is how to translate to them that they are actually a bit rubbish on tech & point out that if they can't do the simplest of fixes on the hardware/software how can they spot the difference as to what is real and fake online?

 

[Weststander]

Close to home, older teens are online from the moment they awake (reach for the phone within a micro second) until the middle of the night. Literally tapping away or viewing stuff, never watch TV, rarely movies, never reading. College work ignored or done at the last second to a very bare minimalist standard.

Taking over lives, creating acute and very dangerous for mental health. Suicides, self harming, CAMHS and Wellbeing are overloaded with related issues and were even before the pandemic.

For us, up to school year 11, we insisted on all tablets/phones/laptops being placed in the hallway late evening on pre school nights. Our kids had mates falling asleep in class, who admitted to gaming until the middle of the night.

A curse that needs solutions imho.

 

[Swansman]

Good job trying to look cool by not having a smartphone and not using Instagram.

But you have a computer and use this board which is social media.

You might wanna trade in your high horse for a miniature pony.

Thank you

Yes I do. I also sometimes eat food and similar things despite not wanting to ruining the climate. I am a hypocrite. How about you? Living up to everything you believe in? Never doing anything you think affects you or the world in a negative way?

 

[Weststander]

The nasty people and the nasty views are just a very small part of the problem. Instagram, the leading platform for youngsters I believe (dont really use it myself as it is fairly useless without a smartphone) makes people constantly compare themselves with others, which is not healthy. All the advertising making people feel like what they have is never good enough. Addiction to computer games or TV series is very common. The dehumanising and objectifying meat market of Tinder. The list goes on.

 

[maffew]

If I get a kiddo it wont touch a computer until it is at least 12, not a phone until 15 and not a smartphone until it moves out of my shed/mansion/castle.

Just hours into first using Internet back in 1999 I was dead certain we would all be addicted to screens and feared when the day would come when we could get online connection to laptops (or smartphones, as it rather turned out) anywhere. First thing I would do if I became a world dictator would be to turn off the Internet and destroy all infrastructure that supports it.

Good luck trying to not have your kid touch a computer until they are 12, thatll be a struggle assuming they attend school, unless they arent used in Sweden...I'm sure you have posted before you would be ok with your kids smoking weed, I'd be a little worried on their mental health tbh for reasons other than those that the internet and social media bring for sure

 

[Gabbafella]

Implies I know what I'm talking about...

Or that you just love your own opinion.
I know which one is more likely based on what I've seen on here.

 

[Swansman]

Good luck trying to not have your kid touch a computer until they are 12, thatll be a struggle assuming they attend school, unless they arent used in Sweden...I'm sure you have posted before you would be ok with your kids smoking weed, I'd be a little worried on their mental health tbh for reasons other than those that the internet and social media bring for sure

I'd be ok with it on occasion but certainly dont think it is a goodidea.

Or that you just love your own opinion.
I know which one is more likely based on what I've seen on here.

I do like my own opinions. If I disliked my own opinions, I would likely swap them for another set of opinions..
'

 

[Weststander]

I'd be ok with it on occasion but certainly dont think it is a goodidea.



I do like my own opinions. If I disliked my own opinions, I would likely swap them for another set of opinions..
'

It’s a prerequisite of being on a football forum, isn’t it? Knowing you’re correct.

 

[B-right-on]

I have a 14 year old daughter who is on social media a fair bit. Probably too much tbh.

The MASSIVE change in her life and about 4 or 5 other parents of kids in the same age bracket, is the lockdowns.

6 months of being told its illegal to go out and play with your friends and 18 months of a continuous and persisting bombardment from all forms of media, on how dangerous the world is (including many weeks of isolation due to someone being tested positive for Covid in their classes) and suddenly 'people' are surprised that kids are fecked up.

Many people calling for lockdowns again and again need to hang their heads in shame at what they are doing to the youngsters of today. But more than likely they won't give a sh1t and carry on with their selfish behaviour.

 

[Cotton Socks]

I have a 14 year old daughter who is on social media a fair bit. Probably too much tbh.

The MASSIVE change in her life and about 4 or 5 other parents of kids in the same age bracket, is the lockdowns.

6 months of being told its illegal to go out and play with your friends and 18 months of a continuous and persisting bombardment from all forms of media, on how dangerous the world is (including many weeks of isolation due to someone being tested positive for Covid in their classes) and suddenly 'people' are surprised that kids are fecked up.

Many people calling for lockdowns again and again need to hang their heads in shame at what they are doing to the youngsters of today. But more than likely they won't give a sh1t and carry on with their selfish behaviour.

1st lockdown was actually ok. My son did his work, we'd go out for a walk at 'our' lunchtime, it was all quite chilled in the scary covid world. Then 'teams' came, live lessons and only getting a 35 min lunchbreak. He had enough time for a sandwich and then was stuck in a chair for another couple of hours. He could walk around the lounge and pretend he was walking from room to room. I think people underestimate the effect lockdown had on the kids. I don't care about the politics of whether it was right or wrong but my kid who's now in year 10, last had a normal school year in year 7!

 

[Weststander]

I have a 14 year old daughter who is on social media a fair bit. Probably too much tbh.

The MASSIVE change in her life and about 4 or 5 other parents of kids in the same age bracket, is the lockdowns.

6 months of being told its illegal to go out and play with your friends and 18 months of a continuous and persisting bombardment from all forms of media, on how dangerous the world is (including many weeks of isolation due to someone being tested positive for Covid in their classes) and suddenly 'people' are surprised that kids are fecked up.

Many people calling for lockdowns again and again need to hang their heads in shame at what they are doing to the youngsters of today. But more than likely they won't give a sh1t and carry on with their selfish behaviour.

Exactly.

My teenage daughter, a natural home-bird, loved the first few weeks of Lockdown 1. All her ‘school closed for snow’ Xmas’s came at once.

Despite the school from day one brilliantly handling a full diary of online lessons, after a couple of months there was an obvious toll on her mental health. Every day Groundhog Day, even though we tried to break it up with walks and some sunshine.

It was unnatural not to be in the physical company of her peers. Hitherto gregarious kids at her school lost their joie de vivre.

With a largely vaccinated public, those who later got rather excited promoting school closures or entire cohorts being sent home because someone tested positive, seeking Covid perfection, failed to grasp the negative effect on 10m school and college age kids.

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

Thank you

Yes I do. I also sometimes eat food and similar things despite not wanting to ruining the climate. I am a hypocrite. How about you? Living up to everything you believe in? Never doing anything you think affects you or the world in a negative way?

I am just a Dad getting up everyday doing his best. Although, I did take our 16 month old for a 2 hour drive because she wouldn’t sleep the other night — Mrs VW was working late. Probably not great for the climate but it saved my sanity.

 

[The Clamp]

Where I work we regularly have fire alarms sounding. Not one out of 25 residents emerge from their rooms. Ever. Even when it’s actually a fire. Which has happened a few times.

I turned the Internet off once to reboot it. 21 of them were out of their rooms and knocking at my office door almost immediately. The other 4 weren’t in.

 

[The Clamp]

Implies I know what I'm talking..

A lot of things spring to mind when I read your posts. That you know what you’re talking about is certainly not one of them.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

I'd be ok with it on occasion but certainly dont think it is a goodidea.

So you'd be prepared to leave your child lacking an important employment skill rather than teaching them the right way to use something. Considering the fact you are so active on something you claim to detest your hypocrisy is hilarious.