Technology Overload
Internet balance and safety are needed during transitional times
A s the COVID-19 pandemic changes our lifestyle, both adults and children are spending more time than ever on the internet. Many parents are working from home and videoconferencing with their bosses. Children of all ages are attending distance-learning classes online. Even when teachers dismiss students from their virtual classrooms, youngsters still turn on their desktops, laptops, iPads and cell phones to play games and watch videos. Nearly every family in Western society owns and uses a multitude of technologies.
Anyone raising a child today may have fretted about screen time, wondering what impact it may have upon children. This is when common sense must prevail. Details are critical. What matters is the child’s age, length of time he or she uses the device, and whether it starts replacing parental or caregiver playtime, the reading of stories or pointing out things in the child’s surroundings.
If technology is used judiciously, there should be minimal risk of overuse and overdependence. However, we all know how time flies when we’re engaged on the computer. A quick visit to a website can easily turn into an hour or more spent searching the internet.
In previous decades, the TV screen and telephone line were tethered to the house and were shared resources. Now that they’ve become more personal, portable, ubiquitous and affordable, devices can be in a child’s bedroom, without adult supervision. This is when conscious decision-making has its role. Just as in earlier times, parents have to decide how much screen/phone time should be allowed, where and when it is allowed, whether the content is appropriate and whether the people their children spend time with are desirable friends.
For some, there’s a sense that technology is a threat that exposes people to dangerous things. The reality is that there have always been dangerous things in the world and it’s always been up to parents to educate themselves and their children about possible pitfalls. Today’s parents are increasingly tech savvy and can ask the right questions to make themselves comfortable with how their children are spending their tech time. But they also need to know how to safeguard them when they’re online, particularly from sexual predators.
KEEPING KIDS SAFE
According to Chris Long, president of SWFL IT Support, a company specializing in the management and protection of business networks from malware, there are several ways parents can protect their children. “First, speak to your children about the dangers of the internet and educate them to the dangers of online interactions, especially putting their personal information online,” he stresses. “Any information that is put online lives “forever” on the internet, which could cause future harm,” he adds.
He advises parent to be aware of the sites and apps their children use and recommends the Culture Reframed website (culturereframed .org) as an excellent resource to assist parents when talking with their children. The website’s aim is to help parents and other adults build kids’ resilience to hypersexualized media and porn.
Second, he recommends parents set up tools to assist them with monitoring their children’s internet usage, such as Google’s SafeSearch, which when turned on helps filter sexually explicit content from Google’s search results. Devices, he point out, should be set to “child mode.” At the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s website (endsexualexploitation.org), parents can find tools and guidelines under “Resources” to help them set up restrictions.
Third, Long encourages parents to establish internet limitations.
For example, if you have a router/ modem that allows you to turn off the internet during specific times (10 p.m.-7 a.m.), you can use this as another way of prevention.
It was never really possible to protect children from all the bad things in the world; it’s just that all those things are so much more public today. That’s why parents need a relationship of openness and trust with their children.
And the question of balance is not only about children. Parents set role models. If adults spend dinnertime staring at smartphone screens instead of interacting with family members, it’s hard to expect children to behave differently. With any new technology it takes time to establish social norms and what is considered “acceptable.”
Some families think the dinner table should be a “tech-free zone” and when people gather at the table they put their phones on silent and leave them in a basket. The important part of this is that the family has established an understanding of what constitutes acceptable behavior.