Teens and Technology: The Good News
Do your teens ...
A: Spend more time multitasking technologically, with instant messaging, texting, social networking and gaming, than you think is healthy?
B. Accuse you of not trusting them if you check up on their Internet usage?
C. Spend too little time "learning" in a way that you consider learning?
D. All of the above.
Well, there's some good news about all of that from an extensive study by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, looking at how today's youth live and learn through technology.
All that technology is no different than when teens hung out at the mall or any other gathering space. "Contemporary social media are becoming one of the primary 'institutions' of peer culture for U.S. teens, occupying the role that was previously dominated by the informal hanging out spaces of the school, mall, home, or street. Further, much of this engagement is centered on access to social and commercial entertainment content that is generally frowned upon in formal educational settings," according to the report, which was released last week.
Parents who try to limit their children's engagement with technology with heavy-handed and complex rules are simply being seen as ill-informed by this Technology Generation. "If parents can trust that their own values are being transmitted through their ongoing communication with their children, then new media practices can be sites of shared focus rather than anxiety and tension," write the authors. While adults fear that kids are too risky and public online, the study found that not to be the case. Rather, the authors note that youth behavior is the same online as off and that it is "structured by shared norms and a sense of reciprocity."
And now the even better news: All that technology is giving kids new ways to learn and not only from adults. They learn from their peers as they engage in social back-and-forths. They become engaged in back-and-forth communication in a public realm. And for some, the more time and availability they have to explore technology, the more likely they are to delve deeply into such interests as game development and video editing.
Do you think technological advances and our children's comfort level with new mediums make them better learners? Better citizens? Better listeners? More educated and able to deal with our changing world?
By Stacey Garfinkle |
November 24, 2008; 7:00 AM ET
| Category:
Teens
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Comments
Posted by: WhackyWeasel | November 24, 2008 9:02 AM
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Hey Whacky, sounds like you are getting hosed on your cell phone plan. If your contract is up, I suggest exploring other providers. I pay for three cells for three adults with nationwide calling, unlimited texts and a very, very generous amount of minutes and it's less than $100.00 per month. Just sayin' maybe you don't need to have this drama over the phone...
My kid is too little to use technology yet, although he frequently gets hold of my cell and tries to make calls to Australia or somewhere...but DH teaches high school math and has set up a way for the kids to interact and ask questions online. Several of the best students monitor the questions and provide answers or discussion and DH checks in once or twice an evening to make sure they are on the right track. The kids learn teamwork on difficult tasks and the test scores have improved because their critical thinking has improved by working it out rather then having the teacher just tell them - which, unfortunately, is what most of them expect...In these limited, and somewhat controlled, circumstances, it seems that technology helps these kids learn.
DH also uses available technology at school such as a newfangled dealie called a "smart board." This thing lets the teacher use info from the internet along with his own examples while teaching - by all accounts it's a teachers dream come true.
Personally, I can't get the "driver mode" on my phone to turn off... :)
Posted by: VaLGaL | November 24, 2008 11:20 AM
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My girl, at 7 1/2, has suddenly hit tech awareness mode -- she wants an iPod, laptop, and her own TV for Christmas (yeah, right); plus she recently unearthed one of our old deactivated cellphones that we let them play with a few years ago, and now she walks around with that to her ear, pretending to talk or send e-mail to friends. All. The. Time. Argh.
I don't know if it's good, bad, or indifferent, but it is a fact of life, so we're going to have to learn to deal with it, and try to make it something good vs. something isolating/destructive. On the plus side, she's already learning how to type, and is going to grow up completely comfortable with tech -- that's two steps ahead of me already. But we both still need to work on our plunger-shooting accuracy on Rayman. . . .
Posted by: laura33 | November 24, 2008 11:58 AM
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The comments to this entry are closed.
"Do you think technological advances... make them better learners?"
Sure! When you take their cell phone away until they pay back the $250 in time overages, text messaging / ringtone charges, they learn:
1. The value of money.
2. The meaning of the word "yob" as in "Get a yob".
3. having a lot of friends can be very expensive
4. Life is tough, and even tougher if you are too lazy to check your phone log.
5. When Mom and Dad say they aren't paying for a kid to yap on the phone for hours on end, it isn't a threat, they are being honest.