RE: Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
The funny thing is that when it comes to anything that requires investment, effort, energy, planning; people wait.
Wait, or put it off, because it won't get a result straight away, whereas other things give instant gratification?
Instant information is so addictive. It's one of the reasons I try hard to avoid upgrading to the latest things. At gymnastics competitions there is an app which gets updated with the scores add the competition progresses. While everyone around me was getting their daughter's scores and lamenting at them getting lower in the placings as other scores came in, I just waited to see what the placings were at the end. I didn't even have a device that could take the app until recently. I still refuse to use it at comps, because I'd rather assess how she's going compared to earlier in the year, plus it makes any podium placings a nice surprise. Don't get me wrong, the temptation to check the results as they come in is strong! I find it less stressful if I don't though.
My daughters didn't have phones until my eldest could buy her own with her own earnings. They were always with me all the time anyway, or they were in a situation with other adults where we could get in touch if needed. I tried to teach them how to deal with situations and think for themselves, rather than calling me for every little thing.
I think I frustrate people sometimes, because I don't immediately answer every text, message or call. I generally don't have my devices on me.
It is amazing what drives us to check these types of things like sports scores or the actor in the movie. It is some kind of dopamine hit based on the idea that 'being the first' with information has an advantage. It is true but, the relevancy of the information is critical yet we tend to focus most of our attention on what is useless. Here in Finland, most kids have phones at 5 or 6 it seems.
It's getting that way in Australia too. I was amazed at the teacher needing to collect in iPhones from a class of 9 to 10 year olds about 8 years ago. Why does a child that age even need a phone, let alone one that was way out of my (willing to spend) price range!? I've since heard of 7 year olds with them.
LOL!
This talk I hear a lot. But you of course know the answer. Kids are smart. They watch the world around them and do automatically adapt to their environment. When all people do use computers and smart phones, thats what they do, too. Its normal and quite a sensible thing to do.
The parents in the classroom where we had a parent evening with the teachers were asking themselves annoyed why our kids do have so much difficulties in using hand writing. After a while of the complaints I had enough and asked:
What do you want? Does anyone of you here in the room write with your hand? We all work with computers and we all use keyboards for our communication. The one and only exception where I use my hand for writing is the shopping list. It's quite logical that the writing skills of ourselves differ from those of our kids as we weren't raised surrounded by technology.
Remember, you were a kid, too. What did you find in adults? Who were your role models and what was back than a majority you observed? Kids always want to belong to the most accepted establishment and dislike to be a member of the not so well acknowledged group, let alone be a single outsider.
You can perceive yourself lucky if, as an adult or parent, you are having other adults who do the same in role modeling and give some counterweight to what is main streamed. If you must do it alone, you'll fail in doing so because your kids will not believe you.
Also, phones are now widely used by parents to have control over their kids. Ask fathers or mothers if they like their children being away from home without a phone.
Why do teachers even complain about collecting phones or installing the rule that mobile phone use is prohibited during school time? That's a normal thing to do. In my time, we also weren't allowed to let ourselves being distracted by books which did not belong to the current teachings (or other devices we brought along).
:))
I am all with you to use modern communication tools sensibly and not excessively.
Some very good points. Perhaps I understand it less because I don't use mobiles much myself and I certainly can't justify expensive contracts for myself, nevermind my children. I don't see a need for using the internet on my phone, so I don't use it for that either. Most things can wait until I get home for an internet connection.
I do think that, despite how little we use it, having the ability to hand write is a good backup to have for when things fail, which does happen. We still write greetings cards by hand and even fill in forms occasionally. More than that, though, as more and more first world people fall into poverty with jobs being harder to get, having the ability to do things that don't require computers and mobile phones could be essential to them getting by.
The education system here fails some of our poorer children because they demand that they have laptops for everything and students get into trouble for not being able to afford one, when the school hasn't organised ones for borrowing. This is a country which is supposed to provide free education for all children, but our poor are being left behind. Rather than accepting manual ways for them to learn they punish them for not being able to afford devices. Our poor population is expanding rapidly at the moment.
Sorry, going way of topic now! Your comment sent me on a train of thought. Lol.
Thanks for engaging with me:)
I am the same you are. I am not having Internet on my phone (it's not smart but a simple phone only for sms and calls). I am the 5 percent looking out the window or observing others in the bus. I'd find it too stressful to look always at my phone.
Kids don't find it stressful, obviously. I do not promote that and always tell my son I'd prefer him not using his mobile in the public. When we go together he doesn't do it because he never sees me doing it. Home is different, though. I am always online and have access to the Net. He, too. And 95 percent of the adults:)
You need not to pity poor families in the class. Do you have one or two of them? At the next meeting with parents and teachers you can raise that question and start to collect money from the others, the rest must be collected by the school/board or whatever. There are always solutions to those poorer families when they are surrounded by richer ones. Nobody is left behind in a rich country/city, that is mostly a myth. All financial problems can be solved when people work together locally.
I made good experiences with this attitude in class. Whenever a question was raised from a parent when it comes to help the poorer ones almost no one had any problems to contribute either financially or with materials to give or to borrow.
Unfortunately it's not just one or two poor children and those who manage to scrape by and find that extra for a laptop aren't exactly in a position to be able to help those even worse off. Unemployment in this area currently stands at over 35% and prospects aren't improving. Anyone who can afford it will usually put their children in private schooling, which is actually still government funded, but you pay a few thousand a year too, how much depends on the school. So those in a position to help a bit are often not in the same schools.
This isn't so much of an issue in primary school. There they make sure every child is catered for. It's high school where it can start to become a problem, because the things they need are much more expensive.
Never heard of this phenomena. There is a facility which uses laptops (!) as a standard in a school where unemployment is at 35% and does not provide for the laptops? Are in your country worse of areas not supported by governmental and civil efforts?
Maybe then a new decision has to be made at this school. ... Sometimes parents have to become more political and start talking to the officials in order to create some change. ...
Here in Hamburg we have poorer and richer kids in one school. Laptops aren't used here (only private learning purposes) until end of school, I guess (my son just attended 8th class). And if use is required in certain classes, the school provides for them.
In theory the school did provide laptops that could be borrowed, but they were old and weren't always sorted ready for use. In the meantime, the children who needed them got in trouble with the teachers and when they did have them they took so long to load up they'd lost half of the lesson. I hope that since my daughter left the school things have improved, but the last I heard they hadn't really.
I really feel there is more of a divide between the rich and poor here in Australia than we experienced in the UK. There is talk of support, but at the ground level little happens. Many are turning to homeschooling; not an available option in Germany I hear, but thankfully still an option here.