Do the professions have it right? Does computers stop family from spending time together? Maybe so in some families..I also don't like kids in bedrooms with computers all the time.
Young people can become socially isolated if they're sitting for hours and hours and don't get to interact. This in any case is true if the kids are left alone and not encouraged to talk about and show you what they are doing or have learnt/found on the net..
I might be just wrong here. I love the net. I have got many friends I talk to online. I am fussy who I interact with.Only takes a comment or a word and I can delete them as quick as I can say hello to them..That's the choices we have.
My sister and family and 2 of my children live 8hrs drive and more away..I don't think I would cope in the old the days with no Internet..they are just a click away..I see and interact with them every day, get to see pictures they take and read little messages every day to what they did that day, how they are feeling. They must feel secure knowing I am here just a button away and will reply to a question or message in less than a day.
Where my teens are concerned with facebook and other social networks. I'm constantly making sure they know the people they talk to and added are family or friends of family they know and age acceptable.With the kids living with me, I have access to their passwords and have the right, they know I will disconnect them if they show disrespect for me or the net.
We love to have our dinner in front of the tv and watch a show we all like and can enjoy together. We fight we laugh we talk about shows we watch..Some families watch tv in separate rooms. I don't know, but some how , maybe because they were bought up young watching the programs I like, my kids also like them shows now and watch as well.
I can honestly say we spend a lot of time on the computers, we also know how important it is to play outside, we have many afternoons playing cricket, soccer and washing cars and mucking around in yard and love the family BBQ as much as the Norms and Ducans do.
Do the professionals base their views of the Internet as a content medium, rather than a communications medium. This is still the way the entertainment industry views the Internet, but it's not the way most people actually use it. Email, instant messaging, writing blogs, writing in forums, etc., are all means of communicating -- and they get the most use online. Passive content consumption is a small part of what makes the Internet what it is -- so why do people keep making proposals based on the idea that this is all people do online?
Our family is very social when on computers and laptops. We all enjoy the Sims game, watching and taking an interest in each others houses and families they create. The kids all get involved in football with their dad and have these weird fantasy teams they talk about and spend hrs discussing players and points and shit (lol).
Facebook is another thing we discuss a lot, showing each other family and friends photos that we may have or not have on our own walls..We look at comments and all have a comment about the comments with out putting up a comments most times...( good sentence there ..lol) Now if the teens have something they don't want me to see or know I won't be impressed they better delete it while they got chance and before I see it.. and the ones that I do get to see they always have something written along the lines that this comment or post wont be on wall long when Mum sees it. (sneaky little brats)
Anyways enough said.. maybe I'm the strange one here, but we love our computers and laptops muchly..not to say we don't do everything else others say is a better option..Now my kids know all the card and board games that we drag out and play probably more than the so called *best family* does..All my kids know their poker hands and can pile or lose card chip like a pro.
Tonight was a special Sims night because Summer (grand daughter 15mths) can now be apart of the fun and join in with her very own laptop. And her laptop is very educational with letters, her name, numbers, fruit and animals which all can be easily changed as she gets older.
What do you think..is your family a weird , wonderful one like mine?
