Skip to main content

A Plea To Abandon Technology

Our children risk becoming a generation of robots programmed by mass media. As a journalist, I'm skeptical of anyone who claims the media are simply a tool of evil people used to manipulate and disseminate falsehoods. So I make that statement only half-seriously.

On the contrary, I believe strongly in the First Amendment as a vehicle for free expression; in the free market for the economic opportunity it creates and the platform it provides for the innovation and development of new products and services; and in technology for its ability to connect people and create value in ways past generations never dreamed possible.

Nor am I neglecting the value of a thoughtfully designed children's tablet game or the joy of educational TV programming, which I consumed voraciously as a youngster.

My point is this: We should encourage our children to spend more time outdoors and less time inside. I heard a tremendous presentation at the Sustainable Brands 2018 conference in Vancouver earlier this year from a leader at REI, the outdoor apparel and supply company. He shared alarming statistics about the years of our lives spent indoors amid artificial spaces that aren't designed for our mental or physical well-being. The company's #OptOutdoors campaign is a great example of a shift in our collective thinking about the value of removing technology on purpose, at least temporarily.

As a parent, I know I've used technology more times than I can count to appease my children, entertain them, and get some work done around the house or on the computer. It's a stopgap, but it isn't a permanent solution. Children need to have their minds stimulated and their experiences widened. They need time to explore, invent, and work together to solve problems.

Challenge yourself to do something with your family outdoors, even if it's only 30 minutes a day. I guarantee it will refresh you and bring you closer to the people you love most.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Spark Inside Every Baby

Julie and I enjoyed a delightful evening with longtime friends for the Fourth of July. The day ended with 360 degrees of fireworks around their home in southwest Missouri. There is a visceral excitement surrounding Independence Day. You can feel the explosive "pop" of fireworks as they launch from the ground and again when they burst apart mid-air. Every flash of light, every report -- the booms and the screams -- rekindles memories of my childhood in Colorado. My family would pack up our lawn chairs and head to a nearby golf course to watch fireworks launched from the Boulder County Fairgrounds. More recently, we've joined my parents to watch displays against the backdrop of the Flatirons. Yet for all of the similarities fireworks share, each is unique. There is fresh excitement for the observer because it's impossible to predict what the next display will look like, exactly. If you are a parent, you understand that watching your children mature similarly e...
2 comments
Read more

Toddler Interrogations

I invited Ezra to sit with me this morning as I wrote my blog post. His eyes immediately were drawn to the thumbnail pictures of me on the screen. "There's Nate. And there's Nate," he said. "Daddy," he continued, "is that your glasses and your head and your hair and your chin?" Yes, dear. Yes, it is. Now it's onto the computer battery. "Daddy, what's this called?" A computer battery, I responded. "Oh. A computer battery. Daddy, why is this for your mouse [pointing at the USB]? Is that to make the mouse and that to make the mouse move on the screen [point at the keyboard]?" And so it goes. Little minds connect all of the dots, starting with the right questions. All we have to do is answer them, and keep answering.
Post a Comment
Read more

'A Link Between Angels And Men'

I ran across a quote today that I think is particularly true and that parents know better than anyone: “A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men.” That observation comes from the English writer Martin Farquhar Tupper , who lived from 1810 to 1889 . How is it that those words still resonate nearly 130 years after his death? Perhaps it is because they capture the joy of a newborn. Few sights are as innocent as a baby fast asleep, a hand across the chest, tiny fingers spread out and still. Indeed, it is this restful and unimpeded state so many adults seek and so few seem to find. Another explanation for the power of the passage is this: We have become so accustomed to the violence and suffering in our world that we long for the opposite state of being. It is a reality accessible only in our imaginations--and in the lives of our children. No wonder we seek to give t...
2 comments
Read more