Dear Parent, Low Tech is Best for Little Chicks. Sincerely, Steve (Jobs)

Dear Parents, Low Tech is Best for Little Chicks, sincerely, Steve (Jobs)

by Lauren Teixeira, Children's Librarian II
October 9, 2014

Alice and Joanie B. love their technologies - they are library-hens after all -- and, especially in the morning (before work) -- there's nothing like a cup o' chicken scratch to peck at, a fresh worm from the garden, and-- the news on their tablets...

Joanie B, avowed (paying) digital news subscriber.	Alice loves her (free) indepth news coverage of issues of the day
Favorites:  New York Times,  the SF Chron with some VICE for spice.	Favorites:  Salon.com and Huffpost, with a little Aljazeera (English) on the side.

Their corn-scratch brimming
and spilling across the (messy) coop,
the intrepid library-hens turned to their screens
brightly glowing in the early morning light . . .

"Yay! NYT a-waits me," thought Joanie B.
Once Opinions and Paul Krugman were aside
she swiped through to Fashion and Style --

"Baaawwwkk!!" Joanie B. squawked in shock,
nearly chocking on a worm,

"Who would have thought. .
the technology apple of my eye --
Steve Jobs. .  .
Man o' Macintosh fame,
ipod, iphone, ipad
just a few by name,
was low tech --
when it came to his own little chicks!"

Steve Jobs Was a Low Tech Parent by Nick Bilton While some tech parents assign limits based on time, others are much stricter about what their children are allowed to do with screens .CreditJonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Joanie B. (bawking aloud) "Nick Bilton crows --"

...So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs. . . . The company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” ...Since then, I’ve met a number of technology chief executives and venture capitalists who say similar things: they strictly limit their children’s screen time, often banning all gadgets on school nights, and allocating ascetic time limits on weekends.

Joanie B:
Weck, I have to agree with the titans of technology.
Little chicks need a guiding wing through
the wonders and wilds of the world rawwk! in real time and online.

Not to be out-squawked,
Alice laid an egg
of an essay
on Joanie B's news feats
about Steve and his parenting...

Tech is killing childhood Time spent on gadgets could be hampering kids' ability to connect to each other and the "real" world CATHERINE STEINER-ADAIR

Alice:  "Waawwk?!  This is serious crowing from author Catherine Steine-Adair. . .

… the old information highway has become a fast lane into…the vast online world….. Parents feel hard-pressed to get up to speed in new ways as gatekeepers, screen monitors, tech support, and cyberlife referees, in addition to the just plain human side of parenting.

Alice:  Wrrawwwk! - this article is from a book we have at SCCLD libraries:

The Big Disconnect 

Protecting Childhood and
Family Relationships in the Digital Age

Steiner-Adair, Catherine

 

Alice and Joanie B. both closed their tablets and looked up. The sky was very blue, filled with a menagerie of fluffy white clouds. Suddenly, a hummingbird zipped by, tasting the red nectar feeder hanging from the orange tree. The orange tree was filled with new, tiny green oranges, hidden among thickets of leaves.  An early morning breeze, with a bit of autumn chill, ruffled the feathers on their tails.

Joanie B:  Waaawwk! Look at those clouds - I see the shape of a great, giant rooster crowing up there. . .

Alice:  Bawk! That's not a rooster, its a mother hen calling her chicks to come scratch for worms. . .

Joanie B:  Scraaaak, I see a GIANT PUMPKIN up there in the sky -

Alice: Haaaa - is that Linus hiding under a cloud pumpkin vine?

The library-hens continued to debate the shape of the clouds, forgetting all about news, technology, Salon.com and NYT.  There would be plenty of time to tune into their tablets and finish their computer work, after storytime, after the school kids, (who came into the library in the afternoon, squawking and asking for help in finding just the right book for a report due soon [tomorrow]). . .had all gone home.

NOTES FROM LAURENJOAN

I have to say - that like Alice and Joanie B. - I am a total news hound and love my free (and paid) news sources on the web.  However, I was surprised to see and read the article about Steve Jobs and low tech parenting on the NYT (and Huffingtonpost).  I guess I was assuming otherwise, in regard to Steven Jobs especially!

Parenting for any generation has enormous challenges.  How do we keep our children safe, without dampening their spirits or desire to learn, explore, and grow?  Fairy tales were once told to teach children about the dangers in the world -- so they would know to watch out and respond from within, find courage and commonsense when challenged by life and circumstances.

For my parenting generation, raising my children meant limiting television and computer games.  This seems so simple and straight-forward, in looking back from today. The internet was still a work in progress in the 1990s and early 2000s.  With the introduction of Web 2.0 and social media, the complexity of interaction and possible exposure to vast amounts of questionable information and sharing (or cyberbullying) grew tremendously.  Then, the invention of smart phones, the ipad and tablet technology -- the touch screen -- morphed us into whole new world of possibilities, exposure and impact.

The wonders and the magic and the educational potential of today's technology are without question. But, there is a question to ask ourselves regarding healthy technology exposure -- "how much and what kind of screen time is good for my child" --  whether a baby, toddler, preschooler, school-age child or teenager?

To contemplate and develop your own tech-parenting style and limitations -- SCCLD libraries have many excellent resources to choose from.  Here are a few:

Low Tech Parenting Resources and Ideas

For more information: Low Tech Parenting Book List

For guidelines and ideas - quick references - on-line try:

   Media and Children

Kids and Technology: When to Limit It and How  (from About.com)

Graphics sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/tech-is-killing-childhood_n_3749176.html

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