The Lure of Technology

At this precise moment, my family are lined up like the three wise monkeys on the sofa. I am "Hear no evil" attached to the laptop and concentrating on my blog. Little Bear is "See no evil" as he is currently wearing his patch from the orthoptist and concentrating on his newly discovered love of Mario Kart for Nintendo DS (a cast-off 6 year old version which was once mine by the way in case you thought we had one mad an bought one for our 4yr old), and "Speak no evil" the Curate in the corner, is currently having some 'down-time' playing his Nintendo DSi XL which he got from Father Christmas!

This brought me round to thinking about a problem that wasn't relevant when I was a child, limiting screen time. There were a limited number of accessible screens when I was a child, more than the generation that preceded me, but far far less than the generations that have followed.

I love technology, I am attached to my smartphone as if it is an extra limb. I love having the answers to so many questions at my finger tips and occasionally finding the accurate ones! I tweet and text, I play my own Nintendo DSi XL (Father Christmas lacked imagination this year!), I facebook, and of course I blog.

However, as half term approaches I will be putting down the DSs, the laptops and the phone (for a little while) and playing with my son, I will lead by example and resist the lure of the computer screen and just play. Craft materials will be purchased, lego will be brought out and face to face contact will be established.

I think that the best way to lure the next generation away from their technology is if their adult set the example themselves - and on that note I will step away from the laptop (oh and the noise of two different DS games being played simultaneously which is DOING MY HEAD IN!) and go and cook the tea, it's my turn.