Technology is now an established part of our lives and to a large extent can dictate our lifestyle. Although we (my husband and myself) are not by any standards dinosaurs, we do recognise that inappropriately used, technology can be a snare to our minds, both as adults and to our children. As one child (not a home-educated one) is quoted as saying 'Why should I bother learning to read, I can just watch a DVD!' The battle is on for our minds and our children's in particular. The promise comes of ease and pleasure, but the sting is an inability to think for ourselves and we become slaves to others, if not to our machines. The problem We live in a world that seeks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week entertainment and it is so easy to get sucked in. When I was a child (we didn't have a T.V. even back then) entertainment was limited to what was on the screen at that time. No pre-recording, or satellite repeats etc... We are all aware of the enormous escalation of the use of technology in all aspects of our lives while we have grown up and now our children are surrounded by it constantly: you can't even buy a pair of children's shoes without the child being presented with a screen with dumbed down pictures on it - so much is thought of children's intelligence! The newspapers (when I read one) seem always to have an article bemoaning the amount of time our children spend glued to screens when there is so much more to learn. Headteachers are sounding warning bells, warning of epidemic mental problems in the young if something is not done about it. In fact, mental problems are already very prevalent so much so that in fact that the mental health service cannot cope, neither can charities such as Childline. Stories are heard of children sitting up into the small hours addicted to social media and how others perceive them, itching for another 'like' and some popularity, along with the scathing comments they have to bear from those who don't like them, in language that you or I would find horrifying. Bottom line: social media is addictive. This fact alone must sound warning bells in our ears. You can find many articles sounding the negatives of the over-use of technology on young people's studies and relationships. What has gone wrong? The big question facing parents today is can we limit it? Is it fair to maybe put our children at a disadvantage if they do not have access to these things? Won't our children rebel if we deny them the such like? 'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' 1 John 2:15-17 The answer As Christians the Bible tells us that slavery to anything that detracts us from Christ is to be avoided at all costs. 'Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.' 1 corinthians 7:23 “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16 So how do we avoid these traps? We examine our usage of technology in the home, the models we are presenting to our children and we do so in the knowledge that bad habits formed are not easily broken. If we want to children to read good books, then we must keep them away from relying on the screen where fast paced action can be enjoyed with no effort. It is generally thought in education now, that as technology makes information so easily acceesible, that we don't need to teach knoweldge, only how to access information. This is erroneous as learning knowledge opens the mind: grappling with maths teaches logic; learning to write teaches us to think about what we want to say and how best to express it. In other words, by grappling with knowledge, we learn to think. By purely learning how to pump a question into a computer, we are not thinking. More dangerous is that we do not learn to think about the answer we get. Is it logical? Is it true? So if we encourage our children to think that technology has all the answers, they will be at the mercy of the world and all it's deceipt. We need to seriously consider which items of technology we really need and and which are superflous. There are always going to be some children who rebel - whatever you do and however many good reasons you give for what you do. Let us not use this as an excuse to succumb to the snares of technology. Our children will be more harmed by a needless slavery to it, than they will if we limit its use, with good biblical explanations: and then model that to our children. We can survive without spending hours on social media/constantly surfing the web/ needing 24 hours a day enterntainment. Steer towards putting technology to good use. How does this work in practice? Each family will need to prayerfully consider this for themselves. In our home, the main computer is essential whereas i-pads/tablets/ and the like are not necessary. We do not have game-boys, X-boxes or even a television. Our children do not have mobiles that access the internet (and they are late teens who have only recently been allowed to use a standard mobile phone when away from home!) We do not use social media. We have explained why to our children and they understand and accept. They understand that when they are 18, they will be able to choose for themselves. We discuss these things and endeavour to help them to think them through for themselves. We have to share the main computer which limits the time we spend on it. We keep it in the living room, in full view of everyone, which keeps us accountable. We occasionally watch DVD's on the computer. These are a planned events and we all sit together to watch and discuss either during or afterwards. We do not use technology in the bedroom - my husband and I turned our mobiles off and leave them downstairs at night time. These are choices that we have deliberately made and can explain the reasons why to our children. It's not because we are 'old-fashioned' or 'out-of-touch' but rather because we care for our own souls and those of our family members. The rest of the time our children have played (with well chosen toys not linked to films), read, played instruments, dug, planted, built, played sports in the garden/park, entertained friends who visit/or we visit friends together and much more. In a nut shell, they develop skills for life. They THINK and RELATE! A proper use of technology In our family, the computer is not for playing on. Instead we foster a work ethos through the constructive use of technology. My husband and I work on the computer, be it family/church/other. Even this needs monitoring in case it takes us over. We have only really let our boys use the computer as their reading and writing skills have allowed. We do little school work on the computer, only research for essays, for which we really prefer books. We discourage the use of Wikipedia for serious study due to it's short-comings, i.e. anyone can change it and so the material on it may not be reliable, although it can be helpful while brainstorming a topic. Once they have written an essay, they are allowed to use the computer to present it well, only after they have edited it and hand-written it well. Now they are older they keep accounts on spreadsheets, use a publishing programme, write using Word, etc.. Nature Observations and Main Line are the fruits of our boy's 'play-time'. As you can see, magazine writing is far from play! Although not part of their school work, the educational benefits are never ending. From writing, to publishing, to reading and editing, expressing themselves through language, the use of technology, learning accounting, working with others, organising, meeting deadlines - all flowing out of their love and passion for their interests, which after school they have plenty of time to indulge in. We put our humble attempts here to inspire others to greater things! If you are interested in receieving either of these magazines then please enquire. Just a word: There is another aspect to technology that is becoming a worrying trend even amongst Christians. It's as if technology waves aside all social conventions. It's seems now to be ok to be rude on social media, or to ignore an e-mail for example, if we don't fancy replying. It's so easy to press a button and talk (or not talk as the case may be) remotely to someone that we forget politeness. This is not for the Christian. Let us be careful that we do not emulate the world. And mums - a word just to you (and to myself)...please, don't live with a phone in your pocket - turn the sound off so that you are not tempted to keep looking at it. Children get sooo fed up with mums' whose minds are more on their mobiles than they are on them. Check them once a day (or twice if you have to) and the give your children the concentration they deserve. They are only little once! Social media/mobiles are a time stealer. Once again, let's not be like the world. 'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' 1 John 2 15-17 For further reading...
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Welcome!After studying for an Early Years Specialism degree (B.Ed. Hons), and teaching in mainstream education, I home-educated my own children, after my husband and I were persuaded of the need to take responsibility for bringing up our children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' (Ephesians 6:4) We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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