Generation Digital

Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, once shared the following three rules of technology:

1. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you're 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things.

I vividly recall when in the fall of 2004, a student came into my high school classroom with this small rectangular device with a pair of white headphones dangling from his ears.  I am sure that the iPod was seen by this student, and probably every owner of the 390 million iPods sold between 2001 and 2014, as a source of independence and escape.  However, I couldn't help but feel, as Adams quipped above, that this technology was changing the social order.  It was if, I felt, that the message behind the wired headphones, mechanical scroll wheel, and other-wise engaged listener was "you don't matter"- hence the "I" in iPod.  There was a new competitor for the attention of our children, and the adults didn't stand a chance.  

Our human history is story of generational anxiety about how technology affects children and their development.  More modern examples of this include the radio, television, PAC-MAN, the internet.  I wonder if 30,000 years ago the adults who lived in the Chauvet Cave area of southern France worried how their cave drawings would stunt the survival skills of their children. We worry.  It is what adults do when faced with technologies we didn't know growing up.  Yet somehow generations of children have survived these technological invasions, despite our most dire prognostications.  

The smartphone, or all web-enabled personal devices, seems different.  If I am to use the iPhone as the symbol of all smartphone technology, the picture on the right illustrates the astonishing impact that it has had in just a short amount of time.  The number behind Apple CEO Tim Cook, is the number of iPhones sold since its inception in 2017.  

Perhaps no technology in history has changed the way humans behave, interact, work, learn and play in such a short amount of time (see Simon Sinek's video linked below).  It was impossible to be prepared for this, and as an educator and parent I often seek answers in how to adapt to it.  

A group of teachers at our school have recently read Disconnected by NJ-based therapist, Thomas Kersting, and it is one of those books that you just want everyone to read. I was at an appointment the other day and was reading it in the waiting room. Everyone who walked into the office or worked in the office asked me about the book. When people see the cover, they immediately get this look of familiarity and understanding not because they recognize the title or author, but because we ALL are feeling the impact that technology, specifically smartphones and video games, are having on our interactions and relationships with our family and friends. This isn’t a local phenomenon, it is EVERYWHERE.

For example, in September the country- the whole country- of France announced that smartphones are banned from schools for students aged 5 to 15. This is a direct response to the growing concern that devices are becoming too much of a distraction, even addiction, for French students.

Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate, is the world’s largest video game developer. It owns 40% of Epic Games, creator of, yes that game called Fortnite. Nearly two years ago the company instituted time restraints on its most popular online game, establishing a 1 hour limit for children under 12. Again, this was in direct response to the public’s concerns about internet and gaming addiction and the social-emotional health of Chinese children.

I am confident that I don’t need to share how smartphones and video gaming has changed how kids in Sparta, and everywhere else, interact, behave, learn and play. You live it too and it is really hard to keep up with the pace of technology. For example, I recently went to a chain restaurant for the first time in several years. I was surprised, and disappointed, that every table had a tablet ostensibly to keep children “entertained”. Throughout Thomas Kersting’s book, he provides examples and stories of how our society is contributing to the overall decline of our children’s social and emotional health in regards to the use and presence of digital technology.

In Disconnected, Mr. Kersting effectively summarizes how technology has so quickly transformed how children learn, and how it has played a significant role in how children are struggling to communicate, focus, cope and socialize. I occasionally claim that one day I am going to move to a cabin in the middle of Wyoming or to an island in the Pacific that is free of the internet. Of course, this defeatist attitude isn’t the answer, and my role as a parent and educator is to prepare children for the reality of the world. However, as Mr. Kersting concludes in his book, there are things that we can do now to help our children, and families adjust and thrive in a rapidly evolving digital world. Here are Mr. Kersting’s five rules:

1. Keep your child’s room clean of screens.
2. Your child’s phone is your phone.
3. No electronics during dinner.
4. Limit screen time for entertainment purposes (including TV) to two hours per day (as recommended by the Academy of American Pediatrics). Most smartphones and gaming devices now have the ability for parents to establish time limitations (ex: Screentime on iPhones).
5. Be a role model. Adults are just as “digitally distracted” as kids, let’s look at our own digital media diets.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, nor am I the perfect “digital” parent. I do know that the rapidly changing pace of internet technology and increased children’s access and use of it is changing the way students learn, socialize, and emotionally mature. I welcome the conversation with you and will always feel obliged to share helpful resources that I come across. Disconnected is one of these resources and I have included a few more below.

Here is the Amazon link to the book.

"Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us to Use Our iPhones Like This"

“Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent”

Common Sense Media White Paper on Technology Addiction

Simon Sinek on digital addiction and self-esteem.

Meet Sophie.  As loyal, friendly, and fun as a puppy could ever have been.  For Sophie’s first sixteen months our family took on the fortunate role as “puppy raisers”, and the experience changed our lives forever- as beloved pets so often do.

On a typical day in Morristown, NJ, if you walk around town you are likely to see the wonderful work of the Seeing Eye Foundation in action as the dogs, matched with a trainer, practice for when they will be assigned to a visually impaired partner.  However, before the dogs are ready to be trained, they must spend their first twelve to sixteen months with a foster family, known as “puppy raisers”.  

We adopted Sophie, our first with the Seeing Eye, in the spring of 2016.  We quickly grew to love Sophie as she became our family’s best friend.  She was loyal, fun, and incredibly patient; never seeming to mind the near constant tugs and pulls from our enthusiastic five year-old.  She became part of the fabric of our family.  We all knew and understood our role as a family: to love and care for her until she was ready for training.  And so when the white van from Seeing Eye pulled up our driveway last spring, it was with incredibly heavy hearts (and a lot of tears) that we said goodbye to our friend, Sophie.  Our experience with her reminded us of the important virtues of patience, community, simplicity, anticipation, discipline, and above all love.  We were grateful for time we had with her, and we knew that she was moving on to serve a greater purpose. Those first few weeks without her were filled with emotional reminders of our time together.  What filled those empty moments, was the hope that she was in good hands, playing with other dogs, and successfully progressing through her training. 

A few weeks ago, approximately four months after we said goodbye, our family was invited to Morristown to see Sophie’s “Town Walk”.  This is an opportunity for puppy raisers to see their dog navigate the sidewalks, streets, and crosswalks with an assigned trainer.  We didn’t get to approach Sophie as she was no longer our’s and it would not have helped her training, but we did get to follow her from a short distance.  It was a powerful experience for us, to see the dog we loved, cared for and raised well on her way to this new life of service.  It was both sentimental, gratifying and comforting to see that she was happy and cared for.  

I thank my wife for coming up with this idea, becoming Seeing Eye puppy raisers, for it was an experience for our family that united us in a common purpose and brought us memories that will last a lifetime.  We recently were informed that next week, our family will be adopting our second puppy!  Sophie would be so proud.

Sophie

Since 1929, The Seeing Eye, headquartered in Morristown, has trained 16,500 dogs to serve as guide dogs for the visually impaired. The Seeing Eye Foundation’s mission is to “to enhance the independence, dignity and self-confidence of people who are blind, through the use of specially trained Seeing Eye dogs.”  

To learn more about the Seeing Eye Foundation, visit their website at seeingeye.org.