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Be careful the Seductive Power of Technology
I Like Technology. Now i'm conceding all the good and fun things that computer-based systems has brought into our lives; I'll not fight the fact that battle. Not only would I lose any argument with wonderful additions technology has made to our lives, We'd be fighting against myself. I love it that I may flip open a Star Trek "communicator" and chat with almost anyone, anytime. I love the very idea of having a communication equipment out in my back yard, near the bird feeder, that is presenting with a satellite in low earth orbit. Wow! As well as do I ever love my computer-oops, computers. As in a large number of computers. In fact , my job is strongly tied to products and I love to get paid. However , this article is a warning, a fabulous plea to open our eyes wider than our own big screen TVs, to step back out of cell phone assortment, to put down our PDAs for a minute and look within what has gotten a hold on us.
Technology is without a doubt Seductive
Techuism blog has the power to draw us in not to mention cause us to lose perspective about what is happening. Just try out talking to your child (or maybe your spouse or best friend) the next time some slick TV program or commercial will be shimmering across the screen and you'll see what has all their attention. Technology draws us in. But if we have been drawn in, we're also leaving something behind. We could possibly be abandoning loving or developing relationships or the peace and quiet necessary to think purposefully about our lives, where our company is going and how we want to live five years as a result of now. To continue this idea, that technology is desirable, let's look at the natural progression of how we respond to fresh technology.
Technology as a Toy
All new technology comes to us in the guise of a toy, thus its initial enchanting pull on us. No matter the age, the new technology feels like a toy. It is smooth, pretty and flashes bit lights. It makes cute sounds and we be affected by it from the childlike (or childish) center of our staying. It is not the sophisticated 35 year old business professional that is responding to the new all-purpose, highly-evolved technology thing, it will be instead the seven year old child inside that may be gushing and filled with Christmas morning lust. We might not really have any way to use it yet, but we execute with it. We turn channels, set the volume on the 96 surround sound speakers (yours doesn't have 96? ), receive pictures of our toes with it, and enthusiastically pursue carpel tunnel problems as quickly as our thumbs and also fingers can fly over fun little colored links. It is a toy. But it does move evolve into the next category and that makes us feel a little more effective about it and helps us avoid the fact that we just simply spent a year of future retirement on a toy.
Technologies as a Tool
The toy usually becomes a tool. Within strong desires to justify the purchase of the toy, most of us look for things it can do. Ah, it keeps great calendar. Cool! Now I won't have to keep track of my $29. 00 day planner and worry about losing it. I need to worry about losing my $495 PDA. But it might also take pictures. That's important. It's also good that it will be able to erase them because I find I take a wide range of pictures that are really crap and now I not only expended time taking the pictures, I also get to spend an afternoon erasing them. But the toys often turn into very really serious tools. I may continue to use my cell phone toy when i unconsciously blow through red lights and make transforms without signaling (need that spare arm for the cell), but I also realize this toy is a dangerous safety tool. I don't want to be broken down on the highway without having to have this link to help. The same 50" flat display screen wall hanging that is a toy is also a tool to be aware of frightening weather and important current events. And the notebook computer who empowers me to look at pictures of potential Russian birdes-to-be helps me write this article and project investment rewards. Toys have the potential of becoming tools. From puppies to make sure you working dogs. But there is a third and more dangerous place.
Technology as a Tyrant
Dictionary. com offers one description of a tyrant as, "a tyrannical or compulsory determine. " Wow! Think cellphone, e-mail, Skype, compulsive viewing of forums, chat rooms, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the current flavors of Turkish delight known as technology. These tips can be toys (relatively harmless except for what they might be replacing), they can be tools, or they can become tyrants. When sincerely engrained into our work or social structure, individuals change from being puppies or work dogs and become abyss bulls that can bite and clamp down so that it is amazingly difficult to dislodge them. I used to be able to match the demands of my job. Once upon a time I genuinely had a little time that I could budget weekly that was "walk around and get to know everyone better" time. No more. At this time I am constantly juggling attention among appointments, drop-in unannounced visitors, snail mail, phone calls with the pink reminders, cell phone calls, and e-mail. I can never get one caught up with out intrusions from all of the others. The first four were rarely manageable, with cell and e-mail added, I'm no more in control, the pit bull is. So , what manifested?
How Did We Get Like This?
Okay. Here is the crux of this article. Technology is on a different evolutionary quote than us humans. It reproduces faster than rats and changes species with each generation. We happen to be enticed, and continue to be enticed, by technology due to its irresisteble dark side. It beckons to the seven year good old inside and draws us in. As a tool, technological innovation is embraced and embedded into our lives, ostensibly as a partner, one called alongside of us to help people. But, without an understanding of the evolutionary path of technologies, we do not control its place in our lives. The software becomes a tyrant that bullies us and extracts us around on its lease instead of the other technique around. Because of the initial seductive nature of technology, we all don't easily see that it will tend to take us for you to where we don't want to go and make usa pay more than we first thought we were ready to pay. So , what shall we then do?
Might know about Must Do
I'm not offering a plan but an approach. Typically the approach depends upon fully understanding what has gotten an important grip on us. I suggest the following critical pieces just for beginning to manage technology and protect our humanity:
Appears see that technology is seductive and separate out plus control the childish reactions to the initial toy aspects of new technology. Gratification can be delayed (an adult response) and toys can be both played with and put away.
Think through both intended and unintended consequences of bringing the shiny, new technology toy into your life. What is it interchanging? How will you control it so it doesn't put you will on a leash?
Do not assume that a new technology resource is better than an older one that worked well for you in the past. I had a colleague who keeps in a pocket a little menu of things to do, thoughts, and insights. His pen and pieces of paper list worked a lot better than my PDA when when my best technology tool lost both primary and backup battery power and I lost passwords to multiple accounts as well as forums. Which is better?
Many new technology tools can't be avoided. However , they can be managed. Think of ways to limit the use and how to communicate your policies for your use with your colleagues, family, and friends. For example , I check the email once a day and make it clear to my fellow workers that I am not sitting at my computer all day awaiting the chime (evidently, they are).
Finally, pay attention to the things which technology tends to replace and redouble your effort to work regarding relationships so you have no regrets.
The actual Impact of Technology on the Developing Child
Reminiscing around the good old days when we were growing up is a storage trip well worth taking, when trying to understand the issues going through the children of today. A mere 20 years ago, children utilized to play outside all day, riding bikes, playing sports and even building forts. Masters of imaginary games, children on the past created their own form of play that didn't need to have costly equipment or parental supervision. Children of the history moved... a lot, and their sensory world was aspect based and simple. In the past, family time was sometimes spent doing chores, and children had expectations to meet up with on a daily basis. The dining room table was a central destination where families came together to eat and talk about his or her day, and after dinner became the center for baking, crafts and homework.
Today's families are different. Technology's influence on the 21st century family is fracturing its highly foundation, and causing a disintegration of core character that long ago were what held families together. Juggling work, home and community lives, parents now trust heavily on communication, information and transportation technology to help with making their lives faster and more efficient. Entertainment technology (TV, internet, videogames, iPods) has advanced so rapidly, the fact that families have scarcely noticed the significant impact not to mention changes to their family structure and lifestyles. A 2010 Kaiser Foundation study showed that elementary aged youngsters use on average 8 hours per day of entertainment engineering, 75% of these children have TV's in their bedrooms, and also 50% of North American homes have the TV on throughout the day. Add emails, cell phones, internet surfing, and chat creases, and we begin to see the pervasive aspects of technology on the home lives and family milieu. Gone is dining area table conversation, replaced by the "big screen" and obtain. Children now rely on technology for the majority of their play, grossly limiting challenges to their creativity and imaginations, as well as restraining necessary challenges to their bodies to achieve optimal sensory plus motor development. Sedentary bodies bombarded with chaotic physical stimulation, are resulting in delays in attaining child developing milestones, with subsequent impact on basic foundation skills pertaining to achieving literacy. Hard wired for high speed, the modern young are entering school struggling with self regulation as well as attention skills necessary for learning, eventually becoming significant behaviour management problems for teachers in the classroom.
So what will be impact of technology on the developing child? Children's expanding sensory and motor systems have biologically not developed over time to accommodate this sedentary, yet frenzied and chaotic makeup of today's technology. The impact of rapidly advancing systems on the developing child has seen an increase of natural, psychological and behavior disorders that the health and education programs are just beginning to detect, much less understand. Child obesity and diabetes are now national epidemics in both Canada as well as US. Diagnoses of ADHD, autism, coordination disorder, sensory processing disorder, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders can be causally linked to technology overuse, and are increasing at an scary rate. An urgent closer look at the critical factors just for meeting developmental milestones, and the subsequent impact of products on those factors, would assist parents, teachers together with health professionals to better understand the complexities of this issue, and additionally help create effective strategies to reduce technology use. Any three critical factors for healthy physical and mental child development are movement, touch and connection to other sorts of humans. Movement, touch and connection are forms of crucial sensory input that are integral for the eventual development of any child's motor and attachment systems. When movement, touching and connection are deprived, devastating consequences occur.
Little ones require 3-4 hours per day of active rough in addition to tumble play to achieve adequate sensory stimulation to their vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile systems for normal development. The particular critical period for attachment development is 0-7 many months, where the infant-parent bond is best facilitated by close experience of the primary parent, and lots of eye contact. These types of sensory advices ensure normal development of posture, bilateral coordination, ideal arousal states and self regulation necessary for achieving basic foundation skills for eventual school entry. Infants with minimal tone, toddlers failing to reach motor milestones, and babies who are unable to pay attention or achieve basic foundation proficiency for literacy, are frequent visitors to pediatric physiotherapy along with occupational therapy clinics. The use of safety restraint devices which includes infant bucket seats and toddler carrying packs and even strollers, have further limited movement, touch and network, as have TV and videogame overuse. Many of the latest parents perceive outdoor play is 'unsafe', further confining essential developmental components usually attained in outdoor harsh and tumble play. Dr . Ashley Montagu, who has frequently studied the developing tactile sensory system, reports that whenever infants are deprived of human connection and feel, they fail to thrive and many eventually die. Dr . Montagu states that touch deprived infants develop into toddlers what person exhibit excessive agitation and anxiety, and may become stressed out by early childhood.
As children are connecting progressively more to technology, society is seeing a disconnect as a result of themselves, others and nature. As little children develop not to mention form their identities, they often are incapable of discerning whether they are the "killing machine" seen on TV and throughout videogames, or just a shy and lonely little children in need of a friend. TV and videogame addiction is bringing about an irreversible worldwide epidemic of mental and bodily health disorders, yet we all find excuses to continue. Whereby 100 years ago we needed to move to survive, we are at this time under the assumption we need technology to survive. The capture is that technology is killing what we love one of the most... connection with other human beings. The critical period for bond formation is 0 - 7 months of age. Bond or connection is the formation of a primary bond within developing infant and parent, and is integral to that building child's sense of security and safety. Healthy attachment formation translates into a happy and calm child. Disruption or negligence of primary attachment results in an anxious and upset child. Family over use of technology is gravely affecting not only early attachment formation, but also impacting negatively in child psychological and behavioral health.
Further analysis belonging to the impact of technology on the developing child indicates who while the vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile and attachment systems will be under stimulated, the visual and auditory sensory products are in "overload". This sensory imbalance creates huge challenges in overall neurological development, as the brain's anatomy, chemistry and pathways become permanently altered and impaired. Children who are exposed to violence through TV and videogames are produced in a high state of adrenalin and stress, as the body system does not know that what they are watching is not real. Infants who overuse technology report persistent body sensations connected with overall "shaking", increased breathing and heart rate, and a common state of "unease". This can best be described as a persistent hypervigalent sensory system, still "on alert" for the oncoming attacks from videogame characters. While the long term effects of this recurring state of stress in the developing child are unheard of, we do know that chronic stress in adults makes for a weakened immune system and a variety of serious diseases and also disorders. Prolonged visual fixation on a fixed distance, a couple of dimensional screen grossly limits ocular development necessary for later printing and reading. Consider the difference between visual specific location on a variety of different shaped and sized objects from the near and far distance (such as practiced through outdoor play), as opposed to looking at a fixed distance glowing display screen. This rapid intensity, frequency and duration of vision and auditory stimulation results in a "hard wiring" from the child's sensory system for high speed, with future devastating effects on a child's ability to imagine, attend plus focus on academic tasks. Dr . Dimitri Christakis found that every hour of TV watched daily between the ages for 0 and 7 years equated to a 10% strengthen in attention problems by age seven years.
On 2001 the American Academy of Pediatrics issued cover statement recommending that children less than two years of age cannot use any technology, yet toddlers 0 to 24 months of age average 2 . 2 hours of TV every day. The Academy further recommended that children older than only two should restrict usage to one hour per day if they experience any physical, psychological or behavioral problems, and couple of hours per day maximum if they don't, yet parents in elementary children are allowing 8 hours per day. Portugal has gone so far as to eliminate all "baby TV" due to the adverse effects on child development. How can parents continue to inhabit a world where they know what is bad for their infants, yet do nothing to help them? It appears that today's individuals have been pulled into the "Virtual Reality Dream", where all of us believes that life is something that requires an escape. Typically the immediate gratification received from ongoing use of TV, videogame and internet technology, has replaced the desire for individuals connection.
It's important to come together as parents, teachers and counselors to help society "wake up" and see the devastating outcome technology is having not only on our child's vigorous, psychological and behavioral health, but also on their ability to find out and sustain personal and family relationships. While technological innovation is a train that will continually move forward, knowledge regarding the detrimental effects, and action taken toward balancing the effective use of technology with exercise and family time, will work when it comes to sustaining our children, as well as saving our world. While no one can claim the benefits of advanced technology in today's world, connection to these devices may have took a disconnection from what society should value almost all, children. Rather than hugging, playing, rough housing, and talking children, parents are increasingly resorting to providing the children with more videogames, TV's in the car, and the most recently released iPods and cell phone devices, creating a deep and extending chasm between parent and child.
Cris Rowan, pediatric occupational therapist and child development expert has developed a thought termed 'Balanced Technology Management' (BTM) where parents organize balance between activities children need for growth and achieving success with technology use. Rowan's company Zone'in Programs Inc has developed a 'System of Solutions' for addressing technologies overuse in children through the creation of Zone'in Goods, Workshops, Training and Consultation services.
Cris Rowan is usually an impassioned occupational therapist who has first-hand understanding and familiarity with how technology can cause profound changes in a child's progression, behavior and their ability to learn. Cris has a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy, as well as a Bachelor regarding Science in Biology, and is a SIPT certified physical integration specialist. Cris is a member in good place with the BC College of Occupational Therapists, and the approved provider with the American Occupational Therapy Association, the particular Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, and Autism Group Training. For the past fifteen years, Cris has professional in pediatric rehabilitation, working for over a decade in the Shining sun Coast School District in British Columbia.
Cris will be CEO of Zone'in Programs Inc. offering products, work spaces and training to improve child health and enhance academic efficiency. Cris designed Zone'in, Move'in, Unplug'in and Live'in instructive products for elementary children to address the rise on developmental delays, behavior disorders, and technology overuse. Cris has performed over 200 Foundation Series Workshops regarding topics such as sensory integration and attention, motor production and literacy, attachment formation and addictions, early treatment, technology overuse, media literacy programs, and school environmentally friendly design for the 21st century for teachers, parents as well as health professionals throughout North America. Cris has recently created Zone'in Instruction Programs to train other pediatric occupational therapists to deliver all these integral workshops in their own community. Cris is an pro reviewer for the Canadian Family Physician Journal, authors typically the monthly Zone'in Development Series Newsletter and is author of your following initiatives: Unplug - Don't Drug, Creating Environmentally friendly Futures Program, and Linking Corporations to Community. Cris is author of a forthcoming book Disconnect to Reconcile - How to manage balance between activities children fact that growth and success with technology use.