Jim Taylor - Raising Generation Tech

Copyright 2012 by Jim Taylor, PhD

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Taylor, Jim

Raising generation tech : preparing your children for a media-fueled world / Jim Taylor.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Internet and youth. 2. Technology and youth. 3. Parenting. I. Title.

HQ799.9.I58T39 2012

004.6780835dc23

2012016920

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Raising Generation Tech is my twelfth book. I, of course, have dedicated my books to all the people who have supported me through the publication of each one over the years. To be honest, in this twelfth publication, Im finding it difficult to create individual heartfelt and pithy dedications to everyone again.

So, hopefully without detracting from the individual contributions that each one has made to my writing of Raising Generation Tech, I dedicate it to all of them en masse: to my publisher, Sourcebooks; my editor, Peter Lynch; my agent, Carol Mann; my friend and mentor Gerry Sindell; my father and late mother, Shel and Ceci Taylor; and my sister, Heidi. Without your experience, knowledge, insight, patience, support, and love, my vision of Raising Generation Tech would not have become a reality. Plus, a special dedication to my wife, Sarah, and my daughters, Catie and Gracie. Without you, my life would not be complete.

Our children are growing up in a world that is vastly different from the one in which we were raised. Economically, politically, socially, culturally, and technologically, the world that we live in hardly resembles the world of just a few decades ago. Consider this: Facebook and text messaging, two of the most popular and powerful forces in the lives of young people today, didnt even exist ten years ago. The Internet itself has only been in widespread use for around fifteen years.

The vast changes that we have observed over the past few decades are certainly unsettling for us digital immigrants. We may worry about what the world will look like in the coming years and long for a simpler and slower time (although the good old days were probably not as good as we remember them). At the same time, for our childrenthe digital nativesthis crazy new world is neither crazy nor new; its just their world, and its filled with excitement and possibilities. Regardless of where you are standing, one thing is certain: there is no going back. Technology is an inexorable force that cant be stopped, nor should we want it to be.

People, however, havent changed much. Despite the immense changes that have transpired throughout time, we humans are little different from our ancestors of thousands of years ago. That seemingly obvious fact may no longer be fact from here on in. New technology is altering us as individuals, changing our brain development and functioning, and as a society, reweaving the social and cultural webs (no pun intended) that encircle our lives.

The challenge for us as parents is to ensure that these dramatic changes help foster a better world for our children and that our children are well equipped to master the increasingly complex world that they will inhabit. This challenge is no small matter. As the visionary educator and philosopher Marshall McLuhan said almost half a century ago, We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us. That sentiment predated computers, mobile phones, and the Internet. As if looking into a crystal ball, McLuhan saw the future. For us and especially for our children, that future is now.

The speed at which technological advancement is occurring is so breakneck that we have little time to consider the implications of each new development before the latest technology takes root in our collective psyches. Only looking in our rearview mirror can we begin to understand how these new technologies have altered the way we think, the way we connect, and ultimately who we are. Only then are we able to judge whether those changes are beneficial or detrimental, but by then, its too late to undo the changes. The relentless pace of innovation forces us to play a constant game of catch-up that we have little chance of winning.

As someone who has serious concerns about the influence of technology on children (and on all of us), Ill admit that I may sound like Chicken Little. Calls of The sky is falling have been heard throughout the history of technological advancement, for example, with the introduction of writing during the Bronze Age and the invention of the printing press in the 1400s. Yet, in most of these cases, these game changers have been boons to humanity rather than the end of days that those Chicken Littles predicted. Plus, we as humans have shown ourselves to be remarkably adaptable creatures who can readily adjust to the variety of changes with which weve been confronted.

The essential question is whether this pattern of Chicken Little reactions to technological changes is an appropriate response or whether simple acceptance of the inevitable is perfectly reasonable. If the metaphor holds true to form, then I would argue that, given the poor track record of calls about the end of the world, Chicken Little should be kept in his coop. At the other end of the continuum, though, blithe submission also seems misguided, particularly given the growing body of research showing that technology can have a negative impact on our lives. As with most things in life, the best answer usually lies somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry.

With this book, we can draw some compelling conclusions from emerging research and from what we see occurring before our very eyes. My intention is not to act as Chicken Little but rather to sound an alarm. My goal is not to repel technology; its to help you use technology and the culture it creates to your childrens greatest advantage.