My Ipod, My God − 1 April, 2006
This was an article I wrote for a conference and then submitted to Newsweek Magazine for submission. Enjoy!!!
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As a disclaimer, I am a happy Ipod owner and that may skew my thoughts. Or maybe it will skew your thoughts as you can stereotype me by age, sex, race, music, and shoe size. In defense, my Ipod is last years edition weighing a hefty 9 ounces without a color screen or movie capabilities. It barley fits my pocket and only stores 2000 songs. Oh the horror!
The world is divided. Those, like me, born post 1980 and the Techandicap Generation of pre 1980, left trailing in a technological overdrive dust cloud, struggling to understand the newest technology. I see the gap between me and my parents and wonder if the gap is a cause for alarm or a way to make us more relatable.
Growing up today allows me some certainties. Technology is rapidly advancing fueled by an even hungrier consumer appetite. Technology is here to stay and be a greater part of daily life. Once a week my parents will call asking why the computer screen is frozenagain.
When traveling, I purposefully leave my Ipod. It allows me to hear the sounds, and connect to the community spirit. The only purposeful Ipod use is on an airplane when my neighbor is chatty mcchatster, and insists I be their shrink for 2 hours.
Often the tiny white cord extends from a dark pocket to a persons ears. They should also wear a Do not dispute door hanger. When someone plugs in, they tune the real world out.
Some argue listening to music while watching a California sunset enhances the experience and engrains it unconsciously deeper. Fair enough, I counter music listening on public buses, is not an experience enhancer, and is actually a blocking technique. A way to block the experiences perceived pain, allowing them to say they never experienced it. So can I still have experiences with my parents, or are we too technologically different to relate?
The generational division of technology is actually healthy for the relationship as it allows the roles to reverse. In the parent child relationship, the parent usually plays teacher and the child the student. In the technology game, the child plays teacher and the parent the student. This reversal is healthy for the childs and parents growth.
The Techandicaps challenge is to embrace their student status and learn from us teachers. The result is twofold: they become technologically aware and, more importantly, build a better relationship with their kids.
The relationship is the foundation for positive parental influence. Without the relationship the parent has little influence. The greater the relationship the greater the influence, and technology is another medium to build the relationship because it is 100n the child's world.
The second stickiest website on the entire internet (for Techandicaps, stickiest means average hours per user) is not news, sports, gaming, music, movies, gambling, or even x-rated. Its not Yahoo!, Ebay, Google, or MSN. Its an online community of virtual pets called Neopets.com which targets pre-teenagers. Over 70 million users build a life for their virtual pet. Through activities (sponsored by large corporations) like the Lucky Charms: Shooting Stars or McDonalds: Meal Hunt kids score NeoPoints to spend on pet food, products, or play a virtual stock market. Recently Neopets was spotlighted by internet watchdogs because of its advertising ethical standards. Parents knew of the site since their kids spent hours on it, but never took time with their kids to learn the details.
Instead of resisting technology Techandicaps should embrace the opportunity to build a better relationship and in doing so realize how heavily and possibly unethically their kids are marketed to.
New technological communities unlike any generation previous are emerging. A cell phone dating game, 60 million Myspace.com members which is second only to Yahoo! in number of page views, and Podcasts broadcast globally from dorm rooms and downloaded to Ipods.
These new technological communities are missing cultural norms and spiritual guidelines of more established communities. Its not parents filling the communities moral void, but rather fast moving corporations. Viacom bought Neopets.com and Newscorp bought Myspace.com. Over 100 million youth are now subject to the cultural norms and spiritual guidelines as determined by Viacom and Newscorp.
If Techandicaps embrace being the student and get into the world of us teachers it would build the relationship and thus influence the community based on something other than the bottom line.
The division of technology is NOT a two way street, it is a one way street. It is the responsibility of the Techandicaps to want to be a student of technology instead of writing it off as way too complicated. As a parent, don't expect your child to wake up early to explain the latest video game, we would rather just play it. The first step is for Techandicaps to want to understand.
There is a difference between asking for help and wanting to understand. The difference between nagging and rapport building. If you are just asking to fix your frozen computer screen, you are asking for help. If you are asking to understand, it takes time and with time comes the relationship.
The Techandicaps should embrace the student status and learn from us. Your relationship and thus influence will become stronger. You will also become more technologically aware. Lastly it lets you spy on what us youngsters are up to and create new laws to stop it.
-------------------
As a disclaimer, I am a happy Ipod owner and that may skew my thoughts. Or maybe it will skew your thoughts as you can stereotype me by age, sex, race, music, and shoe size. In defense, my Ipod is last years edition weighing a hefty 9 ounces without a color screen or movie capabilities. It barley fits my pocket and only stores 2000 songs. Oh the horror!
The world is divided. Those, like me, born post 1980 and the Techandicap Generation of pre 1980, left trailing in a technological overdrive dust cloud, struggling to understand the newest technology. I see the gap between me and my parents and wonder if the gap is a cause for alarm or a way to make us more relatable.
Growing up today allows me some certainties. Technology is rapidly advancing fueled by an even hungrier consumer appetite. Technology is here to stay and be a greater part of daily life. Once a week my parents will call asking why the computer screen is frozenagain.
When traveling, I purposefully leave my Ipod. It allows me to hear the sounds, and connect to the community spirit. The only purposeful Ipod use is on an airplane when my neighbor is chatty mcchatster, and insists I be their shrink for 2 hours.
Often the tiny white cord extends from a dark pocket to a persons ears. They should also wear a Do not dispute door hanger. When someone plugs in, they tune the real world out.
Some argue listening to music while watching a California sunset enhances the experience and engrains it unconsciously deeper. Fair enough, I counter music listening on public buses, is not an experience enhancer, and is actually a blocking technique. A way to block the experiences perceived pain, allowing them to say they never experienced it. So can I still have experiences with my parents, or are we too technologically different to relate?
The generational division of technology is actually healthy for the relationship as it allows the roles to reverse. In the parent child relationship, the parent usually plays teacher and the child the student. In the technology game, the child plays teacher and the parent the student. This reversal is healthy for the childs and parents growth.
The Techandicaps challenge is to embrace their student status and learn from us teachers. The result is twofold: they become technologically aware and, more importantly, build a better relationship with their kids.
The relationship is the foundation for positive parental influence. Without the relationship the parent has little influence. The greater the relationship the greater the influence, and technology is another medium to build the relationship because it is 100n the child's world.
The second stickiest website on the entire internet (for Techandicaps, stickiest means average hours per user) is not news, sports, gaming, music, movies, gambling, or even x-rated. Its not Yahoo!, Ebay, Google, or MSN. Its an online community of virtual pets called Neopets.com which targets pre-teenagers. Over 70 million users build a life for their virtual pet. Through activities (sponsored by large corporations) like the Lucky Charms: Shooting Stars or McDonalds: Meal Hunt kids score NeoPoints to spend on pet food, products, or play a virtual stock market. Recently Neopets was spotlighted by internet watchdogs because of its advertising ethical standards. Parents knew of the site since their kids spent hours on it, but never took time with their kids to learn the details.
Instead of resisting technology Techandicaps should embrace the opportunity to build a better relationship and in doing so realize how heavily and possibly unethically their kids are marketed to.
New technological communities unlike any generation previous are emerging. A cell phone dating game, 60 million Myspace.com members which is second only to Yahoo! in number of page views, and Podcasts broadcast globally from dorm rooms and downloaded to Ipods.
These new technological communities are missing cultural norms and spiritual guidelines of more established communities. Its not parents filling the communities moral void, but rather fast moving corporations. Viacom bought Neopets.com and Newscorp bought Myspace.com. Over 100 million youth are now subject to the cultural norms and spiritual guidelines as determined by Viacom and Newscorp.
If Techandicaps embrace being the student and get into the world of us teachers it would build the relationship and thus influence the community based on something other than the bottom line.
The division of technology is NOT a two way street, it is a one way street. It is the responsibility of the Techandicaps to want to be a student of technology instead of writing it off as way too complicated. As a parent, don't expect your child to wake up early to explain the latest video game, we would rather just play it. The first step is for Techandicaps to want to understand.
There is a difference between asking for help and wanting to understand. The difference between nagging and rapport building. If you are just asking to fix your frozen computer screen, you are asking for help. If you are asking to understand, it takes time and with time comes the relationship.
The Techandicaps should embrace the student status and learn from us. Your relationship and thus influence will become stronger. You will also become more technologically aware. Lastly it lets you spy on what us youngsters are up to and create new laws to stop it.
Comments:
texasholdem (August 14, 2007. 03:10pm)
Nice story. I am not a music crazy guy, but yes I enjoy meeting new people in the <a href="http://gnuf.com/community/">online gaming community</a>, and I like this as a time pass activity.