I am not one to
bore my readers with my own opinion of whether this is good or bad (or maybe
just a little, since I rule the roost, at least in my own blog space J). But what I do feel strongly about is the impact this breakdown of
traditional social structures is bound to have on the next generation.
What we are
looking at here, is a future where my sons spend as much time, if not more,
with their virtual circle of friends, partaking of games like penguins, online
cricket, farmhouse or a host of other admittedly interesting occupations, than
with the neighbourhood kids, and giving me weird looks when I force them to
plug off and go spend an hour in a real playground. I have been pestering my
six-year-old son to reply to his grandparents’ letter that they painstakingly
wrote to their grandson and posted (yes, Indian Post still exists!). He gives
me ‘the look’ and asks me innocently to help him log on to his email account so
he can mail back to them (Indian Post, you better watch out).
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Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/987182
Don’t get me
wrong. In no way am I trying to berate the onset of the internet. In fact, I
can objectively describe myself as a new-age mother who understands and
celebrates the benefits of having access to a world of information at the click
of a button (or now, the swipe of a finger). I strongly believe that
information is power, and as a professional urban woman and mother I use a lot
of the information available on the net myself in various sphere of my life.
And I am sometimes in awe of how tech-savvy are our kids, how reflexive &
relaxed is their approach to technology. But what I do wonder often, is that
while we rejoice at the fact that our children are enjoying this era of information,
are we as parents doing enough to help turn this information into knowledge
(the processing of information into personally relevant insights), and
eventually into wisdom (the processing of knowledge into socially relevant
opinions)? Are we as parents even having these conversations with our children,
trying to gauge what they really make of all this information in their minds?
What do you think?
Anamika Dasgupta Sharma is one of the co-founders of "The Potter's Earth".
Having worked with Corporate Giants for more than a decade, Anamika realised her true calling to help empower the young generation of the Country. She is extremely passionate towards helping the youth realize their true potential through a journey of self discovery.
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Having worked with Corporate Giants for more than a decade, Anamika realised her true calling to help empower the young generation of the Country. She is extremely passionate towards helping the youth realize their true potential through a journey of self discovery.
I think, we as parents are ourselves grappling with the excess of and access to information that we have today. I have a good feeling though, about all this information with respect to our children. They will strike a balance. Yes, we as parents do have a role to play too. That the virtual world has its disadvantages and the real world has certain advantages - that is what we need to put out to them, subtly though. Yes, that's quite a job!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sonali, and I agree that it's quite a job! I think that in this era of fast-paced existence we often undermine the importance of conversations. A good open chat with our kids can go a long way in giving huge insights into how they are seeing and deciphering their world!
DeleteThe world at your finger tips.... this is the next big step in evolution after the wheel and the steam engine each ushering in a new era and each bringing newer dimensions and challenges to the human existence. As with evolutionary milestones this one too shall stabilize in due course of time. But right now we need to get familiar with and accept the changes it brings along and probably make the best of it.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Imagine a world where information is just a click away, where a child does not need to face the daunting task of going thru old dusty tomes in libraries (while that has its own charm, it can be a major turn-off from books for a young mind). That's the world we are living in today. We just need to help our kids make sense of all this information and help them process it into insights and opinions.
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