Blog 3

There is no denying the effect technology has on parent-child relationships.

       What I’m speaking of specifically is the shifting of power that can occur between parents and children when kids are much more familiar with technology than their parents. This shift in power can make the parent set rigid tech boundaries and become over-controlling. This ultimately fails, due to the child’s ability to outsmart the restrictions the parent imposes.

      As a twenty-something year old, this power shift in families is humorous to me. I remember my sister and I were those children adept at technology use, due to the squishiness of our young brain, taking in the new skills. It was common for us to help our parents with the simplest of tech tasks online and etc. When I put myself in the perspective of that child again, I reflect on the helpful parts of the power shift to my family and me.

        By relying on our family, we learned to bond and engage using technology, finding commonality in helping each other with different tasks. Another benefit I experienced as a young one was my confidence boost due to my parents needed technical assistance. This was the first legitimate time they needed my help, it felt good to be needed and assist.

       Another frame to view this power shift is through the eyes of a parent. Though I don’t have kids yet, as I continually grow older, I learn to understand the struggles of parenthood. Contrastingly using this lens, it’s easy to see the drawbacks of this tech-based power shift. One big result of this power-shift is a greater likelihood of conflict. As we learned in class, the Basic Roles of Parenting are to provide basic needs and protect from harm, guide development, and advocate. As a parent, I would be fearful of conflict affecting my roles to protect my children from harm and guide their development from a technology standpoint! This pertains mostly to older children in their teens, marking a time in their development where independence is growing and privacy is valued. Though parents look to protect their children, overstepping newly form boundaries of teens, run the risk of losing the child’s trust.

              The parenting processes we spoke of in class like mediation, monitoring, and management are ways parents keep technology use safe.  Imposes these processes on teens are enough to spark parent-child feuds. This conflict can result in the child distancing themselves from their parents. And even engaging in risky technology use and rebellion. For instance, according to Pew Research Center, 65% of parents have taken their teen’s phone away as punishment and 48% have EVEN looked through their teen’s phone calls and texts( Anderson, 2016).

      From my experience as a teen, my parents looking through my phone calls and texts would have been a NIGHTMARE. However, I knew of many friends whose parents regularly checked their phones and calls. What ended up happening was the teen out-smarting the parents, using an email to connect with others instead or deleting messages before parents got ahold of the phone.

      In my household, there were little rules about technology use. The only rules I remember were that you picked up when Mom called and don’t text a lot because that’s expensive. As a result of this passive regulation, technology wasn’t a source of tension for my family and I. Thinking back, this style of regulation led to unhealthy cellphone use for my sister and I. Along with this, my mother was constantly confused on what we were doing all day on our phones, leading to less communication.

         If I could give any advice to families engaged in this technology power-shift, I would say to start early. Educating your child on technology and internet use like you would any other IMPORTANT topic. Like the birds and the bees, it’s best to let the child know about the subject early from a trusted adult, than to enter junior high and have to learn it on their own. It’s vital that this conversation is on-going, as the child matures and is faced with new tech risks and benefits.An authoritarian parenting style isn’t recommended for teens, this will only increase conflict and distance. I believe in letting the child know the dangers and benefits that come with technology use and then learning to trust the child as they grow. While doing this, processes like monitoring, managing, and MOST importantly modeling, are keys to a child’s safe technology use.

During our class debate on Thursday we debated whether the use of dating apps and sites were useful for meeting and sustaining potentially long-term relationship. For this blog, I wanted to explore the impacts technology has on one’s mental wellbeing and how they view others especially when they are interacting with individuals over social media. An example that we discussed in class was the case of Anthony Weiner, former legislator in New York, who was denounced for his ‘sexting’ with others (not his wife) is that the exchange felt like a game, that it was superficial, and he didn’t have any regard for the other person(s).

Technology use, especially over social media, can lead to unnecessary anxiety, worry, loneliness, and depression. Take for example, reading too much negative news or researching one’s symptoms online too much can increase your anxiety.

Some social media use can be a good thing because it helps us keep up with family and friends, but we need to be careful about how it affects our psyche.

Studies have shown excessive social media use can lead to feelings of depression and dependency in some people. When we get on social media, we are looking for affirmation, consciously or not, we are comparing our life to the lives of others.

Excessive smartphone, computer and tablet use can disrupt your sleep. Bright lights from these devices impact one’s sleep pattern, and how long it takes to fall asleep which ultimately impact one’s overall physical and mental health. Excessive use can also lead to dependency and constant need for stimulation which can cause addiction and conflicts in one’s personal and romantic relationships.

Although there are plenty of benefits of technology and social media, we need to consider the negative impact technology has on our mental health and the negative impact on our personal relationships and how we view others. At the end of the day, there has to be a line we draw when it comes to accessing social media. Perhaps you set a limit on your screen time each day or turn off your devices at a certain time every night. Whatever you do, carve in plenty of time for “real life.” You’ll be happier and healthier mentally and physically.

In my first blog, I will be responding to and analyzing the prediction
offered by experts in our in-class reading assignments through the frame works
of family models and personal experience of information and communications technology.
I will include a hyperlink for those who don’t have access to the reading so
that they may examine the material themselves.

 The Predication offered by the experts that I will be examining for my first post is that political awareness and action will be facilitated and more peaceful change and public uprising like the Arab Spring will emerge ( Anderson, Rainie).

With the ever-improving capabilities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), it has the potential to vastly impact cultures, societies, and governments at its very foundation. And it is beyond having the “potential” to change things otherwise seen as immovable objects, take for example the Arab spring or the BDS movement. ICT will facilitate, as we continue to progress, change at unprecedented speed on our own individual lives, Cultural values, societal norms and the bureaucracy of government.

Using Lanigan Sociotechnological framework we can understand ICT’s impact on ordinary family life and the extrafamilial influences on families such as political awareness and involvement that are enhanced and exacerbated, in some ways, by ICT. Lanigan’s framework examines the influences on the selection and use of technologies (Walker, ppt. 8).

A Question arises that needs to be addressed.

How have political awareness and actions affected black families through the use of ICT when dealing with and recognizing institutionalized racism, e.g. police discrimination and brutality towards blacks, using new platforms that ICT has provided?

We can use the “not so extreme” example of Philando Castile’s tragedy that grabbed national headlines of how an innocent man was gunned down in his car with his girlfriend and daughter in the backseat. We can also examine the recent understanding and sympathy towards black families having to sit-down with their children so that they have “The Second Talk” with them seeing as that they carry a black body in every room they walk into.

Although these things are not new, especially with police brutality being ever present in the black family and community, ICT has allowed movements such as BLM to foster and gain a larger audience by reaching those that are affected by it and those who’ve been oblivious and ignorant of it. ICT allows the family factors and processes in Lanigan conceptual framework of cohesion to develop not only within the family, but it also builds a sense of closeness to other families by connecting them through platforms such as Twitter and Snapchat to form groups and organize protests.

References:

Predictions Offered by Experts

Pew Report_Future_of_the_Internet_Predictions.pdf

In Class PowerPoint provided by Susan Walker

Thinking Critically About Technology.pptx 

21 Savage

When setting out on a journey do not seek advice from someone who never left home…

You have no need to travel anywhere – Journey within yourself. Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light.