The Connected Generation
May 14th, 2006 by Alex
Today’s kids are known as “the connected generation,” according to a recent Information Week article about how the Internet can be a dark and lonely place for children.
According to the article, kids aged 8-18 spend — on average — 6.5 hours per day connected to something electronic. Though not cited or sourced, this statistic certainly represented me when I was that age.
While I have no qualms about the statistic, the question remains: so what?
The average working adult probably spends at least that much time with electronic devices just during the working day; between cell phones, multi-line office telephony, conference calls, PDAs and Blackberry, not even counting the countless hours in front of their office workstation fussing with various applications. The code monkey spends hours in front of Eclipse, PuTTY, .NET, etc. Not just limited to programmers and developers, project managers spend hours with Microsoft Project planning how their subordinates are going to spend their time in front of their workstations. Most everyone fights with their Microsoft Outlook filtering rules. Even on days full of meetings where I’m away from my workstation, I’m usually subjected to a PowerPoint presentation or demo of some sort.
So if today’s average working adult spends just as much time connected to electronic devices (if not more), what’s the big deal with our kids? Aside from the fact that kids are younger and more impressionable, why doesn’t anyone worry about the parents and adults? After all, they’re the ones who ought to be spending time with their kids. The Internet is the modern day equivalent of the TV-turned-babysitter; parents need to be more involved with their kids, acting more than just a chauffeur and fiscal provider.
If the Internet is a dark and lonely place for kids, it’s the same for adults. The Internet doesn’t put on a different face for kids than it does for adults, it’s just there. Sure, it’s a vital tool that has been integrated into our lives; but at the end of the day it is still a tool, it ought to be utilized and respected as such. I don’t think legislation and focus groups regarding the Internet are going to improve the parent/child relationship. Campaigns for better parenting might, however. Perhaps wishful thinking, but I remain hopeful.
