First Friday's Lesson: Moderation is changing

This week I really mulled over what I saw with my sweet, little digital natives last Friday and what to post, which is why it has taken so long to get this post up.  (That, plus I have learned that blogging while two children are running around your computer is hard!)  I spent some time reflecting on if the day was different because of technology. I kept coming back to one word, moderation.  Don't get me wrong - I knew that I wanted to post about how digital natives moderate or self-regulate their technology use; it just took me a little longer to reflect, then reflect some more about what I was truly witnessing with my own kids.


I am a digital immigrant, my technology as a kid was moderated by definition; television stations went off air, tapes and records had to be flipped over, video games ended either because you won or your time was up, phones had cords and busy signals, and computers were in a lab that you got to venture into one day a week at school.  There was not the opportunity in my home or our city to be using technology independently as a young child.  Access to every technology was controlled by a grown-up or outside media supplier. 

My children, digital natives, do not share this reality.  There is programming on a children's channel at 2 am should they be allowed to view it, radio stations play 24 hours a day, and we have 6-7 hours of music even in the car without a repeat due to our trusty CD changer - not to mention hours more on an ipod that they can select by song, organize, play, replay, or delete with the swipe of a finger.  Phones go everywhere and act as our camera, calendar, gameboard, internet access point, alarm clock, and communication command center.  And computers?  My kids rarely walk into an environment without computers, they are so common place my kids are more interested or awed by places that don't have computers - always referred to as "olden times places" by my older child.

So we spent our first Friday doing the activities of summer - morning at a local history camp, lunch with friends, read alouds with Momma, long naps, chocolate milk (a delicacy to small children!), watching a thunderstorm roll across our neighborhood, and staying up late.  I let the kids have pretty free reign with the ipod, ipad, computer, and phone.  I felt like the only times my kids disagreed or got cranky was when they couldn't control their own environment (developmentally appropriate for their ages) or technology use.  We practice what we are taught, and I was beginning to worry about my need and/or ability to control technology for my kids. My first response was to take all the technology away (digital immigrant ways die hard), but I stuck to my guns and let them use technology when they wanted - secretly thinking naptime and bedtime were going to be a nightmare of techno-induced stupor and blue-screen fever.  However, as the afternoon waned, so did the need for technology.  My kids put the ipad down and joined me willingly for an extra long read aloud.  My oldest took pictures of friends who are leaving for 2 years overseas and then asked me to put the phone and its camera away for safe keeping.  There were more requests for card games, cooking together, and building sofa forts.  The technology did come back out Friday evening, but got repurposed quickly - by the kids - for an impromptu all family dance-a-thon in the kitchen.


I do worry about digital natives needing technology to the point of shutting out human contact, but my kids surprised me in their ability to self-regulate or moderate their own use even as very young learners.  With a few simple guidelines (no tech at the meal table, during read alouds, or when friends are over to see you) they are reassuring me that human contact will survive, I will not have to detox them from technology on a regular basis, and they still will need and want loving people around them give guidance, hugs, bandaids, and tell tales of "olden times places."  My digital natives are helping me change my view of how moderation is learned or relearned in a digital world. 

The Tools

Every grand adventure requires a little packing, and My Nine Fridays will too.  We will be using the technology most available to us (and what my kids try to take control of) most of the time.  I have included pictures but because I am not a "picture paints a thousand words" photographer I will give you a few words on each device.

Tool 1:

A Smartphone, mine is an iPhone, but we will probably borrow my husband's Droid from time to time too.  This tool has a few uses that amaze me and entertain my kids. First, it connects to the internet without a wireless or corded connection so we can research anything from almost anywhere.  Second, we downloaded a QR reader so that we can scan QR codes where ever we may find them - my older daughter can spot these from a mile away and already understands that more information - maybe even an audio or video file -  is "hidden" in each of those black and white mazes.  Then we have some standards apps that make everybody's life easier - the weather app ("Mom!  How hot, how cold?  What should I wear?"), the map app (we live in a beach bound community - alternate routes are a way of life), and timer/alarm app ("How long can we play at the playground?  Is it time to go swim, yet!?"); we use these everyday just to get around our world.  Finally, the phone has a great camera that is easy to use and even easier to send photos or video from.  I discovered this ease when I realized my younger daughter is so well versed in using the camera that last night I deleted 237 pictures of our living room floor, her nose, and my husband's knees.  All of this happens on a touch screen that is easier for small hands (and bigger mulit-tasking hands) to manipulate than a mouse.

Tool 2:

An iPad, which in theory is for work purposes, but seems to have an increasing number of videos and apps that include Max & Ruby or dressing princesses and their pets and less with titles like Notes, Spreadsheets, TED, or Hoot Suite.  To be fair, I do work in an elementary school and I am not above making my children do test runs on educational apps before we roll them out to teachers and students.  I do love the educational ease of this device.  I can look up answers to questions we have about books while we read the books, I can watch content with a child sitting in my lap anywhere...not just in our living room, we can plan our day efficiently by looking up hours/events with the swipe of a finger.  Plus, my kids love the instant and non-judgemental feedback that an app gives...you either get it or you don't...and no one says no (with or without a frowny face or hidden sigh).  Ours is the original version which means no camera, but after deleting about 237 more pictures from the smartphone, that is okay!  

Tool 3:

A web camera, the least mobile of our devices, as it is attached to our home computer.  We use it mostly for Skype video-chats to family and friends.  This is an awesome technology that keeps our extended family (especially mine, who live 1900 miles away) close in a way not available to previous generations.  Both of my kids love to "Skype Mimi's house" and tell about their days and then show the physical evidence of who or what might be included in their adventures.  Otherwise the web-cam is under-utilized and figuring out how to use it more may become one of my ideas for a Friday.

Now, I am off to take care of the next thing that every grand adventure needs, snacks!  

The Vision

"So I work 12 months a year as a school administrator and 24 hours a day as a mother of two young kids..." 

     This is how my story starts, how my plan hatched, and how this blog began.  I am a twelve month employee for a mid-size school division and I work summers - in a school - a weird concept in and of itself.  However, because I work in a traditional elementary school, on a traditional elementary school calendar, summer time hours offer me an interesting proposition:  work 4 ten hour days and you get Fridays off.  This means that I have nine Fridays to spend with my kids.  Nine extra days that I don't normally get.  Nine extra days to play with them, learn with them, occasionally be goofy-crazy-over-the-top with them, and nine days to delve into their world on a level that is usually reserved for weekends.

     This year my vision is to take in as many moments of those nine days as I can (or they let me) from my kids' technology perspective.  I am going to strap myself into digital native mode and run with them (or after them hollering if history serves) and then try to record as much of what I find in this blog and using my mobile technology as my digital immigrant fingers will allow.  We will use technology together, and probably more often I will find them showing me all they know that I don't.  I hope you will join us - I don't know every place we will journey yet - but I know it will be a wild ride!