Parents VS. Tech

“Parents VS. Tech. How kids become feral when technology is removed”

This post is not meant to diagnose, treat, or save you from mental illness, if you or someone you love is in danger, please get help. You can text HOME to 741741 to be connected with a crisis counselor. I personally have. You can also call or text 988 for suicide and crisis help.
http://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts

***Trigger warning: This content contains parenting advice and feedback

For many parents trying to navigate this generation, this millennia, this universe of technology and tech savvy children, it can be hard to pin point what the problems are with the technology kids are using. For some children they go in person to a public, private, or charter school; for others they are home schooled or they simply do not attend school at all. Some schooling is done at home, some on the computer, and some with the method paper and pencil. Whatever way kids learn, it is important to balance their needs.

The above is my topic for today, I am at a loss; my kids are constantly after electronics. They can go days on end just plugging away at video games and TV, I have tried everything I can think of creatively and kindly to get them off. Sometimes they won’t even stop to eat or go to the bathroom, and if they do (of course), they are not washing their hands. When I say I have tried “everything” I mean: taking them to outdoor activities, taking them to parties, taking them to school events, taking them to relatives houses, swimming, sending them to school, giving them space in the basement, space in their rooms, space in my office, I have purchased other toys, old electronics without wifi, toys with no batteries, skates, bikes, board games, play dough, legos, craft supplies; yet I can not win over YouTube, Fortnight, the Playstation, the Xbox, the Nintendo, the Apple products, the Alexa, the computer, the phones, the watches, the Roku, the television, and anything else that plugs into the wall I may have forgotten. Do we do screen time? Yes. Do we encourage chores? Yes. Do we positive reinforce our children, in order to reward good behavior? Yes. Yet we still have “bad days”, “bad moments”, “bad kids”. If you ask me, I’d say that it’s all about the perspective in which we put ourselves. I believe that the only solution is to remember that we are out here doing our best. We are trying everything we can, and with consistency. I’d ask that you please “cherish the happy moments”, meaning laugh when they laugh, cry when they cry and sleep when they sleep; if you have kids that is , if you’re a stay at home parent that is.

I feel the best thing we can do for our children is to assist them in forming real human connection. I think a lonely child will revert to wifi in order to obtain connections. Isn’t that what we do as adults? Calling people, texting people, messaging, instagramming, tiktoking, shopping, snap chatting, talking to Alexa, listening to music, watching tv, movies, cameras, reels, are all ways to stay “connected”. Humans want and need that to stay alive; whether that be home alone or out in the “real” world. What pains me is to see children going full feral after getting a “toy” taken away.

-A Manic Monday