I'm surprised no one else has brought up the safety concern of children using cell phones.
all of your links are from a feng shui site.
Here is a link from a more site that may be less biased:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones
It goes over the latest findings and talks about why studies aren't consistent.
After reading up on it, we've decided the evidence doesn't prove a problem with moderate cell phone use.
Maybe she gets to play the iPhone as a special treat at times like this. I've thought about giving DS an iPhone in a restaurant because otherwise he'll be getting up and running all over the place, and dammit, I want to sit and EAT! So if it keeps his butt in the chair, so be it. 
I guess I'm sort of baffled by those who see a difference between paper and crayons vs. iPhone? Personally, I see most of the iPhone apps that smaller children use as more creative than coloring in a pre-determined picture with the 4 colors provided by most restaurants. Doing the activities in the children's menu still doesn't have a child interacting with the adults at the table. Why is a child drawing a picture free-hand with crayons any different than drawing using an iPhone? The technology may be more electronic, but when you get down to the actual activity, is there really any difference? I'm not seeing it.
My kids love iphones/ipods, so yeah, in a child-centered society, there would be tons of them! LOL.
But, really, even speech therapists (and OT's) are using ipads now when working with their students. Our schools have smartboards in every classroom. Technology is something to be embraced, for the most part. It doesn't mean no one is still talking to the kids, for goodness sake.
I used to think it was crazy for parents to let kids use their phones and such when in restaurants. Then my kids got old enough to use them and I now understand the value they can have in some situations. I don't agree with parents who allow their children to spend hours on end in front of a screen, but a few games on an iPhone now and then is fun and challenging to them. Plus I do agree with the pp who mentioned that we need to embrace technology...it is where this world is heading these days.
Last week we were traveling. We'd been driving a long time in the car and stopped to have dinner. Dd was tired, tired of driving and hungry. We'd downloaded some books on my smartphone. When she started to whine, I gave her my phone so she could read to entertain herself. It was either that or take her out in the heat and humidity so that we didn't offend the other diners (when dd melts down, she's loud). To an outsider, it may have looked like we sat down, 2 minutes later I gave my daughter the phone, and she 'played' with it until the meal came, and then used it again after she was done with her meal. To me, it was maintaining the sanity of everyone in the building and keeping us all sane for the final 90 minutes of the drive yet to come. Unless you've got all the facts, this is a live and let live situation.
Plastic has no texture, no grain, no anything except
color. Ipods have a 2 dimensional screen. A crayon
has texture, smell and it's 3 dimensional. Drawing with
one creates a textured drawing with the lines visibly
elevated from the textured paper as one can see in
a oil painting. A three dimensional effect that is part of the
effect of the work. A child can understand what a crayon
is in the sense they could imagine making one. What are
the "colors" one sees on a ipod? A flower depicted on a screen
looks to me nothing compared to a real flower forgetting its
scent and texture. A crayon can be cut in half and shared
or a box of them can be shared.
If it is one's purpose as a parent to raise an employee
or employer than it seems technology should be embraced.
I feel technologies should be designed to benefit children not
that children be changed to fit technologies.
I think it's hugely sad. I believe there is immense value in "being able to sit still without entertainment." Thinking, observing, dreaming, chatting, wondering, asking, planning, waiting ... all good things. I think a big part of life is exactly about sitting around doing nothing. And yes, you can think despite distractions. In fact, doing so on a regular basis encourages and helps doing so in general. I want my children to engage with me and anyone else at the table and the wait staff and their surroundings and the atmosphere, not some prepackaged program on a screen. Going to a restaurant, for example, is about greeting the staff, getting seated, exploring the tableware (my dd is 2.5), choosing food, looking out the window, asking the server for what she wants politely, waiting and anticipating, enjoying new food and flavours or old favourites, conversing with us, paying, taking our leave, and talking about the meal. Tonnes of things to do!
So well put. I agree totally. DD (age 8) wants a tv/dvr in the car. No way, No how. I tell her it's more interesting to look out the window! I also tell her that she needs to be able to sit and do nothing.
I actually see some value to the dvd in the car - BUT we ONLY pull it out for loooong trips which around here means longer than 1.5 hours (next week we are driving to New Brunswick - 12 hours - he'll get the dvd after about 2 hours of driving on the first day). Let's face long drives are ridiculously boring & I really think there is only so much sitting without entertainment that any of us can contend with.
So well put. I agree totally. DD (age 8) wants a tv/dvr in the car. No way, No how. I tell her it's more interesting to look out the window! I also tell her that she needs to be able to sit and do nothing.what is your dd's personality like? a lot depends on that.
i discovered with mine just coz you gave her a dsi doesnt mean she is glued to it all the time.
honestly i dont think its more interesting to look out the window (however depends on where and how long you are travelling). i grew up with technology and honestly car journeys were boring unless we did something with our family.
dd has had her dsi in the car at time with her friends discussing games.
the dsi is no longer the 'forbidden fruit'. she played with it initially and now its no longer important. she finds our conversation more important - rather our very competitive but shreiking and squealing slug bug - juper cooper is more fun than the dsi.
but it wasnt me who made the choice. it was her. i gave her the choices she asked for. and she made the final choice.
however at 8 honestly tv in the car is a waste of money imho. how many more years are they going to watch. a small travelling dvd player and screen thingy - that would be more 'useful' in our situation. actually a laptop with wireless even more so.
i get what you are saying but i disagree.
this is the times of technology.
not having technology is now old fashioned. it is buring one's head in the sand (i am talking about older kids not toddlers). esp. esp. when you use technology and dont allow your kids to use technology.
being able to put away your technology is key. learning to put it away.
dunno - my dd has done both. buried her nose in technology as well as not.
i think we have this image of technology as being this addiction - that its technology or nothing. i guess media also helps with this image. IRL this has never been the case. i have never seen any children around me buried in technology constantly - and i mean of all ages. sometimes yes. not constantly.
looking back i see that at 3 dd did way much more technology than at any other point in her life. and i gave her the freedom. at 9 she is not a technology obsessed child. in fact once she passed 3 she never really went back to that phase.
I think it's hugely sad. I believe there is immense value in "being able to sit still without entertainment." Thinking, observing, dreaming, chatting, wondering, asking, planning, waiting ... all good things. I think a big part of life is exactly about sitting around doing nothing. And yes, you can think despite distractions. In fact, doing so on a regular basis encourages and helps doing so in general. I want my children to engage with me and anyone else at the table and the wait staff and their surroundings and the atmosphere, not some prepackaged program on a screen. Going to a restaurant, for example, is about greeting the staff, getting seated, exploring the tableware (my dd is 2.5), choosing food, looking out the window, asking the server for what she wants politely, waiting and anticipating, enjoying new food and flavours or old favourites, conversing with us, paying, taking our leave, and talking about the meal. Tonnes of things to do!
if your child is older than 8 that attitude will bring trouble i assure you that in future years. sometimes a parent knows best, sometimes they dont. sometimes even if we know best we need to let our kids discover that for themself.
meemee - I find that interesting - I know quite a few kids who would happily be plugged in ALL THE TIME to technology & quite frankly I see adults that are as bad & worse (I know a marriage that ended for this exact reason).
if your child is older than 8 that attitude will bring trouble i assure you that in future years. sometimes a parent knows best, sometimes they dont. sometimes even if we know best we need to let our kids discover that for themself.
Plastic has no texture, no grain, no anything except
color. Ipods have a 2 dimensional screen. A crayon
has texture, smell and it's 3 dimensional. Drawing with
one creates a textured drawing with the lines visibly
elevated from the textured paper as one can see in
a oil painting. A three dimensional effect that is part of the
effect of the work. A child can understand what a crayon
is in the sense they could imagine making one. What are
the "colors" one sees on a ipod? A flower depicted on a screen
looks to me nothing compared to a real flower forgetting its
scent and texture. A crayon can be cut in half and shared
or a box of them can be shared.
If it is one's purpose as a parent to raise an employee
or employer than it seems technology should be embraced.
I feel technologies should be designed to benefit children not
that children be changed to fit technologies.
I'm sure that most of us hope to raise kids that will be either employers or employees. Few of us want to raise children that will be unable to support themselves or their future families.
i discovered with mine just coz you gave her a dsi doesnt mean she is glued to it all the time.
Same here. My ds has unlimited access to his ds and a portable dvd player for the car. He only watched the dvd for a couple of hours on our recent all day drive. He did a lot of looking out the window, some doodling on a dry erase board, and a bit of napping. I just have not personally experienced this thing where children get glued to screens and we have never limited it. The ones that are more interested in them seem to be the ones for whom it's more of a novelty.
wait what?!!!! i am all confused here. you are putting two comments together - one aimed at you. and one not at all at you.
how can your dd have choices if you make the final decision? where is the choice? what if her choice disagrees with yours? does she still have a choice then? however i am talking about it in general - not about technology.
of course you are not burying your head in the sand. people who are using technology but not letting their children use it - those are the people i was talking about.
LIFEGUARD - i think with adults its taken on addiction status and if one looks deeper into the situation - is it really about technology or is something else going on there. oh yes of course there are kids who would be happily plugged in all the time. that involves a whole lot of issues. first do they have any other choices? have they known any other choices? are they around 3 or 4 years old when i have seen the peak 'addiction' to any kind of technology. however i dont really know teenage years. i know a couple of neighbourhood kids who were home say one day with friends playing video games, yet outside the next day trying skate boarding tricks.
its interesting how sometimes dd and her friends play with their dsi. they'd be all on the carpet playing and yet seriously discussing strategies and other game plans - esp if they were all on the same game. then suddenly they decide they need to do something else and run off to pick blackberries.
meemee - the children I'm thinking of most definitely have other options - lots of neighbourhood children, piles & piles of toys - for inside & outside, parents who are involved. The fact is if the parents don't force them to unplug they don't.
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