Well,
after weeks of anticipation, we have finally started summer in these
parts. Last Friday was the final school
day for my oldest, and he didn’t have to be there until 10:45. Our first official morning without having to
worry about uniforms, breakfast, and carpool started off with a bang. And by bang,
I mean, I’ll be banging my head against the wall by the middle of June. The kids woke up just before eight. By nine-thirty, I had sent them both to their
rooms for fighting.
Sometimes
. . . summer sucks.
They’re
getting along famously this week, what with Libby at sleep away camp and all. Yes, we left our eight year old in the woods
for a week. Please pray for us, and more
importantly, for Libby’s counselors.
The
nights are the hardest. It just doesn’t
feel right to have only one chick safely in the nest when the sun starts to
fall. Oh, I know our daughter is fine –
the child couldn’t wait for us to leave her alone with her camp mates in cabin
number one. She permitted us only enough
time to put sheets on her top bunk, and then she was all, “You can go now. It’s okay if you go. It’s time for you to go. LEAVE NOW!!!”
We
got the hint. Surprisingly, I didn’t even cry as we
drove away. Not sure if it was because
this was the second time I’d left a chick behind, or because we were leaving
our second chick, and she’s radically different from the first?
Either way, the
house is very quiet without her.
Sometimes
. . . summer rocks.
So I went to this technology seminar a few
months back, and ever since then I’ve been meaning to blow your minds. I apologize for taking so long to do this,
but I’ve got at least two dozen of these ridiculous ramblings started at all times,
yet rarely seem to finish one. Anyway,
I figure summer is a great time to talk technology. In fact, it might be the perfect time, because
less than 2 hours before we were leaving to deliver our child to camp, I had to
talk myself out of saying something to said child that I really wanted to say,
and that was, “It would be great if you could refrain from telling me what you’re
doing on the Ipad and asking me to look at what you’re doing on the Ipad because
the reason I gave you the Ipad was SO YOU WOULD STOP TALKING TO ME!
I
may or may not need a vacation.
The
truth is I’ve used technology for all the wrong reasons. I’ve used it to read mindless gossip about
movie stars. I’ve used it to look at pictures
of houses I’ll never be able to afford. I’ve
used it to communicate with people when I should have been communicating in
person. And I’ve definitely used it to
entertain my children when I didn’t want to participate in entertaining them.
Now,
since I know my poor use of technology on a regular basis doesn’t blow your
minds, allow me to do it with the following information instead:
- It took the radio 38 years to reach a market audience of 50 million people. It took the television 13 years. It took the internet 4 years, the Ipod 3 years, and it took Facebook only 2 years to reach 50 million people.
- More video was uploaded to YouTube in the last 2 months than if ABC, NBC, and CBS had been airing new content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year SINCE 1948.
- YouTube receives about 2 billion views Every. Single. Day.
- The number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the Earth’s population.
- The average teenager in America sends and receives over 3,300 texts a month.
- There are over 100 billion searches on Google each month.
- The computer power on your Iphone is significantly greater than the computer that was on Apollo 11 – the shuttle that took man to the moon.
Is your brain exploding? Yep. Me too.
Change
is a necessary part of life, but technology is advancing at an unprecedented
rate. We can’t possibly keep up. Not as citizens, not as employees, and
certainly not as parents.
I
realize technology has some amazing benefits.
It’s fast, helpful, and convenient, and let’s face it, I’m not about to
give up my phone, my computer, or my ability to hand my child an Ipad in
exchange for half an hour of silence.
But as my children get older and technology becomes an increasing part
of their lives, I’m realizing my role as their mother has a whole new set of
parameters to navigate.
I
know, I know, you had to walk three miles to school, uphill, in the snow and you
had to feed a family of five during the depression and you had to suffer twelve-hour
car rides with three young children and only a few fuzzy radio stations.
But
y’all . . . we . . . we have to
protect our children from technology. I’m
sorry for your misery, but the snow and the depression and the car rides are
all just trumped. Honestly, have you
heard of Snapchat - the app that claims you can send a picture to another
person for only a few seconds and then it will magically “disappear forever.” Seriously?
What kind of sexting maniac invented that crap, and why can’t I get my
hands on him to explain that all he’s done is made the toughest job in the
world that much tougher?
There
can’t be a more difficult task than parenting in this age of technology, and
yet, the wonderful man who led the seminar I recently attended said something I’ll
never forget. He said, “The issue isn’t
the technology, it’s the parenting.”
I
don’t necessarily want him to be right, but I know he is.
The
technology isn’t going anywhere. In
fact, if anything, it is infiltrating every aspect of our lives. I must accept the fact that it is my
responsibility to shepherd my children in ways that encourage them to use
technology positively.
Is
there evil online? Absolutely. We are fallen people – our sinful nature means
we can take every beautiful thing God creates and twist it into ugliness. Is technology making us more impersonal in
our relationships? Of course it is. Does the overuse of television, video games,
computers and cell phones mean we are more easily distracted, less productive,
and addicted to immediate satisfaction? Yes,
yes, and yes.
I’m
afraid that last yes might be the
worst one of all.
As
a follower of Christ, I’m trying to teach my children the concept of delayed
gratification. Jesus hasn’t returned
yet, after all, and while faith reminds me that my citizenship is in heaven, I still
have to live in the world – the very tangible, visual world, where things are
often immediate and the concept of waiting doesn’t get nearly as much practice
as it used to. I want my children to
become independent thinkers who make healthy, moral decisions. I want them to learn to discipline themselves
so they can become trustworthy adults. Achieving
these goals will require me to use the challenges of parenting as opportunities,
and be intentional in what I model to my children. It will also mean I have to give up some
control, even when technology is concerned.
The
world and its technology are changing so rapidly. It truly is mind blowing. It scares me and frustrates me and overwhelms
me and excites me. This week, I will
have moments of gratitude for technology, because it means I can send email
bunk notes to Libby each day she’s at camp. It means I can look at pictures of my
daughter online when my heart aches to see her face. This week, I will have moments of hatred for technology,
because my phone will take a perfectly normal, frequently used word I spelled slightly wrong because the letters are too darn small and turn it into a word I've never heard of in my life, and I will not notice it until AFTER I press send.
My
hope, however, is that amidst the gratitude and the hatred, I will remember the
truth. Yes, change is as inevitable as it is difficult. And technology is
different every day. But my Jesus is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. If I
trust in Him with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding, but submit
to Him, He will make my paths straight.
He will help me make the right decisions for my children. And he will forgive me when summer gets to be so long and loud, that I hand them an Ipad instead.
