Published: 07/10/2011 by Storm Steen - Sugar Bay

One of my close friends and I were out for lunch a short time ago and I couldn't help but feel like an outsider to the conversation, even though it was just the two of us there. I find it amazing how society has obliviously pushed aside social etiquette to allow for technology to take the place of face to face conversation. I feel this is most noticeable in the younger generations of today.
My fourteen year old sister is constantly glued to a screen. If not her cell phone or the television, it's the computer screen or hi-tech gaming appliance. Perhaps this is because, every year, technology has new “bigger and better” things to offer that are advertised to be the one thing you have to have.
Technology may seem like a completely harmless form of amusement and communication, but could it be crippling the social and personal independence of our youth?

Parents of today are able to contact their children at any time at any destination because of the ease of technology, and are more than likely to have a hard time going a day or two without talking to them. This may result in the child not being fully able to assert their independence or move out of home when the time comes, and if they do, parents may very well find it hard to let go because of the increased involvement in their children's lives.
Summer Camps are constantly advertising what they have to offer, but maybe one should think about what they do not offer... No cell phones, no computers, no television, no video games etc.
What camps don't offer can be their most benefitting component. Children learn essential communication skills that technology seems to destroy. They are able to discover that there are healthy ways of enjoying themselves that do not involve a screen or keypad. Furthermore, parents are taught valuable lessons at the same time. The limited contact allows parents to “let go” of their children to some extent and parents are weaned into becoming independent for themselves.

Many parents do not realise how far they have fallen into the technology trap. A great test would be to send your child to a summer camp. Many parents will find that they will get “kidsick” in the same way that children get homesick. A summer camp is the perfect opportunity for your very own tech-support.

- Written by Storm Steen (28/07/2011)
http://marlacoleman.com/ Object 1
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By Kathryn Tuggle
Published August 06, 2010
| FOXBusiness