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And does the book address the people who NEED the internet and e-mail to conduct their business? Everything from Skype to book flights/hotels/cars to emailing clients, etc....need the internet.
And does the book address the people who NEED the internet and e-mail to conduct their business? Everything from Skype to book flights/hotels/cars to emailing clients, etc....need the internet.
Or how about my 6 year old in K that has homework assignments that can ONLY be done online. His math work is augmented by an online program where he progresses through a series of math games. He is required to log a certain amount of time each week on the games and his performance is tracked by his teacher. His school utilizes this resource from K-6.
I do think that are a good chunk of people who spend far too much time fixated on their gadgets. Of course, most of these gadgets and mediums have also evolved into real business, social and productivity tools. So, while the lesson may be true that we CAN live without these things, doing so certainly limits your abilities to interact with the world.
He's 15? The mp3 could have just been the catalyst. Any one of mine could have some simmering teen-ager angst problem over a girl no one knew even existed then the TV would break and he'd flip out. I learned to say, "What's the real problem here?" (After he ranted and raved and refused to eat supper because he was slowly dying of a broken heart.)
Think something else could be going on?
Thanks for the insight DewDrop... this is our first experience with a teenager! We just moved to a new larger home and so now I'm wondering if he's stressed over the transition or something... I know he's also not liking one of his classes at school currenly...
Thanks for the insight DewDrop... this is our first experience with a teenager! We just moved to a new larger home and so now I'm wondering if he's stressed over the transition or something... I know he's also not liking one of his classes at school currenly...
Anyway - thank you.
Moving sounds like a bingo ringo. Does he have a new school too? That's a double whammy. I always look for the "why" behind something. Especially if a good kid suddenly acts up.
We've talked about similar things here before. Most of us voted for taking the child in question for a drive to see if you can get him to open up.
Moving sounds like a bingo ringo. Does he have a new school too? That's a double whammy. I always look for the "why" behind something. Especially if a good kid suddenly acts up.
We've talked about similar things here before. Most of us voted for taking the child in question for a drive to see if you can get him to open up.
Nope, we just moved within our own same neighborhood. Same school, same friends, still rides his bike to/from school on his own. Nothing else has changed. Just our address and the fact that our home is bigger and nicer. Actually - I was thinking he was happier because he finally has his own room. He's always shared with his brother. We even gave him the biggest/nicest bedroom because we wanted him to really have a nice space and lots of room to stretch out, having had to share his room for all this time with little brother. He has seemed really happy and excited and everything.... up until his headphones broke and we wouldn't immediately replace them for him. It was really weird. My mama gut really has me questioning if he has an addiction to his headphones/mp3 player. I asked him if he could go 24 hours without his mp3 player and he said he couldn't. I asked him why, and he said it relaxes him.
My mama gut really has me questioning if he has an addiction to his headphones/mp3 player. I asked him if he could go 24 hours without his mp3 player and he said he couldn't. I asked him why, and he said it relaxes him.
Teenage years have long been associated with a turn to music to release anxiety, express emotion, etc.
It seems to me that "addiction" is a bit strong of a word to use. And even if he really IS obsessed with music right now, 1) it is probably something that will lessen with time as he grows more confident and overcomes the early teenage angst 2) it is not video games, drugs, alchohol or sex, so I don't really see the harm.
Is it that he is withdrawing from your family and tuning out because of the Ipod? My 15 y.o. niece doesn't interact with anyone in the family because she is always texting. My 14 y.o. nephew is always on his PS3. When I was that age, I was always always always reading. My 17 y.o. nephew went through it with HIS Ipod, but grew out of it.
In other words, is it really the technology, or is it a rite of passage at that age?
I asked him if he could go 24 hours without his mp3 player and he said he couldn't. I asked him why, and he said it relaxes him.
Hmm... If there's no big thing going on that's bothering him maybe he just really, really likes his mp3. If he said it relaxes him, I don't know that I'd worry all that much. All of us rely on something to relax us. His just happens to be electronic and plays his favorite music.
Being 15 has its own stresses. If he's a good kid (no dope? no cops bringing him home at 3am?) I'd let him enjoy it. I've known a lot of teenagers who disappeared into their music. If it helps him cope, why not? I honestly wouldn't worry too much if he uses something electronic to help him relax. He could be going into your basement to smoke pot and look at porn.
(You know he's also using it to tune you out. I used my transistor radio to tune my parents out. Every teenager tunes his parents out one way or another. It's probably fairly healthy to have that ability.)
I'm pretty old-fashioned but I do believe that just because it's electronic it doesn't mean it's evil.
As much as I hate to put myself in the same bucket with a 15 year old and txtqueen...I get where they are coming from. I can't have silence, it freaks me out. I always have music or the tv on. Always.
Losing power is like a nightmare to me, I need background noise!!
Ipods are different from old fashioned ways of listening to music because it separates you from everyone else in the vicinity. Different than, say, playing something everyone can hear through your intercom system or regular stereo.
I think it would be an interesting book to read. I agree that people are disconnected from each other more these days (ironic)...10 people can sit in the same room with their iphones and ipads, etc, and it's like the others aren't there at all.
Ipods are different from old fashioned ways of listening to music because it separates you from everyone else in the vicinity. Different than, say, playing something everyone can hear through your intercom system or regular stereo.
I think it would be an interesting book to read. I agree that people are disconnected from each other more these days (ironic)...10 people can sit in the same room with their iphones and ipads, etc, and it's like the others aren't there at all.
What's exactly different between the experience of listening to an iPod or listening to say cassettes on a Walkman? The Walkman came out in 1979 and when cassettes died out it was quickly replaced with portable CD players. Portable radios with headphones have been around a lot longer than that. Plain and simple, people have been pumping music of their choice into their heads through headphones for the better part of 30 years now. The only thing that has changed is the medium the music is stored on.
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We just moved to a new larger home and so now I'm wondering if he's stressed over the transition or something... I know he's also not liking one of his classes at school currenly...
