Children, Technology & The Difficulty of Finding A Balance

How Much Is Too Much And Is No Tech Even Practical?

I grew up on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ThunderCats, and to a lesser degree, Power Rangers, much much later on.

My brother and I watched these TV shows on a regular basis, but we spent more time playing with the actual toys and action figures that were based on these TV shows. It wasn’t until we were much older when video games entered the house.

[If my parents are reading this, I’ll leave it to them to fact check this - although I think my memory serves me well.]

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for me, TV was the only screen time available in my early years. There wasn’t an option to play with an iPad or to watch endless YouTube channels or high-definition cartoons.

Fast forward more than thirty years later, I find myself thinking about how newer technology will impact them.

I spent most of my career selling technology, I write about tech religiously and I genuinely do think technology is an enabler to a better future. 

Still, I struggle to decide what a good and healthy balance looks like for children?

If you consider a platform like YouTube, for example, there is a large amount of positive content available. However, there is the rest of the unknown content floating out there that worries me. YouTube is owned by my employer and I still take caution with any exposure to my kids because the algorithm is pulling the strings.

Furthermore, cartoons are no longer regular cartoons either. The depth of visual stimulation integrated into each show makes it tricky to know what’s enabling children to learn versus diminishing their ability to maintain a basic attention span.

When you add in the fact that we have a Google Home smart speaker device, it seems that my children have technology all around them. My daughter learned how to get our speaker to broadcast the weather and play music by using the cue “Ok Google!”

The bright spot in all of this is that my kids play with toys non-stop and actually have very limited exposure to technology. Their imagination is endless.

Even with all of the tech in the house (iPad, Google Home, TV, etc), we’ve been relatively strict and limiting access to these things.

Yet, we tend to go back and forth on how much is too much and whether it would be good to disconnect them entirely, even though we know that the future will be digital-everything. 

I feel like there aren’t easy answers here but I think having conversations like this among other parents who find themselves in a similar situation can be helpful.

So, if you have children, I would love to get your thoughts and suggestions on what works and what doesn’t. Reply directly to this with any tips or perspectives!