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The Grid – On or Off?

By Belinha S. De Abreu, PhD.

As we came to the end of another school year, the question was often posed to me whether or not our students are fed too much technology.  How do we turn them off? Shouldn’t we turn them off? In truth, we should all be turned off from the influx of media information and tools used.  We all need time away from what some term “the grid.”  Does that mean we all leave our homes and go live in huts? No, not necessarily, but we do need to find time to stay offline and off for a long enough period of time that we actually can detect the difference.

One of the books that I have some of my graduate students read is “Feed” by M.T. Andersen.   The book explicitly places the reader in a world where the technology is implanted in our brains and knows us so well that it in essence takes over our ability to think or make decisions. It is pervasive, embodying our thoughts and feelings—think “Minority Report” with Tom Cruise. While we may not necessarily live in a world where the technology is an implanted feed, we aren’t far from it.  Most people look at our kids with their ears plugged in and would say that they are already linked. Our children and youth have their minds focused on what is being supplied to them via the variety of media channels. It certainly makes you wonder about how much they are taking in without questioning, reasoning, or critically considering the messages.

The summertime offers an opportunity to “pull the plug” so to speak.  Our children and our youth, need time to grow outside of the media collective. Their brains need a break from the world that is going much faster than they even realize.  Parents, guardians, and educators need to find time to create those places where a child’s mind is not focused on all the noise, but on what is actually happening around them whether in family situations, in play or in the variety of activities that summer offers.

And, while it may be completely impossible to stop all the technology because our lives have become so dependent on it for work and entertainment, then take some time to talk about what children and youth are doing in their mediated worlds. Too often, as adults, we don’t question or even think to ask our children to share what they are participating in online or even offline.  Ask, learn, and listen. Those three components in a nonthreatening way can make a difference in what we know about our youngster’s world. It is the only way that we can work our way to finding a bridge to balance the overload of information. Ask about the musician they love so much?  Why?  What places online do they like and what do they actually do?  Play an online game with them or a video game to understand the fascination. You might learn from them and find out it isn’t all bad either.  Then find time to show them other avenues for play which are not connected by electricity. Teach our children how to step off the grid, even if it is just for a few hours a day. It isn’t going to be easy. In fact, it will take determination and commitment, but in the end it will be worth it.
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Belinha S. De Abreu, Ph.D., is a media literacy educator and an assistant teaching professor at Drexel University.  Her research interests include media literacy education, new media, visual and information literacy, global perspectives, critical thinking, teacher training, and the impact of learning as a result of media and technology consumed by K-12 students. Dr. De Abreu’s work has been featured in Cable in the Classroom and The Journal of Media Literacy. She has most recently published her second book Media Literacy, Social Networking, and the Web 2.0 Environment for the K-12 Educator (2011).

Categories: Balance

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