For those that might be reading about us for the first time, I would describe ourselves as a typical family, both of us (parents) were born in the 70’s and we have 2 daughters 13 & 11. We met way back in 1996 and we can both recall getting mobile phones 📱 early on in our relationship – not quite the big brick variety but nether the less it was bulky and cool, the introduction all we needed.

 

Through that first couple of years owning a phone, we upgraded to the popular Nokia 5110, with the 84mm x 48mm screen and the game to play was the snake in its best mono brick format. How things have certainly changed over the years, the term mobile phones are obsolete with the new wave of smart devices which started combining an O2 XDA II PDA with voice capabilities and now its Apple and Samsung “devices” dominating the market as “mobile devices”, that still deliver phone capabilities but a greater range of other options – apps and cameras.

In a world where mobiles, tablets, interactive screens, wifi hotspots, smart TVs, smart home devices, cloud technologies, apps it certainly goes without saying that technology is only becoming the norm, one our parents or grandparents still struggle with today. Where is it heading, how far will it go, what will the world look like… to be honest if you think about the cause and effect it scares me and it should you all but that’s what not this post is about.

What can we do about it – educate our children of today, the peeps that have grown up around technology and in our case I have work in technology since 2002 before we had kids so they know no different. A quick side story – earlier this year 2017 my mum turned 60 and we (the kids and I) completed a “this is your life” scrapbook. On researching the change in TVs my eldest could not believe we had to get up and change the TV station or worse sit there and watch the ad because no one would get up to change the station.

Has this had a negative impact on their upbringing, so far I like to think not – plenty of kids had/have computers, gaming consoles and then later iPods (or touch) but my girls both got iPhone hand downs as a result of the mobile evolution upgrade process.

To limit the use of devices as best as we can our home has some “usage” rules and we use online tools available to us to promote this. We don’t believe these guidelines are too restrictive as it works both ways, with respect and responsibility comes reward.

Our Home Guidelines

• Minimal (can’t say never) usage in their rooms alone
• Maintaining an open dialogue with your children about online behaviour
• We eat as a family at the table every night (unless out)
• No devices at the dinner table
• We don’t answer any calls during dinner time
• Yes the TV is on as background noise (not always and more on this later)
• A great app we use to enable/disable apps with the ability to restrict screen time, like the hours from 830pm – 830am

BUT this blog is a Technology Challenge

To start with, we discussed this as a family for several reasons, need the girls to understand the positives which ensure their buy-in as well as a pre-warning of when it would take place.

We have decided to start the 6th of November until the end of the month, each family member will get 1 hour free tech time which will be after school for the girls and when mum and dad get home from work. I must leave my iPad in close proximity to watch for notices in regards to netball umpiring and work-related calls during this time which will not count towards my “free” tech time. We are yet to decide but am leaning towards my wife being able to use her iPad for 2 hours as she does mainly read on her tablet.

Why would we do this – it’s too easy to just do the norm and go through life without challenging yourself or others, this is step 1 – a family challenge. We also want to continue to be positive role models for our daughters and even though we do have many commitments already we want to ensure they have a very basic social skill – being able to have a conversation. Lastly, a break from all the head downtime, look up and see what is around.

I am positive we will be able to commit with minimal impact as for 4 nights during the week we have sports commitments and then again 1/2 day on Saturday and Sunday. In addition to this, the girls could do more homework (extra) as I know they both have projects due to complete this term, play outside since both have just started tennis and of course there is always helping mum or dad around the house.

I will be updating this blog weekly to allow you to be part of this journey and I would love for you to share with your friends and see if you might consider doing the same.

That sounds like a win for all.