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Reading this article made me wonder what are responsible adults doing to protect their children from being ‘too wired for their own good’. There are mainly two types of modern parents:

-the ones who do not like technology, either because they are afraid of it, consider it unnecessary, or simply find it too daunting. They feel inadequate, and do nothing but helplessly watch their children get addicted to it and hoping that they’ll grow out of it.

-and the ones who get over excited with the new technology become over absorbed and over immerse themselves.

No matter which type of parents, the result is the same, they let technology ‘steal’ their children by taking away precious quality time. They miss out on what is important in life: family!

Yes! Technology is amazing; it is a reality; we should all embrace it and familiarise ourselves with it, as it holds the future. However, as the ancient Greeks said: “παν μέτρον άριστον”, everything in moderation. Parents and teachers alike should familiarise themselves with technology, acknowledge its potential, and appreciate everything it has to offer. At the same time they should teach children and young people how to safely use technology for their own benefit and how to avoid being consumed by it. They have to lead by example and set limits to adhere to.

While reading this article I could not help wondering: who’s to blame? Why is this happening? Here is my crazy theory… it all starts with the familiar to all parents of school age children ‘I’m bored’. Especially during the school holidays the ‘I’m bored’ becomes a national song. Parents -including the writer herself- take their children out and about all day, only to hear 10 minutes after they are back, ‘I’m bored’. Is it a withdrawal from digital media symptom or lack of enough physical activity and chores? In most cases an innocent: -‘go watch something on TV then’ follows, and rapidly becomes a habit that cannot be stopped. The TV gets substituted by DVDs, videogames, ipods, mobile phones, Internet… you name it!

Children are bombarded from an early age with virtual pets, virtual games, virtual friends, virtual tutors, virtual sports activities, virtual lives. It only makes me wonder what is wrong with real pets, real games, real friends, real sports activities, real life? Whose fault is it anyway that today’s children suffer so much from boredom and depression, when they have ‘everything’? Another issue is the Internet safety and how it is addressed at home and at school. There seems to be a breakdown in communication between children, parents and teachers which is not helping and shouldn’t occur. Young children today, have all the knowledge of the world literally at their fingertips and yet, sadly, when they discover those horrible sites they get glued and influenced by them; some of them even end tragically their lives as a result. Parents and teachers should educate the children about the dangers of the Internet as they do with other more obvious dangers like talking to strangers. They should be alert, know their children to be able to identify any signs and take action.

I would like to share something that I have tried using in my teaching practice to my advantage: emails. Yes! You read right, emails. I have given one of my email addresses to my class as a means of communication. They have now learnt that being absent or not having quite understood what is required of them to do when I assign homework, is no longer an acceptable excuse. All they have to do is email me, within an agreed timeframe, and I will gladly answer any questions.

Another suggested use is making ‘email friends’ to practice the target language they learn. Did I mention I am a language teacher? When I was growing up and learning English as a foreign language I used to have pen friends from all over the world. We used to correspond in English which helped me practice my English, exchange ideas and learn how other people in other countries lived. We are going to start corresponding in the target language with other students from other Saturday schools of Community languages in Sydney, in the beginning and then, who knows? We may connect to students from the other states, or even from that particular country itself. The sky is the limit….

I really enjoyed watching this video. It really is food for thought for teachers. I am a little bit sceptical , however, about the practicality of using mobile phones in a LOTE classroom as an assignment tool for the following reasons:

• teachers cannot assume that every student has a mobile phone
• using mobiles during school hours would be against most schools’ policies, which do not allow the use of mobile phones during school hours
• one needs mobile phones that have inbuilt characters for specific foreign languages
• there will be the occasional parents who will complain about the cost of SMS involved, especially if the SMS are to be sent overseas.
• However,if these concerns were addressed I think it would be a great and creative idea that should engage our students

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