Depriving My Kids of the Internet

Do you know anybody who doesn’t have a television? I mean somebody who deliberately chooses to not watch TV? Or if they do, they only watch PBS. Maybe they only let their kids watch two shows per week. This is a philosophical choice they are making. In some ways I admire people like that, but I also do not believe this is the life for me. I’m not a vegan either.

I read the papers. I know that studies show that too much television is bad for my students. Obesity, lack of creativity, low test scores, you name it. It makes me feel guilty for watching as much television as I do. I realize that TV may be bad for me, but there is nothing like the rush of watching the pilot of a new science fiction show that is really good. It’s a rush dude!

I don’t smoke. I don’t really drink. Wine on Thanksgiving and Christmas and half a flute of Champagne at the end of one of our hot air balloon flights keeps me from being a t-totaler. I don’t drink coffee, not a “slave to the bean.” But I do eat. A lot. Too much. I have watched my friends and family members try to quit smoking. I get that addiction is tough to beat.

Therefore, I am not in a hurry for my kids to get on the Internet. Yes, I really did say that. I am a computer teacher, and I don’t even let my kids surf the net. In fact, for the most part their email goes through my wife and I. Are you outraged? Am I a bad parent? I don’t think so. I think I am helping my kids grow up at a nice pace. A pace that won’t kill me...

Okay. Here’s the thing. My girls are pretty creative if I do say so myself. They are 10 and 12 and they get along really well. They play together a lot. They play school. They play store. They play Spina Bifida Clinic. (My 12 year old is handicapped.) They play summer camp. They play horses and dolls. They play all kinds of stuff that they make up themselves.

No, I do not understand all the rules or all the roles. They borrow the walkie-talkies. Calculators become cash registers. A coffee cup is needed because that is what the teacher in school uses. Apparently their teachers do drink coffee. But the minds are working. My girls are using their imaginations. I like that.

Both girls read. That is good, because almost everyone in my family is a reader. My wife and I certainly model that behavior. We read newspapers, magazines, books. I read a lot on-line. Palmer, Cringely, BBC News, MacPulse. We read to the kids. We buy books as gifts all the time. We talk about books and we discuss what we’ve read. We have no complaints about their report cards either. My personal belief is that this will all pay off later in the form of college scholarships...

It isn’t even that I am actively preventing them from getting on the internet. We have dial-up. Oh stop clucking. I work on a high speed network all day at school. I just don’t want to spend my time at home on-line. So, we check email and then surf minimally. Mostly my wife. If the kids had an assignment that required internet access, by all means. But they haven’t yet. Their schools have access and I am reasonably sure they use it in class occasionally, but I am not hearing about big projects in the computer lab. In short, there just isn’t a demand yet. Maybe it is because their schools use PC’s...

Meanwhile I am eyeballing that eMac Bill keeps hawking. I like the price. I know we won’t be able to stay dial-up with both girls on-line. Cable and DSL represent a significant upgrade in speed, but also more cash. Right now we are spending that money on dance lessons, soccer camp, flute and piano lessons, and books. Yes, we do take books out of the library, so no, that won’t save us sufficient funds. These activities need no defense, but I will say that Becky walks better due to taking dance classes, and Sarah seems to do better in math now that she is playing instruments. I submit that we are investing in the girls future.

My students are a different story. They play computer games all the time. They instant message each other constantly. They surf whenever they can get away with it. My friend who is the head of the Journalism department at a local college says he has similar problems with student on laptops in his college classes. The time isn’t as constructive as you would hope.

But ask kids to write a creative essay or use the Internet for actual research and you get the look. You know the look. The one that says adults are idiots for making us work. For them the Internet is a big game that they can play for hours on end. Heck, I couldn’t tell you how many hours I have lost to the Internet with nothing to show for it. The course I teach is aimed at countering this. I try to teach my students how to use the Internet for productive purposes. I am just as glad my own children are playing other games. Okay, stop reading this and go turn on Stargate Atlantis.