Media moderacy versus going cold turkey

There's an unusual kind of experiment going on in one grade 6 classroom in Toronto, where Bart Simpson, American Idol, instant messaging and the latest Xbox game were once fodder for daily chatter.

The kids are unplugging.

That's right, as this story today explains, the 11 and 12-year-olds recently signed a media manifesto that means no email, web surfing, TV, DVDs, videogames or GameBoy on school nights. Parents are on board, hoping the move will make way for more free play, reading and exercise. The teacher behind the move says he's already seeing more space in the kids' heads to pause, exercise their creativity and reflect on schoolwork.

Imagine that. Five days a week free of joysticks, blaring sitcoms and sibling spats over computer time. Respite from the 24/7 media blitz that leaves so many parents feeling powerless and frustrated.

But is a ban, or partial ban, the way to go? Or do you prefer a more moderate approach? Tell us your views about household media management for kids and teens.

Comments

[Jacques Brodeur]

Thanks for your article about kids surviving unplugged. Since April 2003, we had over 50 schools here in Ontario and Québec who participated in the 10Day Challenge (TV&Videogame-Free). The results are amazing. After the cold turkey, they try to keep their consumption below 7 hours per week. It's not a ban or the parents decision, we needed Media Education to help children WANT to do it, to choose other activities and enjoy the changes. We disagree with Madame Gordon, former advertising executive. We don't need one (the fast) or the other (parenting), we need both.

[Neil Andersen]

The Waldorf school's intention is to eliminate TV, Web surfing, MSN, video games and email on school days. Not just for the remainder of their grade 6 year, but ideally for grades 7 and 8 as well.

TV, Web surfing, MSN, video games or email are used in almost all businesses and governments to one degree or another. These communications technologies, and the skills needed to use them, are essential to effective corporate and civic living.

How will the Waldorf students learn to use these communications effectively?

How will the Waldorf students compete with those who have learned expertise and balance INSIDE their classrooms?

I wonder if the Waldorf parents and teachers have considered how their actions might prevent the students from living and working successfully in the Information Age.

[radmama]

Interesting. I have an 11 year old and an 8 year old and that's our usual status around here- no screen time on schooldays. There is very minimal screen time on weekends when they're home- perhaps a family movie night once a month and an hour each on the computer. We do make exceptions for typing or researching schoolwork.

At their father's home, every second weekend, they do watch cartoons, Discovery Channel and videos and play Playstation games. This takes up far too much of their brain, in my opinion.

While they do chafe against the rules on occasion, I stand firm. *I* can't always limit my screen time without help, so I don't expect my children to be able to.

They're busy with toys, friends, books, games, pets and outdoor life. QUite frankly, they don't have *time* for screentime. I do want them to know how to type, how to use a computer and how to communicate through and about "new media" but I think that's possible without being constantly immersed in the "Information Age."

Most of those currently driving the "Information Age" were not using computers when they were 12; these are skills that can be learned at any age. Media/computer literacy and critical thinking skills are more important than pop culture immersion as children.

[Ella Myers]

I am a university student currently attending Ryerson for New Media. The New Media program relies heavily on technology of all kinds.

For elementary school I attended a Waldorf school and I didn't even start using a computer until grade 8. Anybody who thinks keeping their children from technology will put them at a disadvantage is dead wrong. Despite my late start with computers I am very computer competent and internet savvy. Since my computer abilities were not that hard to acquire, I continue my support for keeping children away from computers and TV. I like to think that my childhood without these distractions has allowed me to understand not all things in life need to be technology based. My childhood was spent reading, now when I talk to my university friends barely any of them sit down to read a novel as something to do. They watch TV or surf the internet. Even if your children don't attend Waldorf schools I highly advise a serious amount of control on what your children experience through computer and TV. The kind of physical and mental inactivity they grow accustomed to will hurt them more in the future than not knowing how to make a PowerPoint presentation.

[Allison Hudgins]

I am a Waldorf parent with a child in the Grade 6 class that has agreed to forego media on weekdays. We have a parent at the school who works for one of the longstanding top computer companies and another parent who manages computer systems for one of the universities in town. Both parents are highly supportive of the restriction of media. Media is meant to be user friendly, to be mastered by someone who is not even trained it in; it is the preparation of the content that takes skill and time. One of these computer savvy parents told of a son being in Grade 9 and being assigned the design of a website for the first time. He did all the layout and artwork on paper since he didn't know how to use the computer system. On the day the assignment was due, the School Librarian showed him the basics and he had it posted in 45 minutes. So much for lack of computer training in school being a barrier to success.

Millions are spent by school boards across the country to purchase computer hardware, software and upkeep it. We left a public school where the Grade 2 and 3 students were using the computer to access a site with a cartoon of a grandmother whose breasts would fly up and slap her in the face...how does that develop effective communication and civilian life? Doesn't that encourage objectification of and disrespect of women?

As a lawyer, I can't count the number of times an e-mail communication has caused legal or negotiating trouble in a way that carefully worded letters of the past did not. Is technology assisted communication de facto better communication? Seems to me that content is a necessary component of quality communication, not just speed and breadth of distribution. Our Waldorf children write Green campaign letters and Save the Rain Forest letters, for example. They actually have time to read about issues and do something about them because they aren't plugged in all the time.

In my view, Waldorf students get the tools to think for themselves so they can use the technology constructively -- rather than being used by the technology (and those that sell it).

[Tanya Middlebro']

Love the comments from the parents.

We also have always controlled what we call "screen time" with our three children under 15. They all read a lot of library books. Last weekend we escaped to a log cabin in 600 acres that actually has a TV and nobody even asked to turn it on. It is so important to realize, as stated above, that using these media all the time merely teaches passivity and, in many cases, the under-lying hyper-individualistic, violent ideology of the source culture. ANYTHING else you can do on week-nights (we practise piano, read, write letters, draw, eat supper with the neighbours) is better than most of what is on the screen.

[Brigitte Koenig, Germany]

How are the students working now? Still unplugged in the class of Mr. Teuwen. The idea is great, but how does it work after an year and half? Looking foreward to your answer. Thanks.