Linda Hall: Times change. What's new?

Linda Hall

If someone had told our ancestors that in years to come people would dress in Lycra and go to a place called a gym where they would lift weights while looking at themselves in a mirror, use machines to trim and tone their bodies, and jump around to music, they would have probably laughed.

They would not have been able to imagine such a place.

Imagine them in a modern home. Microwaves, washing machines, dishwashers, smart phones, iPads, and the list goes on.

If we told them that children would be driven in cars that beeped when you got too close to something, to school and back every day, they wouldn't have believed us.

The world we live in today would be completely foreign to them. Just as their world is foreign to us.

Times change, and technology is changing it at such a fast pace it's hard to keep up with the latest gadgets.

There's a device for just about everything you can think of now ... in fact these days we don't have to think much at all. Just "Google it" , or ask your smart phone how well you slept, how many calories you need to eat or burn today, again - the list goes on.

My point? We do have to move with the times, but just as parents asked questions years ago about how much time children should spend in front of the telly, parents of today are questioning the use of computers.

I've seen a 3-year-old navigate his way around an iPad better than I can. His world will be full of online devices; it's most likely how he will learn to read and write.

How much time should he spend on a computer? That's a question his parents will have to decide the answer to.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, they are here to stay. However, unlike television, which is relatively easy for parents to monitor and control what their children watch, computers are entirely different.

The advent of Facebook has given a whole new meaning to the word bullying. People who might otherwise have been too shy to say anything nasty about other people can now do it in the privacy of their home.

Instead of schoolyard disagreements being left at school and mostly forgotten about the next day, they are carried on online after school and things are written that would have otherwise gone unsaid.

It's nearly impossible to keep kids of today safe from this.

The only way to do it is to take away the device.

But then what? They have to go online at school these days.

There really is just no getting away from it.

If it's used properly, Facebook is not bad. In fact it's the perfect tool to keep in touch with family and friends.

I've heard from cousins who I haven't seen or heard from in years. It's fantastic to hear about their families and see photos of them.

It's also simple to unfriend someone if you don't like what they are posting. No need to get all upset and rant and rave at them or about them.

I'm sure that today's parents will work out for themselves just how much computer time is enough, monitor their children's devices and make sure they are as safe as possible.

Every parent in every generation has had to decide what's best for their children.

Who knows what the next challenge for parents will be.

-Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.