Liam Nash: Kiwi kids now switch on to high-tech

'The old-fashioned bedtime story is being replaced by the iPad'

Technology and modern culture that our generation is surrounded by is completely deconstructing the mould of how Kiwi kids are being raised.

It is rolling around to Christmas time and in a few weeks young people will be receiving the latest video games, cellphones and clothes that we badly want due to their hyped-up status as a product of modern media.

Parents will again struggle to grasp the shorter attention spans of their children, who hide behind the touch sensitive screens that seem to enlarge every year. These products of our modern culture are influencing what the "traditional Kiwi upbringing" is seen as.

The old-fashioned bedtime story is being replaced by the iPad. The television is not needed, as your favourite show is available on demand online. Social networking is now such a big part of keeping in touch with the rest of the world, it is almost necessary for us to be able to have instant access to the internet.

Schools around Northland have started using technology to help benefit their students and open up a new way of learning. I think this can be extremely useful in preparing young people for what is a fast-adapting technological world.

I don't believe that the "traditional Kiwi upbringing" needs to be seen as board games and a summer picnic underneath the pohutukawa tree. We should be allowed to embrace modern culture and technology because, as young people, this is the mould that the next generation will see as everyday life.

We need to lead the way and show the previous generation that the new culture that has been developed is how we will progress towards producing the new "Kiwi upbringing" image.