FAMILY TIME
TECHNOKIDS
One of the topics my wife and I don't always agree about is when our son is the
right age to be given access to modern technology. As a highly technological
family (we have web servers running in the spare room and computers bouncing
around the whole flat), this discussion isn't so much about when and how much
TV he should be allowed to watch, but more along the lines of "He'll need
his own computer soon." Replace "computer" with "digital
camera", "mobile phone" and so on and you get the idea.
The digital camera question is a case in point: We were planning what to give
him for his third birthday. He had watched me take photos with by big digital
camera and had asked to have a go. But it was too heavy for him to hold for long.
The pictures he took were very interesting, though. He photographed the things
that caught his attention, not what some textbook on "good photography" told
him he should be photographing. So we picked him up a little pocket digital camera
for under 100 francs and gave it to him for his birthday. Shortly afterwards,
a friend invited us on a boat trip, and our son documented the trip in his own
particular style. He was the only kid on the boat, along with some thirty adults.
He photographed peoples' hands, their belt-buckles, the way their feet lined
up, the fingers of the musician on his harmonica, the texture of the deck, details
of a fire extinguisher, the foam in the wake of the boat... All in all, a very
subjective angle on the whole thing.
To be quite honest, I had no idea whether giving a camera to a three-year-old
was a good idea or not. It turned out to be fascinating. Now our son is six,
turning seven, and has a rather more elaborate pocket camera with a zoom (nothing
so expensive that it would be a tragedy if it broke or got lost, of course).
He takes it with him selectively and of his own accord. School field trips, yes. "Ordinary" days,
no. Playing with friends, no. Going on holiday, absolutely. Personally, I believe
that small children should have the opportunity to discover their creative edge
at an age where they haven't yet been told how difficult something is supposed
to be. Modern technology is a great opportunity for this. Whereas once upon a
time (as in "in my day") photography was all about light meters, a
lot of guesswork and then waiting for weeks (it seemed) until the pictures came
back from the lab, nowadays, the feedback is instant. Darkroom work was always
a bit of a geeky pastime, but being able to work effectively in Photoshop has
a certain coolness factor.
The whole subject of kids on the Internet is a massive topic and one which merits
a separate article. The last few years have seen such tremendous development
in the Internet that it's difficult - unless you spend most of your time on the
subject - to keep track. The media haven't really helped here. They have swayed
from gushing praise to panic-mongering. As is often the case, the truth tends
to lie somewhere between the extremes. There are some most unpleasant aspects
to the Internet which are a particular danger to kids, but the Internet is also
an incredibly rich source of information, entertainment and contact amongst kids.
The problem is always that kids tend to be more informed and better skilled than
most parents (and teachers). The trick as a parent is to be interested, not to
be intimidated by the topic. Join in. Investigate. Share. Know what's going on
and where your kids are on the Internet, not to spy on them, but to be supportive
and "on their side". Also to be able to react to any unpleasantness
they may encounter. There are courses available (and indeed I've had the pleasure
to run a few of them) specifically for parents and teachers to get them up to
speed on the Internet, the gaming world and the technological environment kids
grow up in.
It works the other way around, too, though: Sometimes things we take for granted
can be a source of wonder for our kids, too: this weekend, our son came to me
with an audio cassette in his hand and asked "what's this?" When I
showed him how it worked he sat in front of the stereo watching the little wheels
turning and listening to an old Talking Heads recording, fascinated. A colleague
once told me how recently his teenage children were baffled by their grandma's
disk-dial telephone. Times change.
| DANIEL SCHWARZ
CARIGIET Born: 1966 in Lugano, Switzerland - Mother American, father German Family: married to Astrid, father of Oliver |
 |
| Occupation: Freelance photographer / commmunications consultant |
|
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