Technology



We as parents get a lot of advice about how negative technology can be, about how much time is too much, about the damage it can do. We read very little about the wonders of technology and how it can enhance our lives.

I had a youngster who had difficulty transitioning. There were control challenges I didn't understand. Coming off any technology including tv was often difficult.

I removed the tech, and changed to a low tech house. No wifi, no tv, no problem right? Except the problems were transferred to other things. It became difficult to stop whatever game we were playing. Sometimes it was difficult to get my son to come inside from outside play. And in addition, he had lost access to some very useful educational tools, like www.brainpop.com

Age 8 he got a tablet. He loved it. I started to think about using technology rather than removing it. I installed a timer control to limit his usage. It worked for a while. He got a laptop, I installed 'net nanny. It worked for a while.

Through a difficult period with school, I disabled the wifi every evening. Secretly. I blamed the weather and our country location. It worked for a while. Sometimes I turned off the power to that part of the house. I added a remote control plug to our wifi modem. I could turn it off from a switch in my pocket. I blamed the weather and our country location and the absence of a broadband national plan. It worked for a while.

He was starting to Skype his cousins in USA, and game and chat with them. He was starting to build with Minecraft, and finding a wide variety of online games. I found 'Massively', a minecraft closed server for children. It tried to link gaming to real world achievements, and he wrote his first comments as he earned points.

As school failed, I decided that the way forward was not a tech free house, but a high tech house. Work with the things that work for him. Find a way to use his strengths.

I signed up to 'khanacademy' and he managed to get his basic math education from there. He gamed and I sat beside him with laptop two. Sometimes I left something open and went to the bathroom. He would have it completed when I returned. We started to do programming. Well, I started to do programming because I didn't know anything, and often I would need his help!

Everything was under his login. He earned points and badges and leveled up.

I found a better wifi service. I reinstated very basic tv. I bought dvds of science documentaries. We watched 'how it's made'. Finally I bought Sky tv when I could barely afford it, and we had access to wonderful documentary series.

His Skyping increased, and during a housebound period he was able to be socially connected every evening (USA time difference worked to our advantage). I too was housebound, and started to have shopping delivered, and pay all bills online, and connect to some social media, and find some support for myself.

Technology has facilitated learning, socialising, connecting, researching, gaining skills, gaining confidence, gaining friends. Now a teenager, with the memory of school long gone, my son built his first desktop computer for me as a trial run (before building a gaming machine for himself). He asked me lots of questions about my needs and designed it based on that.

Then he did build the gaming machine. The gaming machine 'project' involved lots of researching the parts, budgeting and comparing prices, finding bargains, gradually buying parts over a year, assembly, testing. I learned there is a thing called 'wire etiquette' where wiring should be arranged so you can easily see what connects where.

His next project is to build a server.

Meanwhile, as well as a pda support blog, I have a website, a poetry blog, and have started online publishing and music composition. Most of my communication is via email and text.

Technology is the future. Perhaps my son will be better prepared than those who spend their days in the classroom.


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