How many times have you knocked on your children's doors only to have them open it then run back over to their computer? In the new age of interactive technology, it's very possible that unless you make a very strong effort, you don't know your child and your child does not know you. Even more, you child may not know who he or she is, instead identifying with a new virtual identity created via one of the many online worlds available to participate in. In that reality it seems there is no room for a family dynamic, as a new one has been created that allows your child to escape any aspect of his or her world not deemed acceptable.
But when did this happen?
There have been complaints for many years that our sense of family has been lost in television and other forms of entertainment. But keep in mind that these complaints surfaced in the 80s when music television and cable were just becoming popular. It was then that we began to notice our families were spending more time eating in front of the television than at the dining room table.
But now, the idea of eating or spending any time together as a unit is merely an afterthought; lost somewhere between the release of the affordable cell phone and the broadband Internet connection. Now our children's ideas of family come in the form of their made up world created in The Sims or some other virtual community. There's not much need for a real home life when you have a made-up one that is much more pleasing. This form of escapism, however, has the potential to have very unhealthy side effects in our children as they grow older and have no true sense of reality to cling to.
I was thinking about this recently as I watched an episode of Dr. Phil where a young girl was a part of this online community called "There." She was so obsessed with this false world that she stayed on the computer for up to 12 hours a day living her life as an online avatar. She spent real money there, owned businesses, owned a house, had a boyfriend (whom she'd never met in real life) and had created this persona that she desired. My concern with this is that she was not only participating in dangerous online activities, but had also become extremely detached from her actual reality because she'd made her virtual reality so much more desirable.
So what does the future hold for our children?
I sit around a lot wondering what ideas of family our children will hold as they grow older. Will their parental instincts kick in naturally as they give birth to our next generations, or will their children simply become a byproduct of the superficial, trivial celebrity we've come to know where dreams of breast implants and Botox take precedence over playing outside with siblings? I want to believe that we have not lost our belief in family just yet, but as technology enables us to need less face-to-face communication, I will not be surprised if in just a few years our kids will be emailing us to let us know they're ready for dinner.
Jeffrey Meier of Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.Jam727.com offers information articles on Child Care at http://www.jam727.com/childcare/child_care_information.htm
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