better
FAMILY
Payne says. Even if you’re only
eliciting monosyllabic grunts from
teens, “You’re still building family
relationship credits that you can bank
for the future.” As you overcome your
withdrawal, you can gradually build
up to more unplugged time, he
promises, having your family go
screen-free one day each weekend,
or more.
4. GET FRIENDLY W ITH BOREDOM
Many families, accustomed to multiple
televisions, computer screens, and cell
phones, experience withdrawal when
they’re turned off. Kids will gripe at
first about long bleak hours with
nothing to do, especially if they’re
tweens or teens. Parents might have a
hard time, too. “Hold fast,” says Payne,
“because boredom is often the
precursor to creativity. If your
children are bored for half an hour,
they won’t be brain-damaged or
become social misfits.” Pretty soon,
you’ll all welcome the extra time to
decompress and engage in other, more
creative activities. Bridge the gap by
investing in board games, puzzles, and
art supplies, leaving them visible in
common areas of the house for
everyone to enjoy during unplugged
hours.
5. MAKE Yo u r ESCAPE
If the screens at home are too
tempting, leave them behind. Take a
walk or have a picnic in a nearby park,
go to a ball game or a museum—and
make sure handheld devices stay
home. Kate Kelly, the mother of three
boys in Pelham, New York, admits that
in her house, technology creates
countless conflicts. But her solution
isn’t to add more gadgets, it’s to
regularly remove her family from the
house. “It’s easier to have quality
family time away from these
distractions,” she says, “even if w e just
rally everybody together for
a walk.”
236
MARCH 2010
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
HO W FAM ILIES
USE TECHNOLOGY
h O W C fo eS
y o u r s c o m p a r e ?
X
The average age at
which American kids
start using mainstream
technology gadgets
such as cell phones,
iPods, and DVD players
is now 6.7 years.
X
By 2007, 90 percent
of eighth grade public
school students had a
computer at home.
X
Kids with a TV in
their rooms spend
almost 90 minutes
more a day watching
TV than those without.
X
Cell phone use has
skyrocketed from 4.3
million users in the U.S.
in 1990 to 254 million
by February 2008.
X
Between 2004 and
2007, the percentage
of adolescents with cell
phones rose from 45
percent to 71 percent.
X
In 2006, about a
third of all teens ages
12 to 17 spoke with
their friends by cell
phone on a daily basis.
X
Internet
subscriptions have
increased 300 percent,
from 18 million
subscribers in the mid-
1990s to 66.2 million in
2007, with Internet
access for almost nine
out of every ten
children living in a
household with a
computer.
X
The percentage of
people who report
spending less time with
other household
members since being
connected to the
Internet has tripled,
from 11 percent in
2006 to 28 percent in
2008.
X
Through the middle
of the past decade,
shared family time
averaged 26 hours per
week, but that dropped
to 17.9 hours of shared
family time by 2008.
X
Almost half of all
women (49.2%) feel
ignored by a family
Internet user. About
39.1% of men feel as if
they get short shrift by
family members online.
F A M I L Y T I M E 2 . 0
There are actually ways to use technology to create more quality family
time, says Denise Pellow. Having combined her legal career with certification
in computer network engineering to found
K id s B e S a fe O n lin e ,
a Web site
aimed at educating adults on child Internet safety, the Missouri-based
grandmother is passionate about how kids use new technologies. But she’s
just as dedicated to encouraging families to use them to their advantage.
"Technology has brought me closer to my family,” says Pellow, who plays
Webkinz online with her grandchildren. "Parents need to keep the dialogue
open about technology if they don’t want to be shut out of their children’s
lives.” Here are her tech-niques to create more quality family time.
LET YOUR FINGERS Do THE TALkING. Text with your kids. "Children
can’t roll their eyes at you or use a sarcastic tone in a text message,” points
out Pellow, so texting often limits negative interactions. Plus, parents tend to
be long-winded, and texting is better suited to adolescent attention spans.
PLAY ONLINE GAMES W ITH YOUR Kid s . From Lego Indiana Jones to
more advanced role-playing games, have fun with your kids online and
they’ll be more open to doing other activities with you. A good resource for
choosing age-appropriate games:
c o m m o n s e n s e m e d ia .o rg
GET UP AND GO GEOCACHING. Go outdoor adventuring with your
family through geocaching, a high-tech treasure hunting game played
worldwide that involves finding hidden objects, called "geocaches,” and
sharing your discoveries online. All you need is a GPS device. Find out
more at
g e o c a c h in g .c o m .
®
PHOTO: VEER
