Unit 6 - The digital age and family communication

This is part two of Unit 6. Part One is here.

The question for this second portion is How does the family you are analyzing negotiate the digital age (all of the social media, the mass media, etc.)? Are there rules about its use? What are the positive and negative results of this style of management?

We are pretty strict about internet usage. But, generally, the digital world has invaded our home. Every kid has a Nook for reading; we own more game systems than I can count; and there are all sorts of handheld games and gadgets on all the time. We are attached to our technology through fingers that can't let go and wires that come out of our gadgets and into our ears.

But, we do have rules.
1. Chores and Schoolwork come first - then play time.
2. No internet access without permission and supervision. Sometimes, this means that we take the wireless router with us when we leave some children home alone.

It's not a lot of rules, but they are simple and clear and necessary. I mean, I wouldn't do my chores either if I was allowed to play games all day.

The positives of these rules are that they keep order. The negatives are that they are so strict that they don't really encourage our children to explore the internet and learn to be responsible with it. We have removed the temptation which is good because they are young, but it is also bad because they will not always be young and they are not learning self-control.

REFLECTION Q: Look at your class mate's webpages and  how they negotiate the digital age then look back at your own. What are some of the challenges that we all face in navigating the role of those features in our lives? What are the positive influences of technology in family life?


Technology can both save and waste time, depending on how it is used. A washing machine saves me time in getting the laundry done. Without it, I would have to wash by hand. However, because I am not prepared to do laundry by hand, I would use a laundromat if my machine broke down, and that would take more time than hand washing.

All of the technology that we become dependent on does a job for us that we used to do for ourselves. We used to write thoughtful letters, now we click out an email as fast as we can so that we are on to something else; but, does that cause us to lose the ability to write a letter?

The theme of time seemed to be consistent throughout the blogs. Time away from family was a concern when it was caused by technology. Time constraints on technology were a common method of dealing with that. Time saving features were a common benefit of the technology.