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The leadership development organization Growing Leaders recently asked focus groups of young adults (ages 16-24) how they prefer to receive communication. Their order of preference was:
Bill Feltner at Pilgrim Radio recently interviewed me about my blog series: Taming Technology in the Home. Pilgrim Radio serves over 100 cities and communities in Nevada, California, Wyoming and Montana, as well as listeners online through their website. They provide a mixture of adult, contemporary Christian music along with Bible readings, Christian instruction, and interviews on a variety of topics.
The 25-minute interview will be aired Wednesday, April 23 (my birthday!) during the His People segment. The show will air three times during the day: 2am, 12pm and 9pm Pacific Time (5am, 3pm and 12 midnight Eastern Time). If any of those times are good for you, feel free to tune in to Pilgrim Radio on Wednesday to hear the interview. (Click here for Pilgrim Radio home page.)
One of the dangers that comes along with TV, video games and the internet is the potential for wasted time. We have found this particularly true with video games. Video games can be incredibly addictive and time-consuming. If you are not careful, they can quickly turn into a giant sinkhole of wasted time for your child. How do you help your children manage their time with video games and other technology in the home? Here are some of the things we do.
Set time limits: We allow our kids a set amount of time to play video games each week. We know if we did not set limits for them, video games could easily take over their lives. Most kids have not developed the willpower or self-control to make good choices in this area yet, so as parents we need to help them. Setting time limits for our children has allowed them to pursue other interests and to use their time more productively. (More on setting time limits below)
Set alternate activities: Video games are not a priority in our home. School work, reading, musical instruments, activities and chores come first. When you require certain activities of your children, it automatically limits the time they have for other things. By setting up alternate activities, there is only so much time left over for video games.
Kick them outside: We don’t do this one as often as we should, but there is nothing wrong with telling your kids to go outside and play for a couple hours. Kids are naturally creative, and they will find plenty of stuff to do.
Know your kids’ games: Time isn’t the only problem with video games. Some games have inappropriate content. Be sure to read the ratings on your kids’ games and set the ground rules for what is and is not acceptable in your home. When your children get a new game, sit down and watch it with them to make sure you are comfortable with the content.
Now, I promised you I would tell you more about setting time limits. This was the biggest frustration at our home for the longest time. At first we just told our kids how much time they could spend. But then they would forget how long they had been playing. Next we tried sign-in sheets, but they would forget to sign in. Or they would sign in and forget to sign out, and then when they came back later to play they would have no idea how much time they had remaining. Sometimes it got so bad we thought about just getting rid of all the video games in the house. But we knew they enjoyed the games, and we didn’t mind them playing as long as they kept their time under control and were doing other things as well.
Then we discovered Bob. Bob solved all of our time problems when it came to video games overnight. Suddenly the kids knew how long they had been playing and when to stop. They began to monitor their own game time and budget it carefully through the week. We no longer had to get on their case or constantly police them. It was amazing. We like Bob! Bob is our friend.
You are probably wondering, who or what is Bob?
Bob is an electronic time manager. It looks like a miniature ATM machine. You set the daily or weekly time limits, give your child a passcode, and Bob takes care of the rest. When your child exceeds their time limit, Bob shuts off the TV and will not turn it back on again. Bob can manage time for up to six different users. Bob set us back about $100, but it was worth it. We like Bob! Bob is our friend. We mostly use Bob for video games, but Bob can also be used to manage time spent watching TV.
So, what things have you done to help tame video games in your home? Feel free to share in the comments below.
UPDATE: My wife pointed out to me that much of what I wrote in this post deals more with the past in our home than the present. There was a time when we really had to crack the whip with video games in the house, but it is no longer an issue. Our oldest son no longer has any time restrictions, and he does fine. And the younger two really don’t need the time restrictions anymore. They do plenty of other things on their own – including playing outside! So, sorry boys. I hope I didn’t make you look bad. It was not my intention, and it certainly does not reflect where you are at now. - Dad
Although television can be a valuable source for news, information and entertainment, it can also bring a number of negatives into your home. The two main issues with television are time and content. I will address the time issue tomorrow (along with video games), but today I want to talk about content. How do you protect your children from inappropriate content on TV? Here are some of the things we do.
Watch on DVD: One way we control content is by doing much of our TV watching on DVD. We collect movies and old favorites on DVD so that we can watch what we want when it is convenient and avoid commercials at the same time.
Use a DVR: We use a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) to record current programs we would like to watch without being tied to the TV at a certain time of day. As an added plus, the DVR also lets us fast-forward through the commercials. (This is a great time-saver, especially when watching sporting events.)
Keep it public: Our kids do not have TV’s in their bedrooms. When you are trying to control content in the home, it makes sense to limit the number of TV’s available and to keep them in the public areas of the home.
Set appropriate boundaries: We set boundaries with our kids for both time and content on TV. (Again, more on the time issue tomorrow!) We direct them to good content, and we let them know when a certain movie or show is not acceptable. If something comes on that is inappropriate while watching together, we set the example by switching the channel or turning it off. It is important to know what movies or shows your kids are watching and to make sure they are appropriate for your children.
Talk: We try to talk with our kids about what we watch. We want to teach them how to discern the various messages found in TV shows or movies. For example, we like Star Trek as a family. It has some great story lines and admirable characters. However, I don’t always agree with the worldview that is presented. So we talk about it and help our kids become active viewers of media rather than passive receptacles.
Block: We use the settings on our DVD player and cable box to block certain programs or channels with inappropriate content. We have it set up so that anything with a PG-13 rating or higher requires a password for access.
And here are two additional gadgets we have found helpful. These have allowed us to watch a lot of great movies together as a family that we would have otherwise passed by, either because of the language or due to certain scenes we felt were inappropriate.
TVGuardian:TVGuardian filters out inappropriate language from TV shows and movies. There are various settings depending on what you want to filter. You can purchase TVGuardian built-in on some DVD players or as a separate device. We have used it in our home for years, and it does a great job of filtering out curse words and religious exclamations we would rather not have in our home.
ClearPlay:ClearPlay DVD Players filter out both language and visual elements from regular DVD movies. ClearPlay is customizable, and you can turn off or on fourteen different filter settings relating to inappropriate language, violent content or sexual content. ClearPlay has an extensive library of available filters, and they are always adding more. They offer several price options, including a monthly membership which gives you full access to all filters at all times.
So, what things have you done to help tame the television in your home? Feel free to share in the comments below.
This series of posts will deal with three particular forms of technology in the home — television, video games and the internet. All three of these have the potential both for good and for harm. So how do you enjoy the positive aspects while guarding against the negative? This question becomes especially important if you have children in the home. You want your children to enjoy the benefits of technology, but you also have a responsibility to protect them from any possible dangers.
Some parents embrace technology in the home with little or no discernment. Ignoring the dangers, they allow an unbroken stream of media to flood their homes at all times. Other parents choose to eliminate technology from the home — no TV, video games or internet. This may take care of the problem in the short run, but it also cuts their children off from the potential benefits of these technologies. Most parents fall somewhere in between these two extremes and look for ways to tame technology in the home.
Like it or not, TV, video games and the internet are a part of life in the twenty-first century. We should protect our children from any negative aspects while teaching them to make wise decisions concerning technology and media in their lives. In this series I will be sharing some of the tools we have used with our children to help tame technology in our home. I invite you to come back and visit the series during the week and share your thoughts on any of these areas. You can also click here to subscribe to this blog by email or feed reader.
Behold, Jeremy Kipnis’ $6 million home theater system. Powered by 35 amplifiers with a combined 11,315 watts, the Kipnis system has 3 center-channel speakers, 8 reference towers, 10 super tweeters and 16 subwoofers. The video is projected onto a giant 18-by-10-foot laboratory-grade motion picture screen.
If King Solomon were alive today, he would definitely have one of these. And after three months of watching movies in it, he would write up the following review for Popular Mechanics:
“All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing … I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8,14)
I know, negative take. But as much as I love movies and technology, this just seems way over the top to me.
When Steven Spielberg shot the beach scene for Saving Private Ryan, he used 1,000 extras. Watch how these three graphic designers convincingly recreated the storming of Omaha Beach on a shoestring budget in just four days using only themselves as actors and a single carload of basic props.
(Video length: 4:02)
This scene was created for the TIMEWATCH program “Bloody Omaha” shown on BBC.
“Danger, danger, Will Robinson!” Oh, how I loved this show when I was a kid! It sparked my imagination and gave me a taste for science fiction, adventure, space and fantasy that I still enjoy today. We have all three seasons on DVD, and I enjoyed re-watching them with my boys when they were younger.
They have really gone all out to make these as authentic-looking as possible. The parts are all based on the original molds. You can activate the Robot by remote control. Functions include turning the Robot’s torso left/right, directing the Robot’s voice to respond “Affirmative/Negative” and activating the Robot’s soil sampling sequence. The Robot also comes with over 500 voice tracks by Richard Tufeld, the voice of the original Robot. And here is a neat feature: it has a functional power pack. Pulling the Robot’s “power pack” will shut down the Robot with the “Aaghhhhhh…” sound, just as it did in the TV series.
However, with a price tag of $24,500 I won’t be buying one of these anytime soon. At least the price includes shipping!
My brother, David, works in the book industry, and I got to check out his Amazon Kindle recently. It seemed pretty cool to me, but I am a sucker for any gadget, so I asked him if he would write a guest review for the blog. He graciously agreed, and so here is an in-depth review of the Kindle from a book professional who has used it extensively for over a month. David’s pros and cons list comes first, followed by his full review. So what do you think of the Kindle? (See related post: Kindling a Spark for Electronic Reading)
Amazon Kindle Pros:
Fast, wireless delivery of books, no need to sync the device with a computer.
Impressive initial collection of 90,000+ books ranging from New York Times bestsellers to obscure textbooks.
Online backup; not worried about losing content if device is lost or damaged.
Great for reading short content such as newspaper or Wikipedia articles.
Amazon Kindle Cons:
Poor visual appeal: Black text on a dingy grey background instead of white; brief screen blackout for each page turn; device looks like old technology.
Clunky scroll wheel for navigating; Kindle would benefit from touch-screen technology such as used by Apple.
Lack of real page numbers limits use for students needing to provide footnotes for quotes.
Frequent page turns are tiring; difficult to “pre-read” a chapter or know how many pages to go in a chapter; not a great device for reading long books.
For well over a year now two different formats have been competing for the high-definition DVD market. Sony has been pushing its Blu-Ray format in competition against the HD-DVD format. Remembering the old VHS vs. Betamax battles, wary consumers have been waiting to see which format will emerge as the standard. Sony lost the Beta battle back in the 1980’s, but with the help of their PlayStation 3, it looks like they may have won the battle for Blu-Ray.
Two news stories this week seem to point the way forward for Blu-Ray over HD-DVD.
I know there are some people who feel passionately about one format over the other. I am not one of them. I have just been curiously watching to see which side will eventually win out. The momentum definitely just turned in the favor of Blu-Ray this week.
Amazon.com has just released Amazon Kindle, their new wireless, portable electronic reader. The $400 price tag is a bit steep, but that includes free wireless connectivity to the Amazon Kindle store. The Kindle holds up to 200 books, or you can also store your purchased books at Amazon and access them whenever you want. (Hmmm, seems like I posted on something similiar back in September.)
This has a lot of neat features, but I am still waiting for one tablet that will do it all - book reader, laptop, media player, internet access, etc. all in one paperback sized tablet. This seems like a step in the right direction, though. (Related series posted below.)
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