A call for Less Device Time!!! A call for Fairness and Attention!

Ethical Device-Use

"Dear Families, We are asking you to put away your phones.  Please limit your time on your devices. You're using them too much.  Please pay more attention to the outside world -- including children.  Thank you."

Discuss this request, Families!  Take seriously children's challenge to adults for "less device time."   Let it support your child to embrace LESS device time themselves with greater ease.  

Here is the story behind this request:
The Ethics For Children group at NYSEC met to honor Dr. King's birthday.  In doing so, each child (ages 2-10), took "the Ethical Pulpit" to share their hopes for a fair future. From this sharing, a surprising and noteworthy development took place:  

Remember, Fairness was the theme.  Some children expressed indignant feelings at having to limit their time on "devices," while looking up to adults who never put down their devices.   Expanding upon that, they expressed how overwhelming it was to be around adults who are constantly using devices.  From under  a mad complaint about wanting more video game time, emerged a yearning for something unexpected.  A yearning for fairness, and attention.  Some children can't pull themselves away from video games, and even when the machine is not there, they can't unlock their minds from video games.  Others are already reeling with the device-over-dosing of their generation.  Some are able to identify a kind of cultural peer pressure around device use, that is either deeply compelling or deeply uncomfortable to them.  With help transcribing, and the prompt of "What request would you like to make of your families,"  they each chimed in to create the letter above.

It is poignant that this young generation is expressing gut-level fairness issues in the realm of  technology.   Fathers asked their computer-loving sons, "Are you being silly or serious?!"  The boys stamped their feet and said, "We mean it!" 

Children expressed so clearly the value of an age-old adage: that we teach by example.  So, Let's. Limit Device Use!  Make device-free commitments in your family's time together.