I haven’t been to a local high school campus or a mall in recent years without seeing teenagers engulfed in a smartphone or computer of some sort. It’s the new way of the world – the Internet Age.
As parents and teachers, overseeing how the technology is used is becoming a decreasingly manageable duty. For example, ABLE College Prep High vice principal Clem Lee told me during a tour of his campus a couple weeks ago that he didn’t even know “incognito web pages” existed until recently.
That’s an issue for Lee, because ABLE issues laptops to every student. The incognito pages on web browsers let a user visit any site they want without attaching any user history to the search. It’s like the search never happened.
“We tell them that if they have no user history, that’s as bad as having a history full of porn sites,” Lee said.
Technology brings other dangers as well. Children need to interact in the world without a smartphone or computer. People skills will still drive their success, even if the computer skills are necessary too.
Here is an example of how one parent plans to steer her 13-year-0ld son into the world of technology. She gave him an iPhone for Christmas, but with 18 strings attached.
