Thursday, November 29, 2012
Technology and Quality Family Time By Sarah Payne L03
Technology these days is everywhere and it keeps expanding/advancing. This is a fact! So with all these new gadgets what happens to the family? The use of technology is replacing valued quality family time. One can argue against this fact saying technology brings the family together. This can be true; Netflix is an example of how technology brings the family together by watching a family movie. However, family time is more than just being in the same room as your loved ones. Family time is about strengthening your relationships within your own family. There is a simple solution to this issue; as parents, or as loved ones, we need to put down the television remotes, leave the computers, and put away the cellphones.
Television plays a huge role in some peoples' lives. In fact, Canada Facts says that "the average Canadian adult watches 28.8 hours of television per week; this equals out to be around one quarter of their waking hours in a single year". Televisions keep getting bigger, thinner, and better; but what happens to family relationships? Nothing is gained by sitting around the television, not speaking, with eyes glued to the playing movie. Multiple researchers and studies even say that too much television can cause headaches. So not only is television bad for you but it is also a waste of precious time. There is so much more one could do with the time given in a day especially with the Christmas Holidays approaching fast! A few examples include, ice skating, tobogganing, and even a walk in the park.
The second gadget that is hindering quality family time are computers. there are so many online games one could play instead of being with your family. One might say that computer games is how the family can bond together. My little sister and older brother used to play World of Warcraft (WOW) a lot! However, what kind of bond is that going to be? The game itself is fictional, you go around completing missions and stuff, but that is it! Another computer issue is Facebook. Sure, it is good to keep in touch with certain friends and family, but what happened to a face-to-face conversation? Go out for hot chocolate, sit down in the cafe and actually have a real live conversation with someone. For some reason it seems like people have forgotten how to do that. Spending too much time on the computer is bad for you anyways. ABC Health and Wellbeing says this: "Our children spend more and more time in front of them [t.v. and computer], leaving up to a third of our kids short-sighted by the time they reach adulthood". They, ABC Health and Wellbeing, go on to explain that "shortsightedness is also called Myopia which is a condition when the light does not focus correctly on the retina. This causes far away objects to be blurry while close objects are clear. The individual then needs to wear corrective lenses to fix this issue". Both computers and televisions are bad for eyesight. Suggestions for quality family time replacing the computer would be hiking, snowshoeing, or having a family photo shoot.
The third gadget that also hinders quality family time are cellphones. Cellphones were used mostly for just talk and text a few years ago. Now cellphones can be used for almost anything including surfing the internet, checking emails, listening to music, and playing games. Too many days, evenings, and nights are being wasted by these added features on cellphones. I myself am guilty of this. Sometimes when my husband and I do not know what to do for the evening we will end up sitting on the couch playing on our phones. How sad is that?!? We all need to put down our phones and start talking and engaging with our families! No more cellphones when we come home from work or school. No more cellphones at the dinner table. No more cellphones used to just play games on. Family should be more important than music, the latest gossip on whoever, and a petty game such as Angry Birds. We all can accomplish so much more by unplugging and putting the cellphones away. Suggested activities instead of your cell phone can be going out for dessert, going for a bicycle ride, or going out to dance.
In conclusion, there is so much a family can do to improve the time they spend together; starting with no more television, no more computers, and no more cellphones. Bundle up in the cold yet beautiful weather and have some holiday fun! Not only will your bonds strengthen but you will also be active. All these gadgets spoken about are temporal. Family is forever. Family is eternal.
References:
Canada Facts. (2010). One-quarter of your Life watching Television. Retrieved on November 27, 2012 from: http://www.canadafacts.org/one-quarter-of-life-watching-tv/
Peter Lavelle. (2005) ABC Health and Wellbeing. Myopia on the rise. Retrieved on November 27, 2012 from: http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2005/11/10/1502702.htm#.ULgWoYc0WSo
Television plays a huge role in some peoples' lives. In fact, Canada Facts says that "the average Canadian adult watches 28.8 hours of television per week; this equals out to be around one quarter of their waking hours in a single year". Televisions keep getting bigger, thinner, and better; but what happens to family relationships? Nothing is gained by sitting around the television, not speaking, with eyes glued to the playing movie. Multiple researchers and studies even say that too much television can cause headaches. So not only is television bad for you but it is also a waste of precious time. There is so much more one could do with the time given in a day especially with the Christmas Holidays approaching fast! A few examples include, ice skating, tobogganing, and even a walk in the park.
The second gadget that is hindering quality family time are computers. there are so many online games one could play instead of being with your family. One might say that computer games is how the family can bond together. My little sister and older brother used to play World of Warcraft (WOW) a lot! However, what kind of bond is that going to be? The game itself is fictional, you go around completing missions and stuff, but that is it! Another computer issue is Facebook. Sure, it is good to keep in touch with certain friends and family, but what happened to a face-to-face conversation? Go out for hot chocolate, sit down in the cafe and actually have a real live conversation with someone. For some reason it seems like people have forgotten how to do that. Spending too much time on the computer is bad for you anyways. ABC Health and Wellbeing says this: "Our children spend more and more time in front of them [t.v. and computer], leaving up to a third of our kids short-sighted by the time they reach adulthood". They, ABC Health and Wellbeing, go on to explain that "shortsightedness is also called Myopia which is a condition when the light does not focus correctly on the retina. This causes far away objects to be blurry while close objects are clear. The individual then needs to wear corrective lenses to fix this issue". Both computers and televisions are bad for eyesight. Suggestions for quality family time replacing the computer would be hiking, snowshoeing, or having a family photo shoot.
The third gadget that also hinders quality family time are cellphones. Cellphones were used mostly for just talk and text a few years ago. Now cellphones can be used for almost anything including surfing the internet, checking emails, listening to music, and playing games. Too many days, evenings, and nights are being wasted by these added features on cellphones. I myself am guilty of this. Sometimes when my husband and I do not know what to do for the evening we will end up sitting on the couch playing on our phones. How sad is that?!? We all need to put down our phones and start talking and engaging with our families! No more cellphones when we come home from work or school. No more cellphones at the dinner table. No more cellphones used to just play games on. Family should be more important than music, the latest gossip on whoever, and a petty game such as Angry Birds. We all can accomplish so much more by unplugging and putting the cellphones away. Suggested activities instead of your cell phone can be going out for dessert, going for a bicycle ride, or going out to dance.
In conclusion, there is so much a family can do to improve the time they spend together; starting with no more television, no more computers, and no more cellphones. Bundle up in the cold yet beautiful weather and have some holiday fun! Not only will your bonds strengthen but you will also be active. All these gadgets spoken about are temporal. Family is forever. Family is eternal.
References:
Canada Facts. (2010). One-quarter of your Life watching Television. Retrieved on November 27, 2012 from: http://www.canadafacts.org/one-quarter-of-life-watching-tv/
Peter Lavelle. (2005) ABC Health and Wellbeing. Myopia on the rise. Retrieved on November 27, 2012 from: http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2005/11/10/1502702.htm#.ULgWoYc0WSo
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