Changing Never to Now in Technology (and Life!)

If you look back on high school, college, a first job, changing careers, and/or parenthood, I’m sure you could find several moments when you said you would never do something only to find yourself doing that exact thing down the road.

The list is probably longer than you’d like to admit.

With technology alone, I can remember a time when I said I would never get an answering machine! An answering machine; never mind a cell phone. Yes, I was a holdout on the cell phone. I never wanted to be attached to my phone. If I was out, I didn't want to be reached.

Now? Now I reach for my phone a hundred times a day and mostly to look at pictures of my beautiful daughter and our selfies. Selfies! Another thing I was never going to do! And no, I don't have a selfie stick, but boy do I love holding the camera up, watching my daughter say "cheese" and then seeing her face light up when I show her the picture.

I was never going to use Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter. Done, done, done, and well I still don't tweet...but should I say NEVER???

That beloved, selfie-taking phone? Another never. I was never going to get a smart phone. I didn't need a fancy phone. I was fine with my flip phone! Yeah...how would I Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest on a flip phone!

Bluetooth: "I don't want to walk around with that thing in my ear!" Another never that I can't live without now! My hair covers it so you can't see it. It’s also a driver's best friend. I use it all the time. I cook dinner, do dishes, make the bed; all while talking on the phone. I can't understand how someone could hold a phone up to their ear nowadays.

And that beautiful daughter of mine, whose pictures grace my phone, my computer, Facebook and Instagram...there are A LOT of "nevers" as a parent I said I wouldn't do and now do (some good...some not so good).

One of those "nevers"? Technology!

 I was never going to let her watch TV or play on a computer until she was over two years old (pediatrician's recommendation...so we must never veer!).

Well...hmmm....okay...you caught me! She just turned two and yes she has watched TV and she has (gasp) her "toy"....a tablet loaded with educational games.

I have to say that I am blown away at how quickly she has learned to play some of these games. I hear the counting game:

"Can you count all the monkeys on the screen?"

There she goes "One, two, three...Hooray!"

She’s gotten up to 18!

Then there is word recognition, animal sounds, matching games...

BLOWN AWAY!!

Now there are some games that she doesn't know how to play. Like Hangman! She will push any letter, keep getting the "boink" wrong answer noise as the hangman fills in and once she's lost, she claps! She gets very excited when it plays the "whomp, whomp, whomp" game-over music! But that doesn't stop her. In time she will get it, and probably sooner than I think.

Because in a child’s world there is no "never."

It's the adults that hear of something new and say "Never!" before they even give it a chance. Bucking against it without even realizing that opening up to it opens up a world of possibilities.

I'm guilty of it and in light of all the recent changes in the classroom, I wonder if I would embrace it or say "never."

Would I be the parent opting my child out? Moving classes or changing teachers because of new methods of teaching and testing? Would I be afraid that the added technology would overwhelm my child making it impossible for her to learn?

I don't know, but I would like to say, "I hope not."

I would like my daughter to experience as much as she can so that the world of possibilities is laid out in front of her. Even if the experience is the sound of "boink" or "whomp, whomp, whomp" and I would hope to have taught her to get excited because she learned something regardless.

But more importantly I want her to have that carefree abandon to keep trying, and not the fearfulness of moving forward in a "never" kind of world. That it’s better to have tried and learned than not attempt it at all. By trying, you learn your strengths and weaknesses.

I know that it's hard when you are trying to do what is best for your child. But is saying "never" what's best?

With advancing technology continually changing teaching and testing, what challenges do you fear your child will face?

I fear mine never taking a chance.

So with that said...

I think it's time I go try to tweet!

Michaela Szidloski

Director of Technology
Standards Solution