Good Parenting

Teen star Aria Wallace is helping to promote awareness of the growing problem of children and teens spending too much time on the Internet and too much time, in general, wired to all of their digital gadgets. Recently, she went “offline” for an incredible 40 days! Her Internet use was limited to homework needs and she was allowed to keep a video blog to let her fans know how good it felt to be away from all of the constant communication and social networking.

She transitioned from being obsessed with being wired to friends and constant social networking – Facebook, Myspace, etc., texting, chatting, etc. —  to going Internet cold turkey. Wallace describes learning that real life is much more interesting and satisfying than life online. Watch how Aria goes “Old School – unplugged”.  She talks about how as a result of her “no more Internet” experiment, she began spending more time with family. With more time available for other things, she now gets more exercise, is playing more music and just enjoying the satisfaction of living real life.

Adults may not understand all of her writing. It is filled with acronyms and IM type shorthand. She is also very silly. Remember – this is not Ophra Winfrey, but a young teenage TV star. But all the better for helping your kids see the seriousness of the matter and relating to it!  The blog and videos can be a great way to start a discussion with your kids on overusing the Internet and cell phone usage. Watch some of Aria’s videos together and get the kids to explain the lingo she uses to you. Point out how even someone famous can find themselves obsessed with the Internet, Facebook, IM’ing, etc. But looks what this easy experiment has taught her —  her brief time offline made it obvious that she has been missing out on so much. The idea of walking over to a friend’s house to surprise her and say hi, does not even occur to kids anymore –instead they are texting one another — frequently, they just don’t bother to ever meet outside of school, managing all of their social connections from their bedrooms. You have to ask yourself – how real are those friendships? How satisfying are those relationships? Is any of it real?

Be aware that lecturing your teens is likely not going to be effective.And don’t forget – it’s our generation who gave it them all this technology and forgot to set up some basic ground rules. Children and teens need limits. Adults need limits too! Aria Wallace’s contest can be a perfect opportunity to open a discussion and start at a place both you and your child are comfortable with – without facing them head on and shouting about using the cell phone too much or just forbidding them to go online any more. Maybe come up with a challenge of your own. Take a week for the entire family to go offline and venture back to reality together. See what happens. It could be interesting. At the least, it will give you a short break from all that background noise you are living with each day.