As the father of six children, I know very well the challenges technology poses to our families.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
What I like to say is that we're trying to develop a new generation of technologies that are worthy of the next generation of kids.
I look at my son and his relationship to technology, and I think back to when I was six and how wildly different the world is in that regard. I see him using an iPhone and all this stuff, and then I think back to when I was six. We didn't even have computers in our houses at all yet. This is a huge gap between our experiences as children.
There are moments of opportunity for families; moments they need to put technology away. These include: no phones or texting during meals. No phones or texting when parents pick up children at school - a child is looking to make eye contact with a parent!
Kids today are technologically sophisticated. In many families, they are far ahead of their parents.
The biggest challenge in my life is getting all these kids raised. I've helped with nieces, stepchildren and my own son, so the biggest challenge is making sure the kids are raised and finding enough quality time with them.
So many times, these kids know more about the technology than their parents. And so many times, we're putting kids in very adult situations and expecting them to behave like they're 40 years old. Well, that's just not going to happen.
There's a lot of technology out there to help people have children in different ways, and later in life, for better or worse.
We have an amazing advantage right now in that we have developed technology that is so sexy, so engaging for kids.
Children want the challenge of difficult tasks - just look how much better they are than their parents on a computer.
Life is about family and technology.