Growing Up Online

In today's society, I believe that technology plays a vital role in the young people of today. It is what they grew up with and what they know. Without technology, children these days do not know what to do with their "free" time. Being an aide in an elementary school, I see children with cell phones, iPods, mp3 players, and many other things that us "older" people never received until we were in high school or after. I also hear children talking about using their parents' or siblings' laptops/computers or playing video games. Like I stated before, without technology, children do not know what to do. We use to go outside and run for fun or read stories. During long trips, we would read or play small silly games to pass the time aways. Now, children are stuck inside homes playing games or watching TV or using the internet. Technology has also created DVD players in vans, so now, children going on long trips spend their time watching TV which they do enough at home already. I see this as children who are not being taught how to use technology responsibly and appropriately. As educators, I believe that we should educate both parents and students how to use technology the "correct" way, which I mean responsibly and appropriately, and make both aware of the dangers in technology.