What are you giving this Holiday Season?
The Holidays are upon us and it’s time for gift giving. Are you buying computers this year or video games? How about TV’s? Technology is truly amazing and so fun! We use it for work, for entertainment and to communicate with our friends. We wonder how we could live without it.
With all this technology comes responsibility. “Oh, yeah”, you say. Here it comes. Technology is bad for us. Not necessarily so, but there are some things that parents need to know.
Recent research has shown computer and internet use have been linked to “risky behaviors” in teens – things like alcohol and drug use and unsafe sex. This relationship is explained by a theory which states “that seeing people engaged in a behavior is a way of learning that behavior.” You can see a lot of stuff on the internet! Even if parents think they control internet use, there is still a lot of advertising on the Internet and teens, on average, spend up to 4.5 hours in front of a screen of some type every day. This gives them lots of time to be influenced.
So parents beware and be aware. “The researchers found that high computer use was associated with approximately 50 per cent increased engagement” in “smoking, drunkenness, non-use of seatbelts, cannabis and illicit drug use, and unprotected sex.”
What can a parent do? Monitor computer and TV use and have that talk with your kids. You know, that talk about drug use and how you feel about it. Or, you could have that talk about media and the images and messages portrayed there. Make sure what you are giving this year is your influence and remember – There is no one more influential than you, the parent!
Kenton County Alliance, www.KentonCountyAlliance.org and www.youtube.com/KentonCountyAlliance Also, find us on Facebook.
