I had an epiphany yesterday morning sitting with my kids.  We had just had breakfast and were sitting down to watch some morning cartoons.  Super Michael asked if he could play XBox, and since the TV was now unavailable, and Princess K still wanted to watch cartoons, she asked if she could watch TV on my cell phone.  I whipped out the cell phone and hooked her up with the Disney channel and she was happy as a clam.  My realization was that in our new world, technology has allowed/forced us to have instant access to almost everything.  As a child, we had only a dozen or two of channels to watch on TV and we were lucky to have that.  I bought my first computer with my own money when I was somewhere in the neighborhood of eight or so and it had a whole 2K of memory.  The Internet was something that was only in Universities and military installations and was known as ARPANET.  The web was something you saw in the backyard, and a mouse was something you didn't want in your house.

Flash forward to today, where almost everyone has access to the Internet, and even my cell phone has millions of times more memory and thousands of times more processing power then my first computer.  If one preferred, you would never even need to leave your own home.  You could work from home over the Internet, shop over the Internet for food and necessities, or even socialize with people from around the world without having to step outside of your home.  It has made our world smaller and given us incredible access to information.  Never before in our history have we had such access to information and events.  We know about events from around the world the moment they happen through Twitter and instant messenger. 

Even entertainment has changed.  As a child, we watched things on TV when the network put them on.  Video tapes didn't come out until I was a little older, which made things easier, but compared to today with video on demand, Netflix and the Internet, which allows you to watch anything, anytime, my kids are pretty spoiled.  With DVR's, we can record and pause live TV and watch it from any room in the house, or even on the other side of the planet across the Internet.

With all of our technology, are we any better off? Sure, we have access to any and all information we could ever wish for through a simple Google search, but is it any better for us?  Are our kids too addicted to this new instant Internet age? Is it possible that all of this is bad for us?

Like everything in life, things like this need to be taken with moderation.  The access to information we have now, I believe is a good thing.  It allows us to learn about other cultures, to research products before we buy, and to meet people we normally wouldn't meet, but sometimes you just need to turn off the cell phones and the laptops and go out and ride your bike.

We need to teach our kids that it's also fun to play outside in the sandbox and run around the playground and to interact with real people.  But we also need to realize that they live in this new world, it's as much a part of them as breathing.  They understand technology much better then we ever will because they've never known a world without the Internet, text messaging, and DVR's.  We need to teach our children balance and moderation and to use the technology as a tool to improve their lives and not to worry if they play a game every now and then. 

I think my personal history allows me to have a better perspective of this aspect of my children's lives because I grew up as one of the those nerdy kids that spent a lot of time behind a computer and playing games.  My parents worried about me, because at the time computers were so new and no one really thought anything would come of them.  My parents REALLY wanted me to learn some sort of real skill where I could make something of my life.  Fortunately, the world turned in a direction where my hobby as a kid turned into a real paying skill set and now the whole world is just as nerdy as me.  Heck, I bet a lot of you even tweet out your Twitter updates about what you had for dinner tonight...now how NERDY is THAT?  This history allows me to watch my children and understand that they will be OK.  Whatever happens, you never know what may come of it.  Things they are interested in, no matter how weird I may think it is, may turn into the next Internet and my job is to just support them in whatever they decide.

What about the other parents out there?  Do you worry about your kids using technology too much?  Do you limit the time they spend playing games, use text messages, or chatting over the Internet?  And how do you limit it?  What are the rules in your house?