Media mentors in the digital age
Relationships are the foundation of our society. Everything in life revolves around them and it would be difficult to live without them.
Dr Chip Donohue inspired many attendees at the NZTC Symposiums held last week as he reflected on the importance of relationships and how this relates to his new book Family Engagement in the Digital Age: Early Childhood Educators as Media Mentors.
Early childhood educators, parents and adults alike have been asking themselves how to deal with this new digital age. Is it good, or is it bad? Exploring many facets of the new digital world, Donohue considered the positive and negative impacts on young children growing up today.
The symposium focused on how the needs of every family are different. Some parents want to receive school newsletters via email, while others prefer a hard copy handed to them when they pick up their child from day care. Technology is not simply good or bad, it’s what we do with it.
Distracted parenting was a topic explored as people in this digital age are distracted by their smart phones or tablets, feeling that they always need to be available at the other end of a device for others. Donohue shared how children learn media habits from the adults in their lives and he therefore believes that screen time is an adult behavioural issue first and foremost and early childhood educators must ask themselves, “how do I help parents to recognise that it’s a choice?”
Donohue encouraged screen time for young children to be an interaction between adult and child. For example, viewing a video together or participating in an educational app. He shared, “Adults have the capability to become mindful media mentors for young children. Our goals for our children haven’t changed over the centuries, only the ways we work towards them have.”
As Dr Michael Rich has aptly shared, “We’ve gained connectivity but lost human connectedness.”
A goal for most is a healthy balance between screens, active play and outdoor time. Unplugged times and spaces are also good for everyone as it’s important to be present with presence. In this digital age it’s an early childhood educators job to be a media mentor to parents so they can be media mentors to their children. “It is time to think in new ways,” said Donohue.
Are you ready to be a media mentor?