Love it or loathe it there’s absolutely no denying that technology is here and its here to stay. It has its good points and its bad points, its highlights and its pitfalls, but when it boils down to it, it cannot be denied that technology is (and most likely always will be) a force for good.
Since the turn of the millennium more and more people have had access to technology. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers…technology has become readily available to pretty much anyone and everyone and it has integrated itself into nearly every aspect of our lives.
So now that we have that power so quickly and easily available parents around the world are posed with a question: how can it be used to help broaden your kid’s horizon? A lot of technology has access to the internet – a world wide web of knowledge – and if used correctly this can be a fantastic thing!
First off I’ll start by address the elephant in the room: when it comes to technology and the internet, social media isn’t the way forward! Apps such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are great and fun and a wonderful way to connect with friends and family, but ultimately it feeds narcissism and very rarely (if ever) helps people learn and grow in any meaningful way.
However with that being said, the technology and the internet are still marvellous things. Kids nowadays have access to this endless database: It contains an unimaginably vast and inexhaustible amount of information that your kids truly can use to broaden their minds and expand their horizons.
From the comfort and convenience of their own home or classroom your child can explore and learn about the world. They can read about different people, place and cultures and understand and it allows your kid to look beyond the bubble that they live in and see that the world is a beautiful, strange and interesting place. It is filled with all sorts of people – some of which you kid might never have seen before – and it is important that they understand that everyone is awesome just the way they are.
Kids are also able to connect with people beyond their usual social circle. When it came to communicating and sharing, previous generations only had a small circle of people that they could work with. Technology wasn’t as prevalent and societies were more insular and inward-looking.
Nowadays there are children all over the world that are equally as eager and hungry to learn as your kid is. A child from one side of the planet is only a click away from a child at the other side of the planet, and it is this cross-cultural, multi continent kind of learning and growing that helps expand minds and broaden horizons for everyone involved.
The use of technology allows these different children in completely different parts of the world to collaborate, question, learn, play, everything! As previously mentioned, of course tech has it’s pros and cons, but if you look at the opportunities it presents to the young people of today then i’m sure that you’ll agree that the up sides far outweigh the bad.
Children are clever, adaptable and savvy, and with a little guidance they can learn how to use technology as the mind broadening force for good that we know it can be. Technology really has allowed us to open a Pandora’s Box of information and collaboration that will help expand the horizon of your kid as they grow.
That’s why Book Prunelle mission is to use modern technology as a way to support our message and to share our passion for children’s literature.
You can also look at our advices to “why it’s ok to use technology to entertain your kids” and “How to make quality time matter with your kids”.