Smart Phones and Kids

4 Reasons Not To Give An iPhone To Your Child

I just read this article (Click on the link above) and I have to say I agree with keeping smart phones out of the hands of our children until there is evidence of responsibility and moral stability in them. That might seem harsh or even legalistic in todays world. Sorry to disappoint you but I did grow up in a totally different world and my principles were such that took shape through parents of an even older mentality. One from the 30's and 40's.

No, I didn't have a cell phone and probably didn't even use the phone in our home that much growing up. Didn't need it. If I wanted to talk to someone, I just walked or rode my bike to their house and found out if they were home and could spend time together.

We didn't spend time on a computer scrolling through images of anything imaginable, socializing online or sending texts or emails to our friends. We didn't need to. Our friends were right in front of us. We spent time together in school, after school and during the weekend. When summer came we were together at the pool, working in the fields, playing together or just riding our bikes together. 

We talked about everything, had fights, listened to music on the radio, watched cartoons together and occasionally went to the movies together. As we grew older we even went out on dates together as a group. We hung out at the Dairy Queen, drove the loop, even smoked cigarettes and drank some beer. Most everything we did, we did together. Cell Phones and Computers weren't invented yet.

So how did we ever survive? I'll let you figure that one out. 

I want my children to grow up experiencing life in a way that prepares them for the future. Both worldly and spiritual reality are important. There are ways to help my children get a grasp on what is important. One way is to spend more time with them. I wish and hope for more time with them. It has to become a priority though and not just on my part but on theirs as well. 

Technology tends to get in the way of all that. It is distracting us and our children from having real face to face interactions that mold and shape our children in the social interactions of life. Our very spiritual existence in regards to our attitudes and willingness to follow God is jeopardized by the distractions of technology. Just like too much kool-aid helped rot my teeth, too much of anything will cause a disastrous effect on us.

Take a look at the behavior your demonstrate to your kids with your phone, computer, iPads, Wii, etc. Are you setting the example you want your kids to follow? Are you spending quality time with your kids? Are they locked in their rooms or locked into their phones, computers, etc. and fading into the background of your life? If so, you have to do something about it.

The article about "reasons to not give your kids an iPhone" is good advice, I believe. It should help give us a wake-up call to reality. Don't wait. Do something about all the wasted time and get motivated to put down the technology and have real relationships with those around you. 

What is convenient isn't necessarily what is good. It creates habits that come to steal, kill and destroy our lives with disconnections from what is real. One on one personal interaction creates an environment of wholesome social interaction. I builds the qualities of life that are needed for living in this world and functioning as an integral part of society.

Just a final thought. "God doesn't have an iPhone or FaceBook yet He knows everything that is going on." Am I plugged in to a live relationship with Him? Are you in a personal interaction with our Father every day? If not, you are not going to develop one from the internet. You are going to have to get face to face, talk, walk and interact with Him. You are also going to have to do the same with all of those that are His as well. It just works that way.