Noosed?

A lot of our kids now are YouTube educated. In fact students get to understand lessons faster because of learning supplementation they get from the net. The teachers’ role is greatly eased when it comes to giving inputs just as it is challenged to sift the chaff from the grains of knowledge.

There are apps that organize thought and integrate inputs from various sources to come up with the right prose that may be needed for a submission. It can make proposals and presentations depending on the requirement stated by its user.

At the risk of sounding intellectually prudish, I view these apps with a jaundiced eye, and a little bit of trepidation as I am concerned about the very young users. I do not worry about those who are in graduate school or even college as they already know how to discern and can somehow distinguish realities from fake inputs. I worry about the young especially in this age, who still need to stabilize their thinking framework and know how to choose what is right. The availability of these apps and other accessible media through the internet exposes our children at a very young age to certain ways of life that may greatly influence their character.

Many parental manuals, psychologists and critics have emphasized the need for supervised use of cellphones and similar gadgets allowing access to internet channels that glue our children to the screen. The lack of control on the substance of being viewed by children allows their minds to absorb whatever they watch.

In spite of the many warnings, busy parents, and some irresponsible ones (those who also get glued to their own gadgets scrolling through purchases and gossip) let their children be continually nannied by their own tabs. In an article published by Eye Level Learning Center, they claim that children are not born with critical thinking. It is a skill that is learned and that we should encourage among our young.

It is important to guide them to understand the reasons regarding options and why they have to make a choice. Imperative is also the consciousness of both rational and emotional responses and why they have to balance their thoughts in order to make the right decisions.

Alarm was my first reaction to the recent data on teenage pregnancies. The increase of 35% of young pregnancies amazed me because this time we were not talking about 17 year olds or even 16. We were looking at statistics of 10-14 year olds, which is flabbergasting considering that they are barely out of pediatrics or are still even there and just simmering around puberty.

That is why I go back always to the importance of giving emphasis on values. A thing we have been setting aside in favor of supposedly “high value learning” where knowledge and data is power and technology advancement is key.

I am not saying we ignore that. But what I want to revisit is the kind of influence we get. The character we eventually shape and the lifestyles we live because of our absorption of certain influences that do not even match our culture. Let us look at the change we are opening ourselves to. And find out, is it for the better or are we going back to being noose-led by supposedly more advanced cultures whose basic structure of family is even nil.

Just think about that.