Singer Bob Dylan sang in 1964 that ”The Times They Are a- Changin’,” which became a kind of slogan and definition of the decade of the 1960s. Indeed, for those that lived through that decade, it was obvious there were significant changes in society, science, communication and transportation, and technology. To those living through that decade the changes seemed breathtaking.
However, speaking of change, they hadn’t seen anything yet, compared to what the Internet is allowing today. The changes going on before our eyes from the Internet influences today make the 1960s look like a placid past.
Much is obvious such as a majority of people having email addresses, participating in social media and dropping newspaper subscriptions to get their news from the Internet. All this has happened for most people in the last decade. But there are perhaps more significant changes coming, or already here. The following are just a few of the articles I have stumbled across lately of ways the Internet is changing our lives today beyond recognition to the inhabitants of the 90′s, let alone the 60s.
For example, therapy has always been considered at root a face to face interaction between the therapist and the client. However, in an article titled “Shrink Rap” it was reported in August 2009 that “researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and St. Vincent’s hospital have shown online treatments are just as effective as face-to-face therapies for a wide range of common mental disorders.” Although this conclusion is still preliminary, with an increasing number of therapists establishing practices online, this kind of therapy might become very common in the near future.
Education is going through significant changes in the way students learn, whether current school educators like it or not. The New York Times reports a study conducted by SRI International for the US Department of Education that finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom. In its basic concept, public (and most private schools also) education has not changed from the factory model established at the beginning of the 20th century. Yet we read of many successful modifications to that model, and several successful businesses and extension online courses from established institutions are rapidly expanding their enrollments. Almost every student in the country now has the option of part or all of their studies being online. It is likely that the existence of the Internet will make education look entirely different in the next few years.
At the same time, there are calls on all sides for the need to rethink the way we educate our children. One articulate proposal I was impressed by suggests that Education Needs to Be Turned on Its Head. This essay asserts that training to obey might have been good a century ago to prepare for factory jobs, but to survive in the future children need to be more self-directed. Some alternative approaches to this are called unschooling, and others refer to their vision of education as democratic education, which even has an organization devoted to schools with this philosophy – The Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO). Although these ideas have been around a long time, they and other alternative approaches seem to be growing, and the Internet allows more people to find them and learn there might be better ways to educate children.
Despite the potential advantages, there are concerns that the Internet can have a negative impact also. An article in the Wall Street Journal claims that excessive Internet social networking can be the reason “Why Gen-Y Johnny Can’t Read Nonverbal Cues.” The author claims that since texting is written words only, the child that emphasizes social networking or online gaming does not get the practice of relating to others that would come from physical face to face interactions.
Another downside is news of Internet Addiction Programs. Many schools and programs I work with report an increasing number of students whose main behavioral problem is addiction to computers, especially online gaming.
Back on the positive side, a researcher in Sweden finds that Chatting online boosts lonely teens’ confidence. This sounds like while Internet involvement will offer temptation to some that can’t handle it, others will be helped by the existence of the Internet. Either way, the Internet will drastically change what children experience, which would require different ways to work with them than previous ways.
Another development is the question of E-Textbooks, and if This Could Be the Year of E-Textbooks, as is asked by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Perhaps the old clunky and expensive tomes for required reading will wind up in the dustbin of the past, replaced by digital readers very soon.
Of course, parenting takes on new dimensions with tech-savvy kids. Even communicating with them might require learning how to text. One parent blogger reminds us that kids are digital natives while adults are the immigrants. Beware, trying to parent a child who is living in a different world allowed by the Internet will not be easy.
As Dylan so long ago sang, the times are a-changing. But today the changes are like an earthquake with the ground moving under our feet. For better or worse, ideas and what the individual is capable of doing are rapidly changing how our world looks and functions.
Do you have any observations of other ways the Internet is changing our society regarding children and families? Or, of areas that the Internet is not changing significantly?
