Why We're Powerless to Resist Grazing On Endless Web Data - Wall Street Journal

Terrific article in the Wall Street Journal by Lee Gomes Why We're Powerless to Resist Grazing On Endless Web Data On Endless Web Data
So - we're hardwired to graze for information? And HOW much information are children exposed to nowadays? Oh, that's right - an enormous, overwhelming amount.

One of the challenges we work with parent and educators on is how to assist children in regulating the amount of information they expose themselves to and how they integrate it into their minds, psyches, behaviors and world views. It's not easy for parents assisting their children in managing technology and a world that they had no experience with as children. Brave New World as it were.

Coaching Tips:
Don't be afraid to set limits for your child's technology consumption.
Sit down with your children and get input as to how they think this can be done. (They'll tell you it can't. It can.)
Discuss how you intend to set the limits.
Be clear about the limits.
Be clear about the consequences to not adhering to the limits.
Follow through.

You're doing the children a favor. Imagine if they could stay up as late as they say they wanted to? Eat as much as they say they want to? Run around as much as they say they want to? Yeah - I think you've got the picture.

Not having all that tech time leaves room for lots of other things for them to explore and get used to. It encourages development of different skills and ways to keep themselves occupied.

Good luck!
RK

Rebecca Kiki Weingarten M.Sc.Ed, MFA (APA)
Daily Life Consulting

Introducing EtherThink Inc. - Keep An Electronic Eye Out... - Re:Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK) - NY Times

Ok - we're still in development on this one but today's NY Times article Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK) just begs for the connection.

Welcome to EtherThink Inc.! EtherThink Inc. which will be housed at http://www.etherthink.com and at http://etherthinkinc.blogspot.com bridges the high-tech/high-touch divide. Think of EtherThink as your electronic eyes and ears and windows to the mind. Gone are the days of paper, pen (or markers and crayons for the younger set). "The medium is the message" as Marshall Mcluhan said. It's hard to understand the message of all the new mediums. It's hard to understand how people absorb and retain information. Now imagine combining the two. That's EtherThink Inc.

How can I best communicate my thoughts and information using the newest technologies?
Who is my audience? How do they think? How can I reach them using technology?
How can I translate my information to a technological language and medium?
How can I interact using the technology available?
The challenges of communicating using technology get more complicated as more becomes available. People learn new ways of interacting using technology.

Using training, education and experience in the high-tech arena as well as training, education and experience in the hi-touch areas of human development, education, mental health, psychology, educational programming and more EtherThink Inc. will assist you to combine, coordinate, translate and create ways of communicating using the latest technologies to reach your very human audience.

Is there information you'd like to transmit and for others to receive technologically? Information, entertainment, personal communication, educational or medical information, no matter what the information is there's a human at the end of the line. Who that human audience is, how they think, how they absorb and retain information, what are the best ways to reach them, what technologies are they using or will be in the future? EtherThink Inc. has been providing the service for educational, government, entertainment and media corporations for over a decade.

EtherThink Inc. is for you if you are a corporation, institution, educational institution, entertainment conglomerate, medical institution or private practitioner, art institution, parent, teacher, counselor, artist, writer or anyone who deals with those strangest of species...Humans.

Keep an electronic eye out for more information about EtherThink Inc.
For more information about EtherThink please contact me at rebecca at dailylifeconsulting dot com or Jill Evans at gtkgroup dot com

Rebecca Kiki Weingarten M.Sc.Ed, MFA (member APA0
Daily Life Consulting