Mobiles on please!

Yesterday I punished my 16 year old adolescent son, for waking up late and not joining in with the household duties at breakfast time. I decided to insist on him leaving his mobile phone in the kitchen overnight,  because I am convinced that it is one of the reasons for him waking up late and losing sleep. Managing our childrens’ relationship with new technology is, I find , one the hardest tasks in my role as mother. There is no precedent, no path to follow. In  my case  I can still tell the difference between using and  overusing mobile phones… but I wonder how many parents there are out there,  who are themselves addicted to social networks and are permanently “plugged in”. 

Where school is concerned, the mobile phone could usher in a form of “techonological democracy”, because its easier to own a mobile phone than a computer, for families who may not be able to afford one. They are now developing programmes using mobiles in the classroom, making the children even more dependent on them. In countries  such as Finland, these have already been implemented and in Catalunya, the Generalitat is also involved in various location tracking projects regarding national heritage sites.  Therefore we aren’t too far away from the day when  teachers,  instead of starting  the class with  “Please turn off your mobiles”, will say  instead: “Good morning, please turn on your mobiles!”