So the other day I come downstairs and I overhead my hubby tell my son, “You want to watch the family’s Ipad not C.Js iPad you mean?” I have been thinking a lot about the importance of the wording we use with tech especially around little kids. The idea of possession especially around tablets and devices I hear a lot with little ones gives this sense of ownership that makes it even more difficult to switch off or move to the next activity because for a little kid, you are taking away “their toy.” Colin Kartchner – one of my mentors in this work – said it best; that handing kids devices and smart phones at an early age is like handing them the keys to a car without giving them a course in Drivers ed. They are just not ready. So using language such as the family Ipad or Laptop eases the tensions around possession and feeling enslaved by a device.
For little kids you could say, the phone is having downtime or taking a nap when its time to get off the device or when the phone is charging overnight. This brings into focus that our devices are not “always on” and that it is okay to take a break from the day to day constant online consumption and bombardment.