Self-limiting technology

[Nan in Mass]

A post on the chat board about stupid phones made me remember that this might be a good discussion to have here.

 

How do your children manage their technology and stay focused in college? Are they good at self-limiting? How did they learn to self-limit?

 

Mine do it by having old stupid phones which can be turned off or left behind when studying, old music only ipods so they can listen to music while studying but don't have the distraction of the internet, and laptops and/or tablets. They also have a small bluetooth speaker for when a headphone cord would be a hinderance and stream music from their laptop or tablet. The number of texts they receive an hour from friends is astonishing and it took my homeschoolers awhile to realize that the supply of opportunities to socialize was infinite. Being able to limit the temptation to check to see if anyone has texted by leaving the phone at home has been helpful. They only have to "be good" once rather than continually resisting the temptation to turn the phone on to check. Similarly with the internet. Youngest has access to his textbooks on his tablet, which he has found handy because it allows him to carry fewer books or have have one book open in two places at the same time. (He still buys the paper books because they are much easier to read.)

 

Nan

[regentrude]

My DD has a smart phone and a laptop and internet access and seems to be focused just fine.

She sometimes uses study apps where the computer counts the time how long you don't do anything frivolous, but I don't think she needs it, it's more a sport.

She is very disciplined and ambitious, and her college does not allow them much free time to waste- you have to be insanely disciplined to keep your head above water, and the culture among students is accordingly.

She always has her phone with her and likes to call me when she is walking between dorm and campus; she would not voluntarily leave her phone at home.

We have never put limits on technology use after the kids were preteens, so I guess she figured it out somehow.

 

DS listens to music on his phone while doing school work, and he does answer his gf's texts, but I don't think he will be having an issue either.

 

Sorry not to be of more help.

 

Edited February 27, 2016 by regentrude

[MarkT]

Have them "buy into"  Cal Newport's Deep Works!

[Pawz4me]

I suppose both of ours are just naturally good at self regulating. We've certainly never imposed any limits on their use of technology and yet they both seem very capable of using it appropriately. I hope they don't often choose to leave their phones behind, as they're frequently necessary. Oldest DS has had classes where attendance was checked by having the students text the answer to a question. And last week when there were tornado warnings everywhere I was certainly glad he was able to follow the university's text alerts.