Are You Harnessing the Power of Technology, Mama?
It is way too easy to check out of real life for the momentary pleasure of technology in all its forms. Tragically, we could let another day go by where we haven’t done something for the spiritual life of the home. We could procrastinate important tasks to scroll through the picture-perfect scenes of other people getting life done around us.
So, before you pick up that smartphone, hand-held device, or open up that computer, ask yourself if you’ve done the most important thing of plugging yourself and your children into Jesus Christ and His Word. Have you accomplished your goals for the family and the children’s education first? Is the television a distraction? It is easy to allow technology to harness us and keep us from real life.
Conversely, we have the power to harness that technology. The power and promise of education technology is increasing and rewarding. What about technology and the homeschool?
This plugged-in generation has access to everything good and bad. As the days grow more evil, so does the technology and the evil it produces. (Here are some guidelines our family has adopted.) Unguarded use of technology can be extremely dangerous to children. Access to pornography is a real danger now more than ever.
Ephesians 5:16 says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
Technology is helpful and saves us time when we use it for research, education, work, and productivity. But when it becomes an escape from those things that are waiting to be done or children waiting to interact in real life, then it wastes precious time. Sometimes we just have to say “No!” to the technology that beckons us in order to ensure the best and highest use of our time.
We need to be good stewards of the hours in the day that God has given us.
When it comes to technology, a timer is a wonderful thing and saves us from loads of guilt. Get into the habit of putting the screen down and looking at your children. Listen to them. Teach them by example. We have kids who grow up with their faces stuck in front of screens because they have learned by our example, or we have failed to set limits or guidelines. Make more time to look up in the sky instead of down to a screen. And teach your children to look up, too, as you keep them Home Where They Belong!
~Deborah
Deborah Wuehler is the Senior Editor and Director of Production here at The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. She would say she is a very ordinary homeschool mom–with one exception: she has an extraordinary God Who provides all she needs for life and homeschooling. She has eight children aged 11 to 29. Deborah’s mission is this: to point other homeschoolers to the Lord in all they do, think, and feel—and to confirm that they, too, can find everything they need for life, godliness, and homeschooling in their knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3-4).
