Curriedflavouredflipproductions

The bottom line is:

"If you are not going to give me something beneficial then I will not give you my attention. Make it relevant to me"

Games Strategy marketing for teenagers



image courtesy of www.ideo.com

Every year I have to talk to Parents at Parents Evenings. Something I don't understand is, why even the brightest of my students do not talk to their Parents. Everything is a don't know error message.
One of my first question after greeting the parents is:
"has your child told you what they have been achieving in my classroom for the last 3 months?"

95% of the time the answer is always a resounding:

"no, my kids don't talk to me. Which is why I am here, for obviously they spend a lot of time talking to you!"

Hmm, I can understand when my friends and family privately complain that they do not hear or see me. I would agree.
Look at it from my point of view. I work with SCREENAGERS who are not the fastest of beings when they are not processing information. I clock well in excess of over 45 hours a week.
For some reason they will not talk to their parents, therefore we in school are their backup developmental communication device. Over the last 15 years, working in schools, I have witnessed how technology has interwoven into teenagers lifestyle. Compared to my days in the 80s and early 90s, the definition of digital divide was still encased in military hardware.

This is where the fatigue comes in, we spend a lot of hours every week crunching fuzzy logic data into useful information. Teachers are required to adapt or we die. The only way to beat students is to join them. This is the fun part of my job. Apart from a great deal of talking, you have to develop knowledge acquisition strategies that will enable you to think like a young mind. We end up sharing the same thirst for 'more input' For good legal reasons, Teachers are not allowed to be part of their social network. For why would you wish to communicate with them outside of the confines of school?
Incidentally did you know that a beginning teacher in their first year frequently has sore throats because of the increased talking.

For those of you who are parents, worried about the future, allow me to share with you something that you may or may not know about how students interact in their world.

Why Screenagers?

Well, forget back in the days of waiting to use the one telephone in the house style.

Screenagers are surrounded by the glow of some sort of screen dispensing some sort of information. Here is the Beta Life summary written by Andy Pipes from Channel 4 who commissioned some research from OTX into the relationships that kids aged 12-24 have with technology.

The average 12-24 year old (or not, if you are one):

Personally own 8 devices (including MP3 player, PC, TV, DVD player, mobile phone, stereo, games console, and digital camera)

Frequently conduct over 5 activities whilst watching TV

25% of them agree that “I’d rather stay at home than go on a holiday with no internet or phone access”

A quarter of young people interviewed text or IM (instant message) friends they are physically with at the time.

Have on average 123 friends on their social network spaces

And the first thing the majority of them do when they get home is turn on their PC.

The real issue with young people glued to some kind of screens is that many eventually succumb to sleep deprivation. Recent reports have proven what we have known for ages is that young people are averaging 4-5 hours sleep per night rather than the recommended 9 hours their growing bodies deserve.
This can have serious consequences on their physical and emotional well being. Maybe they are fortunate not to be affected now, but, at some point their bodies will ask them to repay those lost hours in the future. But you know what, they may have an 'app' for that too.

So if you want to connect fully with your child/ren I suggest you ignore the error message your kids may give you and get up to speed from a technological point of view.
Listen to music for quite often the songs have hidden meanings such as this classic:

Zapp and Rogers Computer Love



Alternatively check out Scribemedia.org view on screenagers.



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