The Digital Era and Families in our Time

Overview

One of the most disturbing things in our time, that has costed some relationships is digital media. The televisions, smart phones and other devices that we tend to use in our everyday lives affect us in a manner so negative that we have even forgotten the basic approaches to strangers, verbal communication and the likes. In this topic I will be sharing views based on my family setting that that i grew up under, looking at the changes we experianced  when we got exposed to digital media.

Note: the views shared in this article are personal views based on personal experiences.

Before the Technological Saturation

Well my childhood was characterised by days in the outskirts of our capital city Mbabane where we were just a bunch of children living in world of fun. There wasn't any television to kill time, so during the day once done with our house chores,  we would be out there with other kids playing all sorts of games Dy (a game of dodging a ball so that it does not hit you, a catch is a poin), Inketo (played with 12 stones in a hole and one larger stone that is tossed into the air), Ingcatfu (skipping rope) you name it. We never got tired we ran all day long I tell you.

Then when evening came we would start up a fire to start cooking our dinner of which our big sister came in handy there. Atfer all stomachs were fed, the greatest moments of all would come, staying with mom and dad shparing our dreams and wishes. We would talk about politics, entertainemnt and everything because we had all the time, then eventually round up the night by gathering for prayer before we go to sleep. 

Now - The Technological time

Fastforward to today in our household everything is different, children wanna stay indoors all day and watch all the cartoon channels that are there.They even forget there is sleeping time, and prayer time, now there need to be a constant reminder that now its sleeping time, now its prayer time. Family time is quite diffrent and not so welcoming as before, when we are supposed to be conversing and about how the day went, people will be rushing not to miss their favourite soapie on TV, so theres nolonger that attention we had for each other as before. Now the only way to keep connected is to make sure that we check on each other regularly on our social media platforms.

It is the new normal for eveyone, and it is with no doubt that the next generation of families will develop the digital world, which will be their norm. What we experianced will be a thing of the past to them. So we might as well join them if we cant beat them.....