21st Century Family

The standard answer to this type of question usually goes something like this: “…every family is different and every person is different so who the heck knows??” Although there is certainly truth to that statement I think it’s a question worth looking into because its an area that is increasingly affecting us all. It used to be that we looked at how much TV a person watched and that was a good indicator of how “plugged in” they were. We would often hear statistics thrown out about the average kids media consumption and be amazed. In fact, so amazed, that we dismissed the reports as not being applicable to us. These questions have gotten much more complicated now. Today the cell phone has become a computer that is always connected to high speed Internet. This alone allows a person to be virtually connected pretty much anywhere they go. Now, add to this the fact that the same cell phone is also a TV and a music player and the picture becomes a bit more clear. None of the other forms of media have disappeared: TV, Radio, Print (Newspapers/Magazines/etc), Billboards, etc. We continue to create new and creative means of media distribution and I think the first step to answering the question above is to simply become aware of the types of media we are surrounded by and begin to audit what our level is. Using a little “onionology” we can at least begin to look at the first layer and perhaps peel it back and begin to take some steps toward being a bit more proactive and aware of what is going on.