Succeeding as a Father

When contemplating my own upbringing, I quickly realise how quickly the media has developed. How should I guide and set limits for my children in a media age that is so different from my own childhood?

When I was a little boy, there was just one TV channel, two colours (both black and white) and about 20 minutes of children’s TV at 6 pm. Afterwards we flocked around the radio and listened to the children’s hour. After some years, we even got a colour TV.

In 5th grade I experienced something completely new whilst visiting my buddy Lasse. He had a huge TV screen (12 inches: I thought it was big) in his own room, and with a TV-game in an orange box. When Lasse turned it on, a white line appeared on each side of the screen, which we could move up and down with 2 controllers. Lasse said that the controller was called a “Joystick.” In the middle of the screen was a white dot that moved from side to side. The game was called “Tennis” and we kept it going for hours. I thought it was incredible that it was possible to make something so fun.

But it didn’t stop there. When I started at secondary school, something much more exciting happened. “Personal computers” appeared, on which we could play “Pac Man” and “Snake.” Fantastic. The development was palpable. My best friend Stein invested in electric typewriters whilst his parents had no faith that such machines would be useful.

Digital media has surrounded my own children for as long as they can remember. Internet, mobile phones, games consols, and an abundance of both films and TV channels that send all-day are for them a matter of fact. They are surrounded by more influences, options and opinions than any other generation has experienced in the whole of human history. With the joys and challenges that the media provides. Media developers love to open new possibilities but leave many moral decisions to the user.

As adults, we carry the responsibility for which stories and values we give our children. Children are far too valuable to be left to fend for themselves against a combination of one-sided commercial interest and chance, when considering which values are being advanced. Children are by nature curious, they can be easily formed and learn easily. More than ever, society at large and especially parents need to give our children clear heads and beating hearts.