The Age of Technology

The Age of Technology

by Bob Hoose

The New York Times recently posted an article about mothers and technology, using a study from

Parentingmagazine and a woman's social media Web site calledBlogHer. The moms surveyed said

that new tech could be a good thing for their families, even though it demanded more effort to keep up

with the latest advances and more diligence to keep their kids safe.

But here's what I found to be most interesting: The article also discussed the average age limits that these

tech-savvy parents set for kids and their gadgetry. Mums said that children should be 7 years old before getting

an iPod, 10 for an e-mail account, 11 before landing their first cell phone, 13 for a desktop, 14 for social networking

site privileges and 15 for a smartphone.

And while I was thinking those age ranges sounded a bit young, the article's author thought those limitations

were set "fairly high" for the kids of today.

Do most folks really think 11 years old is way past the sell-by date on kids and cell phones? I'm finding that

hard to believe. So should mom and dad be handing out flip phones at, what, 9 or 8? Should your tyke really

be surfing MySpace at the ripe old age of 10?

Call me old fashioned, but I'm thinking kids ought to be able to at least tie their own shoes before they start

tweeting Justin Bieber.