by Mike Dickman

Has innocence been lost in technology?

Most of my friends can remember childhood days of playing outdoors instead of slouching on the couch watching TV with a remote control. In those days, we didn’t have remote controls. If we wanted to change the channel, we had to get off our butts and physically changed the channel by twisting a knob. And channel surfing consisted of switching through 4 channels; ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS.

As I slowly morph into my parents and say: “when I was your age . . . “, I try to imagine today’s world without some of the technological advances that have provided education, entertainment and an amped-up electronica that has become my children’s playground. Yes, we still go to the park and throw a ball or sit on the swings. However, both my children now do some portion of their homework on a computer. They check their emails on their iPodTouch and they don’t have to get off the couch to channel surf through hundreds of channels. I am fortunate that they both like to read and one of their favorite channels on TV is the Discovery Channel (some education, I guess).

The other day a friend posted that he was reading a book to his son and in the middle of the book, his son said, “Daddy, can you pause while I go to the bathroom?” as if Daddy were a DVR!

Our children are using words that didn’t exist when we were their ages because the technology didn’t exist. And, I guess every generation watches this occur as the revolution of evolution changes our world as we go about our daily routine.

As I wrap this up, I ask that you share your stories or lessons of how technology has affected your life. Tell me if you could live without “texting”, “email” or “WiFi”. How would your relationship with your partner and/or children be different without these tools?

Remember, you can follow me on Twitter @mikewdickman, be my Friend on facebook/mike.dickman, or Connect with me on LinkedIn (http://bit.ly/bEMFKK). However, I’d prefer a face-to-face conversation, just like our parents did in the “old days”.