Known previously for offering insight into the adolescent brain, David Walsh gave Eden Prairie parents a heads-up on how to stay on top of the ever-quickening pace of the online world – a world where teenagers are quite at home.

Walsh, who founded the National Institute on Media and the Family, visited Pax Christi Catholic Community last Tuesday for a presentation titled “Parenting in an Online World.”

Based on Walsh’s presentation, it’s fair to say that parenting in an online world is similar to the real world: You need to keep the rules and guidelines clear; model appropriate behavior and keep track of what neighborhoods (in this case online) your kids are visiting.

First up, Walsh brought parents up to speed on the digital revolution.

“The pace of the revolution is pretty darn impressive,” he said, adding “and we are in the early stages of it.”

Video games are as popular as television was a generation ago, he said. The technological growth of video games also provides a window to the pace of change.

Example: The measure of polygons per second is indicative of how realistic an image will look in a game system. The larger the number of polygons per second, the more realistic the image in the video game will look.

Back in 1999, the best game systems could only manage 350,000 polygons per second, said Walsh.

In a span of a few short years, that number has risen to 1 billion polygons per second which Wii and xBox 360 systems can offer today, he noted.

We are also entering an era of convergence – all the lines separating the various media have basically disappeared, he said.
“We have now moved from a world of downloading to a world of uploading,” meaning consumers are now making their own content.

What does this all lead to? Basically a future where the World Wide Web is smarter, personalized and everywhere.

“Because it’s powerful, there [are] also things that we have to watch out for,” said Walsh.

Children spend an average of 44.5 hours a week in front of a screen of some sort. Almost 20 years ago, the average was 28 hours a week. More and more of their world is with technology, he said.

Four out of five teens in the United States own their own cell phone, a ubiquitous piece of technology that is drastically impacting relationships. According to Walsh, the average teen sends 2,300 text messages per month.

Walsh recalls one parent who came up to him complaining how his daughter would refuse to turn off the cell phone at night. The father suggested that they all have time of the night when they turn in the cell phone and Walsh said that was a good idea. But the man’s wife did not agree to that. The wife said, “If we did that my daughter would be so upset and I am not willing to put up with that,” recalled Walsh.

“That’s not an unusual story,” he added.

Cell phone use has exploded, “and it’s driving us nuts,” he said.
Recent research has determined that the human brain is not built to multitask to the extent that we are focusing on two things that both require full attention, according to Walsh.

When it comes to cell phone use, he said parents should talk to their kids about there being appropriate use of cell phones and inappropriate use and “model the appropriate behavior ourselves.”

In terms of social networking, he advised parents to talk with kids about being aware of what information they may share. Parents should check for multiple accounts (in case they are being shown a sanitized Facebook or Myspace page). Parents should talk with kids about keeping personal information private.

“They need to be careful with their information.”

Teach kids that sites can be fun “but once again, we need to use them appropriately,” he said.

Even video game addiction is becoming more and more of an issue. Walsh offered up a list of symptoms parents should watch out for to see if their child is addicted to games (online, multi-player games are especially troublesome).

For one, the teenager will be cranky when not playing. He offered another example where some parents tried to cut back on how much their son was playing games. After their son refused to stop playing, they took away the gaming system. They next found a note from their son saying he would not speak to them or go to school unless the system was returned.

The idea is for parents to intervene before it gets to that level. Parent should set game playing rules early and set consequences.

“It is very important to intervene early,” said Walsh.

For more information about media’s affect on children, visit www.mediafamily.org.