When we screened Screenagers to employees at Pixar, the organizer Guido Quaroni, V.P. of Software R&D at Pixar (and also the voice Guido in Cars) and I talked about their recruitment efforts. He told me that the hardest people to find for Pixar were good story writers, animators, designers... not programmers. The creatives, however, he said ... "Ahhh, man, that is hard."
In a Common Sense Media report they found that only 3% of what kids do online is actually content creation, i.e. making videos, music with programs like Garage Band. This not surprising because it's hard work to be creative (Elizabeth Gilbert talks beautifully about this in her TED Talk). The brain of teens, like us. gets seduced into relaxation through entertainment.
I've been shocked that my kids' teachers never give homework that involves using tech for creating. I'd love to see homework that requires actions like listening to music that ties into history and then have them try to compose a funny bit on their own using something like Garage Band. They have so much homework on the computer why not have part of the homework really focus on using it creatively?
Questions for Tech Talk Tuesday this week are about creativity:
When we screened Screenagers to employees at Pixar, the organizer Guido Quaroni, V.P. of Software R&D at Pixar (and also the voice Guido in Cars) and I talked about their recruitment efforts. He told me that the hardest people to find for Pixar were good story writers, animators, designers... not programmers. The creatives, however, he said ... "Ahhh, man, that is hard."
In a Common Sense Media report they found that only 3% of what kids do online is actually content creation, i.e. making videos, music with programs like Garage Band. This not surprising because it's hard work to be creative (Elizabeth Gilbert talks beautifully about this in her TED Talk). The brain of teens, like us. gets seduced into relaxation through entertainment.
I've been shocked that my kids' teachers never give homework that involves using tech for creating. I'd love to see homework that requires actions like listening to music that ties into history and then have them try to compose a funny bit on their own using something like Garage Band. They have so much homework on the computer why not have part of the homework really focus on using it creatively?
Questions for Tech Talk Tuesday this week are about creativity:
Plain and simple, there is one thing I recommend doing during the holidays for love and laughter. Bring out old photo albums and put them in a high-trafficked spot in your home — be it the kitchen table or a table in a living room. I predict we won’t have photo albums in the future, but we do right now.
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We all know tech gifts are a big part of the holiday season, but as always, I offer tech-free ideas today. I am not putting down tech — many wonderful tech gifts will get exchanged this year, but I hope you will find this tech-free list to be a bit helpful.
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Today, I’m focusing on this awe-form of appreciation and how we can foster it in our kids. I believe one key way to do this is to get them to try new things. I notice my sense of awe is much greater for something I have tried myself.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
