I have friends who are teachers who refuse to have anything to do with Facebook because they are frequently having to deal with some pretty horrendous issues bullying, nude photos etc. But like everything there is a good side to it when a young boy died here his friends used Facebook to support each other and pay tribute to him. You are right I think what is so difficult for parents is that this is so completely different to what we were dealing with when we were at school. The explosion of social media and assorted devices just in the last 10 years has completely changed the world and somehow we have all got to figure out a way to deal with it. It’s like a big experiment we don’t know how these tech savvy kids will turn out. Brilliant or dysfunctional with no social skills whatsoever? Who knows. I do think we have to find a balance – if we get them away from the screens into the outdoors and they have other hobbies hopefully it will turn out OK. I also believe we have to make an effort to be online ourselves so we can understand the methods and the challenges it presents.

The I-pad is probably the thing that has changed our amount of screen time the most for my husband and I – he reads the news sites of a morning having breakfast and at night we seem to be taking turns on it sitting in front of the TV. It is very convenient. I’ve also put a lot of the BYW notes and other stuff I want to read about blogging on it so use it as a bit of a reader. Although I can’t imagine not having books – like you I love paper. I also couldn’t survive without my paper diary. Technology was supposed to decrease the amount of paper we have – although I still find myself printing stuff out (probably more than ever before) because I like to read on paper not a screen. I look forward to reading your blog post.

Well done on getting the kids to save up for their “toys”. I think you have to let them participate we do just have to be aware of what they are up to.