Technology and 2 Year Olds

“Cue, Routine, Reward” – The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Yesterday, I finished up the book “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg.  I read it for another project I am doing about monthly challenges, but it was such a powerful book that it is changing the way I see a lot of things.  Duhigg explains how habits are ingrained into us and are what propels us through life as an individual, in business and in society.  He tells these stories of real life examples and has the ability to start and stop stories, then pick them up again and tie them in several pages later.  It is incredible storytelling.  I read a few reviews that complained about Duhigg not giving a step by step process to change your habits, which he does in a broad and generalized way and quite frankly that isn’t the point of the book.  Anyway, it is a good book and recommend it to everyone; a nonself-help, self-help book.

It got me thinking, which eventually led to the habits of two year olds in relationship to technology.  I have a two year old and we have several tablets in the house with Chromecast.  He looooves TV.  I try to be really cautious as to how much TV he watchs, so using Netflix with Chromecast works really well.  But because he has been exposed to Neflix and Chromecast, he doesn’t understand commercials when cable is on and he thinks all computer screens should be touch screens.  These habits of touching screens and fast-fowarding/no commercials are being ingrained into him at such a young age.  What are the long term effects?  And what are the habits I am not noticing?  He will grow up technology savvy, because he lives in a savvy household, what kind of advantage will that give him, if any?  Watching him interact with technology shows me how much is learned just through exposure and time.

How does this relate to my students and clients?  First baby steps, Duhigg, says the way to change your habits is to change your routine in baby steps.  I come into contact with many of you because you want to become better with technology in general.  The problem with such a broad goal is that there are so many directions in which you can go.  So, narrow down your goal to a small baby step, like I want to send an email everyday or I want to read the news online.  The Oregonian cut back on their print, so people are being forced to read it online.  Then, do that one small thing everyday.  Get on your computer and send an email to a friend or go to OregonLive.com and read the news.   The more comfortable you get working on your computer, the more you will do on it.  By the end of the month, you will get bored of staying on the newspapers page and will think maybe I can get on Facebook.  In my classes, I relate learning to use a computer to learning to drive, you don’t learn to drive in 2 hours a week, you won’t learn to use a computer in two hours a week.

Coming soon: a technology monthly challenge.  What do you want to see?