Living in the age of the iParent

THE day my parents bought our first computer is clearly etched into my memory.

It was a huge deal. They saved for a long time and it was the most up-to-date piece of technology in our house. And all you could do was type on it and probably play games like those found on the Atari.

The day we got the internet was even more exciting. That ear-piercing log-on sound, even to this day, is instantly recognisable, albeit, not the most pleasant sound. But that sound represented so much. It represented the beginning of the connected world and, ultimately, ubiquitous technology.

Fast forward just 20 years later and we’ve seen the effects of technology on all aspects of our lives, most notably in parenting. The world I raise my own children in is remarkably different from the world I was raised in.

There are four people in our family and between us we have two big screen TVs, an iPod, an iPad, an iPad mini and two computers. We are, for all intents and purposes, iParents.

We rely on the internet for everything. From text messages to sports calendars. From sleep cycles to Dr Google. The internet is paramount to the life of any millennial parent of the Western world.

On more than one occasion I’ve heard friends ask how parents of generations before us coped without technology.

Long car trip? Of course you need an iPad or DVD player.

Dinner out with friends? Tell the kids to bring their iPods.

Parenting question you have for your friend circle? Shoot out a group text.

Our lives as millennial parents revolve around technology. We fill each other in on parenting milestones through Facebook and we send pictures to relatives via email. Our lives, and those of our children, are lived in two worlds. The physical world and the technological world.

I say that not with regret or resentment, but as fact.

We can like, share and search anything related to parenting in the click of a button and many of our children have an online footprint before they are at school, some before they are even born.

Is there a point where we step back and say, “Whoa, that’s enough”, or is this simply the world we live in now?

Will my kids look back on articles I’ve written and wonder why I’ve shared so much or will they be thankful they have these memories written out for them? It is, quite literally, only a matter of time before I know the answer to this.

As a digital writer and as a mother, I embrace technology and everything it offers me, but I do know there are many who are reluctant to accept the advancements of social media and digital technologies.

Maybe things are different from the way we grew up, but the technology that is now on offer to us as parents can be just as much of a help as it can a hindrance.

We are the first generation navigating life as iParents and, sure, we may be making a few mistakes along the way, but we’re not the first generation of parents to hit a few speed bumps on our journey.

Lucky for us, we can just use the GPS to swerve around them.