Last weekend, I was at a USS swim meet and heard parents and coaches complaining about the "distraction" of many swimmers now. They blame this distraction (in addition to the rise of the boy/girl crazy period) on the advent of cell phones and IM-ing, etc. Apparently, at meets, and I've seen it, the kids spent scads of time on their cells phones, phoning friends, phoning kids across the pool, texting constantly (even to kids 5 feet away). Then they go home and IM for hours, checking and gossiping over the instant meet results and who beat who. Now, all the swimmers seem to know each other because, even if they're not on the same team or live in different states, they now can communicate easily via IM-ing and texting. I heard one coach say he's not sure how to get his swim kids to focus in this new techo-age. Obviously, some kids are focused like lasers, but I see an abundance of chatting and cell phone use too. Would kids do better without cell phones at meets? And is technology distracting them? Some seem to be swimming blazingly fast, but are others not swimming up to their potential because of this?
Parents
Former Member
I noticed that (S)he-man is living without a cell phone. It can be done. Not sure young kids need them either. Why? I can see why they would be a distraction at meets.
I've heard parents complain about it with respect to homework too. Kids do homework with itunes in the background and their phone on the desk beeping with text messages every few minutes.
Hey Fortress. Wish I could help you on your initial question, but as I don't have kids. . . However, I do remember telling hubby to "shoot me" if we ever had a kid and I gave him/ her a cell phone as a pre-teen or tween.
Funny story on why I opted for no cell phone. Other than the bills being outrageous for minimal and often unacceptable service (and I've had about 5 providers over the years). . . I digress. I was the VP of HR for 10 years at an IT consulting company. So, I was often on call 24/7 and had many, many ways for people to get in touch with me whether it be multiple land lines, cell, blackberry, email, fax, or pager. All my colleagues and I were always "multi-tasking" so to speak. Whenever we were in officer meetings, it was rare for any one of us to be focused on the item at hand. We all had our laptops and were constantly emailing and such. What I noticed was that every day the spouses of my colleages would continually interrupt meetings via cell phone to discuss (and rather, from what it sounded like :argue:) the most petty items. Drove me nuts and wasted countless hours. I did not want to do that to my hubby. So - no cell. No whining. There came a point for me when time was my most precious resource and being less accessible seemed like a luxury.
Hubby is the Director of Animation at a feature film co in Atlanta. Also, no cell. We do fine. If we don't respond, we just don't want to talk to you. :rofl:
Gotta pick and choose when there's so much excess whether it be gadgets, food, travel, clothing, cars, STUFF!
Kids will always have distrations. They have more things to choose from now. If they bomb a meet due to being distracted, hopefully, they'll figure that out and make adjustments next time. Okay, wishfull thinking here. . .
I noticed that (S)he-man is living without a cell phone. It can be done. Not sure young kids need them either. Why? I can see why they would be a distraction at meets.
I've heard parents complain about it with respect to homework too. Kids do homework with itunes in the background and their phone on the desk beeping with text messages every few minutes.
Hey Fortress. Wish I could help you on your initial question, but as I don't have kids. . . However, I do remember telling hubby to "shoot me" if we ever had a kid and I gave him/ her a cell phone as a pre-teen or tween.
Funny story on why I opted for no cell phone. Other than the bills being outrageous for minimal and often unacceptable service (and I've had about 5 providers over the years). . . I digress. I was the VP of HR for 10 years at an IT consulting company. So, I was often on call 24/7 and had many, many ways for people to get in touch with me whether it be multiple land lines, cell, blackberry, email, fax, or pager. All my colleagues and I were always "multi-tasking" so to speak. Whenever we were in officer meetings, it was rare for any one of us to be focused on the item at hand. We all had our laptops and were constantly emailing and such. What I noticed was that every day the spouses of my colleages would continually interrupt meetings via cell phone to discuss (and rather, from what it sounded like :argue:) the most petty items. Drove me nuts and wasted countless hours. I did not want to do that to my hubby. So - no cell. No whining. There came a point for me when time was my most precious resource and being less accessible seemed like a luxury.
Hubby is the Director of Animation at a feature film co in Atlanta. Also, no cell. We do fine. If we don't respond, we just don't want to talk to you. :rofl:
Gotta pick and choose when there's so much excess whether it be gadgets, food, travel, clothing, cars, STUFF!
Kids will always have distrations. They have more things to choose from now. If they bomb a meet due to being distracted, hopefully, they'll figure that out and make adjustments next time. Okay, wishfull thinking here. . .
