Social Media Week

The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) presents Parenting in an Era of Technology a panel discussion exploring raising children in a technology-focused era.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are now growing up in environments saturated with a variety of traditional and new technologies, which they are adopting at increasing rates.
According to their research published in 2016:
• Almost 75% of teens own a smartphone.
• 25% of teens describe themselves as “constantly connected” to the Internet.
• 76% of teens use at least one social media site.
• 4 of 5 households (families) own a device used to play video games.

While this data is based on responses from American teens, a keen observation of Nigerian society suggests that Nigerian children are similar in their enthusiastic adoption of technology.

In Nigeria, the use of instant messaging applications (like BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp), social networking platforms (like Facebook), online video shows and video chat, has become increasingly commonplace.
Although children and the younger generation, having grown-up with technology, are digital natives, most parents have come to technology later in life and struggle to adapt to a world in which technology in increasingly the main medium for communication and facilitates many other aspects of life.

Technology has also offered tools that parents can use to organise their daily schedules, monitor their children’s movements during the day and generally support parenting. Many aspects of the “new language” of technology, such as online video, messaging apps, voice interfaces, hold particularly strong potential for supporting parenting.

This panel will feature parents and educational technology experts discussing pertinent related issues, including:
• Sharing tips parents can adopt in supervising their children’s use of technology
• Reviewing the new technologies that can support parenting
• Looking at how parents can draw a balance between too much and too little technology
• Discuss the dangers children face online and understanding strategies to stay safe online

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS SESSION?

The panel will offer food for thought on the possibilities of  technology to support parenting. Participants should come ready to listen, engage with and think about the points being discussed. Parents, educators and anyone interested in understanding how to guide children in using the World Wide Web and online tools safely and judiciously is invited to attend

 

 ABOUT US

The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) is a Nigerian nonprofit organisation focused on encouraging girls to pursue technology careers and supporting both girls and women to use technology confidently for entrepreneurship and to speak about issues affecting their lives. We build the capacities of Nigerian girls and women, to increase their economic power and ability to speak about issues affecting their lives, through information and communication technology (ICT)-based training and projects.