Digital Manners

This past Friday, my fiancé and I went out for supper with my Mom and my little brother.  Being the little nerd I am, I found myself thinking about ICT during the meal.

Why?  I few minutes after we sat down, another family was seated at the booth behind us.  The little girl, maybe 3 or 4, was the cutest little girl you ever did see.  And...she was quiet as a mouse throughout the meal apart from her adorably polite ordering (please and thank yous included) and incredibly well behaved chatting with her parents.

Frequently, I read/hear rants about badly behaved children in restaurants.  I guess those kids need some tutoring from this little one!  In addition to her obvious well-instilled manners, she was partly kept quiet due to the iPod touch in her hand throughout the meal.  (I must add the I am often irritated by people having their devices out during a meal - I even wrote a blog post about this earlier.  However, this little girl displayed a sense of technology manners often not seen.  She wasn't ignoring her parents' questions, she was quick to decide what she wanted to eat, and politely ordered from her waitress.  While she waited for her food she played her game, sharing her successes with her mom.  When the food arrived, she put the iPod down, thanked the waitress, and ate her food.  Honestly one of the most well behaved kids I've seen in a while.

In my ICT class, we have been talking about the concept of ICT literacy throughout the term.  One of the aspects of ICT literacy that keeps appearing is the idea of using technology in a responsible way.  I think this little girl displayed this.  She was not consumed by the technology in her hand, nor did it replace personal contact and communication with her parents and the waitress.  She used it as a means to entertain herself (a responsible use of technology) but not to a point where it was hindering a personal connection with others around her.

I think that as technology consumes our world more and more every day, it is important that parents, and we as teachers are concerned about digital responsibility and manners.  We need to be teaching this to our children/students so that technology does not over take our society where personal interaction should prevail.