Home » ExchangeEveryDay » Parenting of Steve Jobs



ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues


<< Previous Issue | View Past Issues | | Next Issue >> ExchangeEveryDay
Parenting of Steve Jobs
October 15, 2014
You really can change the world if you care enough.
-Marion Wright Edelman

In her blog on SFGate Amy Graff noted...

"Steve Jobs was the father of two teenage girls and a son when he passed away in 2011.  These kids grew up with a visionary father who co-founded one of the best-known tech companies.  Jobs led the world into the digital age with gadgets that transformed the way we listen to music, watch movies, communicate, live our lives.  You would imagine that his children’s rooms would have been filled with iPods, iPhones, and iPads.

"That’s not the case.  Steve Jobs wanted everyone to have iPads, except his own children.  In an article in the New York Times, reporter Nick Bilton says he once asked Jobs 'So, your kids must love the iPad?'

"Jobs' response: 'They haven’t used it.  We limit how much technology our kids use at home.'"





Beyond Remote-Controlled Childhood
Teaching Young Children in the Media Age

Beyond Remote Control

Teachers need to understand how screen time and media culture are affecting children and families and find effective ways to promote children's healthy development in today's media-saturated environment. This book will help you:

  • Adapt classroom practice to take into account the realities of remote-controlled childhood—the experiences of today’s connected children.
  • Counteract the potentially harmful impact media can have on both the process and content of children's development and learning.
  • Help children and their families make informed decisions about screen time and media in children's lives.
  • Work with families to address the impact of screen media.

Enter code "remote" when prompted.

Offer expires November 26, 2016 at 11:59 pm PDT.
Offer applies to budget shipping to contiguous 48 states only.
May not be combined with any other offer.

ExchangeEveryDay

Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.

What is ExchangeEveryDay?

ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.

Scholastic, iRead, Close the Achievement Gap for our Youngest Learners.
DailyChildcareReport.com - The parent-communication solution for childcare providers.
Reading Square, Stretch Out, Read and Relax. Quality Lasts! 800-622-4289 www.safespaceconcepts.com


Comments (4)

Displaying All 4 Comments
Karen Nemeth · October 15, 2014
PA, United States


This message doesn't actually affirm anything. It is a quote pulled out of context from an interview five years ago when things were quite different. It is now being shared after the man is dead so he can't clarify or explain his thoughts. Also - he may have been smart, but he had zero background in child development, early learning or education, so it is a shame that so many educators latch on to one isolated quote from years ago and create a new meaning out of it today. I think it is very disrespectful of Steve Jobs to assume we know what he meant or to capitalize on his words when he's gone. Keep in mind- the Jobs household was well-stocked with computers. The original iPad had little to offer compared to the time the Jobs children spent on those computers.

Diane Levin · October 15, 2014
Wheelock College
Boston, MA, United States


Thank you for this EED item about Steve Job's "Low Tech" parenting. It has been a big topic in the news lately--including a September 10 article in the NEW YORK TIMES available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/fashion/steve-jobs-apple-was-a-low-tech-parent.html?comments#permid=12790682

The article inspired me to write the following response which was on the NY Times website. If I hadn't written it then, today's EED piece would have led to the same response!

11 September 2014
Thank you for this report. It's important to understand, as Steve Jobs did, that starting early with high-powered technology does not a child-genius technology whiz make in adulthood. And, never has it been more urgent for parents and educators to recognize how today-much more than ever before, children's knowledge, attitudes, values, interests, and behavior run the risk of being controlled by their experiences with the popular media culture and screens, instead of being actively created by children themselves and/or the adults closest to them. Almost 90 percent of teachers report they believe that digital technologies are creating an easily distracted generation with short attention spans as well as other worrisome trends. I have spent years researching and writing on this impact and urge all parents and educators to make themselves aware of the influence today's media environment can have on young children's development and to make very careful choices about how they let it into their lives.


Professor of Early Childhood Education, Wheelock College.
Author of BEYOND REMOTE-CONTROLLED CHILDHOOD: TEACHING YOUNG CHILDREN IN THE MEDIA AGE

Dale Wares · October 15, 2014
Norman, OK, United States


Smart man. He recognized the dangers of too much screen time for kids.

Terry Kelly · October 15, 2014
Spirit Child Yoga & RECE
Aurora, ON, Canada


Love it! And apparently Madonna; purveyor of much non-child friendly fodder while my kids were growing up, wouldn't let her kids consume any media.

Besides reaffirming my skepticism of buying into what popular culture says is good, this message also reaffirms my belief that children make adults better people. They make us see the world through a lens of truth.



Post a Comment

Have an account? to submit your comment.


required

Your e-mail address will not be visible to other website visitors.
required
required
required

Check the box below, to help verify that you are not a bot. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this form.



Disclaimer: Exchange reserves the right to remove any comments at its discretion or reprint posted comments in other Exchange materials.