Real life parenting in a digital world

Cathy Madavan acknowledges the benefits but also the pitfalls of today’s tech-filled world, and offers advice on how to navigate it all with the younger generation

Oh, how times have changed. Since we have now embraced doing shopping, dating, courses and booking online, it can be hard to remember depending on libraries, phone boxes and queues for the sales! This has impacted the way that our children are growing up too. I remember buying Smash Hits magazine to scrutinise pictures of Madonna and marvelling at Wonder Woman’s ability to wear her dazzling satin outfit without it falling off (defying the laws of physics), but these women were like another species – unattainable and inaccessible. Today’s celebrities chat directly to us via a device in our hand, sharing their opinions and tips for being fabulous. Extraordinary. Likewise, when I left school at the end of each day, I left my peers behind. I didn’t have backstage access to their homes, and I didn’t have to deal with their unwelcome or unkind messages at any hour.