Honorary Col. Loreena McKennitt leads the singing of God Save The Queen at the end of Stratford’s 2019 Remembrance Day Ceremony. Galen Simmons/Beacon Herald file photo
Can too much screen-time be harmful for kids? Do devices affect the way kids learn? How can parents keep their kids safe online?
These are the questions Stratford-based singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt asked herself as her son was about to start school seven years ago. Like many parents, she didn’t know the answers back then, and, despite years of research and consulting experts on the matter, she still doesn’t.
“In the music industry, of course, we were one of the first, if not the first industry to be completely side-swiped by the unintended consequences of technology. So I was sensitized to it from a professional standpoint, but when my son was school-aged, that’s when I took a much deeper interest,” McKennitt said.
“All of the sudden I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s much, much more to comprehend and factor into the myriad of decisions, including, ‘When is the appropriate time for a child to have a device?’”
And though she knew the questions she was asking herself were the very same questions parents around the world have been asking for nearly two decades, her music career kept her too busy to make any real inroads on the issue.
Last fall however, McKennitt announced to her fans that she was putting her music on hold to devote her attention to other things, including the unintended consequences of technology on children and families. Shortly thereafter, she formally launched The Stolen Child Project as a means of addressing the issue on a larger scale.
“This seems to be a concern or an issue that almost knows no boundaries,” she said. “I’ve met people all over (in) my travels who have been developing growing concerns about their children and their youth and the detrimental consequences of not using (technology) in an appropriate way.
“… (Technology can) involve addiction, bullying, mental-health issues, radicalization, human-trafficking, and even e-vaping can come into this territory through product-marketing (to young people).”
And because McKennitt herself is not an expert on the issue, she wants to begin a conversation, starting with a public forum — “Youth & Technology: Is it helping or hurting your child?” — at the Falstaff Family Centre in Stratford this Thursday from 7-8:30 p.m.
At the forum, McKennitt hopes to gain a clearer picture of how technology is impacting the lives of local youth, and the approaches parents, grandparents, educators and other professionals are taking to address those challenges.
From there, McKennitt says she will host a series of seminars and other events focused around the issue, for which she will bring in experts who can shed more light on the matter and offer advice as to how to help youth navigate an increasingly technological world.
“I frankly don’t know where this will all end, but I do know that there’s almost a laundry list of things to be explored that could very well take us well into next year,” McKennitt said.
