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Managing Family Values In A Technologically Advanced Society

By Chinelo Eze
12 January 2020   |   2:00 pm
Family values are precious ethics to a whole lot of families, they are the foundation forming the precepts and ways set by families implying how they should be. Every family grows with a sense of pride when any member excels. It is a success for the individual but as well an achievement that shapes the…

Black family bonding | The Sun

Family values are precious ethics to a whole lot of families, they are the foundation forming the precepts and ways set by families implying how they should be. Every family grows with a sense of pride when any member excels. It is a success for the individual but as well an achievement that shapes the nature and attitude of the family at large. No doubt we know that family is the first contact of socialisation for all humans so, despite the downside of family expectations, it definitely has a great influence in our lives and who we eventually turn out to be.

Sadly, the diversity of living in this age seems to have a backlash on how families are formed and how their values are built. It seems like having to be spoiled with a lot of choices on easy living has fueled some teeny-weeny gap in family formation. You know how?

Dredge up the times of watching television together as a family, having to grudgingly seat and watch what someone else is seeing because you have no choice? Those times are over for a lot of people. All hail the age of technology, smartphones and gadgets. Beyond doubt, the age of “fast forward” widens the gap as much as it makes the world smaller and more accessible. The love and togetherness that could and starts at the gathering in the sitting room are well sadly over as it puts the family members at a distance of each other even when in the same house.

The kids and everyone else are with their electrical gadgets and are all in their rooms talking to strangers rather than creating a relationship with their family members. Creating a relationship with the outside world is sidelining the buildup of family values and respect.  Though we would give credit to the fact that innovations still come up with ways that draw families closer virtually. For instance, with the change in family-type due to job type being commuter marriages, parents who leave far away from their children are brought together through FaceTime. This way, near or far, values and traditions are being instilled which can be argued is better than being in the dark ages.  These gadgets also help in enhancing family values such as keeping tabs on the location of the children and aiding with tracking their children’s activities. So as much as it divides, it also attempts to close the gap it created.

Conceptual Image Of Young Woman Using Social Media On Laptop With Holographic Icons Projected From Screen

Fighting for remotes and having small talks in between watching television is greatly becoming a thing of the past and due to the high addiction of phones and the need for constant entertainment, dinner time too has become a moment of phone chiming and plate clicking. Needless to say, family values are not just about subjection to horrible TV programs or eating together, No! Rather it is the small talks in between that leads to the windows of wisdom opening up. These moments are as short and quick as can be, but sure to do last a lifetime. But again, how has it impacted the relationship with families that have a travelling father or a travelling mother? That you will all answer yourselves, so let us not throw away the baby with the bathwater. How we handle whatever is given to us generally depends on our management. One important thing to consider too is that like lady justice with the blindfold on, but yet can hold the scale in balance, that is the key to seek balance in all.

There are two sides to a coin. William Blake a famous English poet tries to illustrate with his poems the dependency of good on evil and evil on good. It is what you make out of a situation that counts and not entirely the situation itself.

Some values and expectations are indeed hard to keep up with but I’d go with the words of Pink “we gotta get up and try.”

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