Are We Relying Too Much on Parenting Technology?

Is the rapidly evolving age of technology, causing us to rely too much on it to help with parenting?

I recently read an interesting article on the BBC News website that called into question the influance technology has on our parenting. In particular, it referenced new apps that are being trialled that monitor your child while it is at nursery or pre-school.

The app, called Mytoddlr, is currently used in Nigeria, but there are other trials starting in the UK. It works by notifying the parent on their computer or mobile, when their child goes to the toilet or has a snack. The information is recorded by the nursery staff so that those parents who work long hours, can maintain contact with their children.


This had me thinking of my own daughter (now 10 years old). When she was born, there wasn’t as much in terms of technology as there is now. Having said that, we were worried about SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), so we decided to buy a sleep apnia mat that went under the mattress.

This was pretty new at the time and we debated whether it was a good investment or not. We decided that the peace of mind that it gave us, was more important than the cost or monitoring aspect. I think modern apps like Toddlr, are doing much the same thing. They are giving parents a sense of peace that their children are safe and being looked after while they are apart.

Some might argue that trust will be eroded between nursery staff and parents if they use the app, but we are now in a world where technology is going to impact more on our lives than ever before. I think we need to find a happy medium between being with our children and getting technology to do it for us.

What do you think? Are we relying too much on technology or is it making parenting easier?



One thought on “Are We Relying Too Much on Parenting Technology?

  1. Many daycare centers in the US give the parents a report of what the babies between 1 month to 4 years are doing each day when the parents pick them up. It’s a good reminder to staff that parents need to understand these things in case of a change that could reflect medical problems. I personally would have no problems with this, as long as the computer is easy to access and the logs are quick to file. Some even include pictures of first time something is done.


Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Google+ photo


Connecting to %s