DAY in and day out, politicians, industry leaders and even educators tell us how important it is for us, and the generations after us, to be computer or IT savvy. Keep abreast or be left behind, we are told.

That’s all very well. But do we have to have the computer rule our lives?

Certainly that seems to be what’s happening with many of our kids.

In our day, kids used to find entertainment and recreation outdoors – playing about in the backyard, the school field or the park. Kicking the ball around with the neighbourhood kids, swimming in Punggol or Telok Paku.

Apart from helping us develop our motor skills, we were also developing our social skills. We were part of a community, and sports and other outdoor recreation were the things that bound us together as one.

As it is, we no longer have the kampongs and the wide open spaces. They’re replaced by largely anonymous HDB flats where neighbours hardly know each other.

Instead of going for a kick out with the ball, our kids are indoors playing computer games. Conversation – such as it is – is largely about the latest computer gizmo or game. Kids don’t talk to each other: they send email.

The result: physically-challenged children with little or no social skills.

Parents have it in their hands to change all this by putting the computer in its place – on the desk, to be used when necessary. Let our children learn how to do their research in a library – and Singapore has plenty of these. Let them interact with other kids in forums.

Encourage them to get out into the fresh air – and to see the world as it is, and not the ‘virtual world’ they are tending to live it.

In short, let them see that they need to balance their lives.

To do that, you need to spend time with them. Take them for drives. Drive them to sports games. Read the newspaper with them and discuss the day’s topics with them.

But alas, the problem is that for too many parents the computer is their best babysitter. Taking action and being involved themselves is just too hard.

Wake up, Mums and Dads. Let’s get some balance here.