Tension commonly arises between family members when they have to share limited resources such as the bathroom, the television, the car and for the modern family, the computer. For the average family, having more than one big-ticket device like a computer just doesn’t fit into the budget. Thus, each person in the family has to come to a consensus on how to best share the computer equally. This can prove difficult for children, who now walk around with computers attached to their hips. And when you include office working parents, it’s a recipe for conflict.
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A productive solution for how a family can share a single computer is to construct a flexible schedule. Each member of the family who uses the computer should be provided a time slot each day during which they can log on. However, everyone needs to agree that the schedule becomes flexible when someone has an urgent project to work on or needs additional time to finish what they are doing. With a schedule, arguments won’t arise from one person being on the computer too long, or someone not having a chance to get on at all.
While the use of the computer should be organized, so should the actual computer. Everyone should be courteous while using the computer by organizing electronic documents and downloads in their own folders. That will eliminate clutter that can keep another family member from navigating through all the open windows to find their own documents. Everyone should also refrain from snooping into each other’s folders too.
