I got a thought-provoking email the other day from a listener named Natalie. She writes, in part:
“[M]y dilemma: my 7 year old was given a Nintendo DSI for Christmas and it’s made me wonder what is the best approach to young kids and technology? It’s a huge issue and one that has been around since I was a kid (in the 70′s) although I think the extent to which technology is in our lives can be quite overwhelming. Should a 7 year old have a cell phone? Should a brother and sister who are aged 4 and 7 (friends that I know) own their own computer? How much technology is the “right” amount for kids to be exposed to? I am referring specifically to kids under age 8 and beginning as early as birth (think of all the baby gadgets that use computer technology).”
Personally, I don’t know what I think. In part, I worry that kids are growing up not having enough access to nature, connecting with their bodies, and physical learning, in situations unmediated by digital technology. I also think that face-to-face communication is full of all kinds of complexity and nuance, and if you’re spending too much time in technologically mediated conversations, are you going to get good at the face-to-face?
On the other hand, I think, as Natalie says, we’ve been having this conversation for ages. I am also intrigued by this Fred Wilson blog post, arguing that programming ought to be taught in middle school. Perhaps kids are at a disadvantage in a digital world, if they are not learning digital literacy. After all, a generation ago, we wouldn’t have argued that kids shouldn’t learn cursive writing because it takes them away from oral communication.
What do you think? Is it just a matter of balance, of not letting your child spend too much time with digital tools, or should those crucial early developmental years be spent away from computers and cell phones?
Share your thoughts, please!
Original Image by Diego Cupolo
I think that children having their own computers, cost allowing, is a great idea. Not so much for the children, but for the adults that also live in the house. A child's computer doesn't need to be fast or top of the line, but if it is dedicated to just being for the child then it can have all the parental controls you want, and they can't accidentally destroy your work or delete all your family photographs. And it can be monitored and be set to log them out at certain time spans which would facilitate the child not using it all the time.
I believe strongly that children should spend time outdoors and exploring their world, but their world now also includes computers. I first used a computer around age 2, in 1982. I learned to type before I learned to print. I learned to program in basic and was allowed to have my own computer when I was able to build my own. Times have changed, and I think that today there does need to be parental oversight and participation, but I do think that children need to be exposed early. And despite having computers and various other digital screens my entire life, I did run around outside playing in my tree house and exploring the local streams and trails near my house.
Wow, talk about an early adopter! I love that idea of being allowed to have a computer when you could build your own. It's tying tech to understanding it, rather than just being a portal to entertainment or consumption.
The reality is digital media are developing so quickly that we now have a generation gap between two and six year olds! (See this interesting article in NY Times, http://bit.ly/8a3c1m which examines the evolution of the Net Generation into the iGeneration). It’s all very mind boggling — how do adults keep up with new technologies while at the same time ensuring the next generation has the appropriate digital literacy skills to understand and get the most out of them.
The evidence is there to support the importance of digital literacy in fuelling citizenship, innovation and electronic commerce – which is the focus of the current federal government. Unfortunately our education sector is falling way behind. With the exception of the few dedicated souls who are bringing new technologies into Canadian classrooms for innovative teaching, where curriculum does exist, it is usually focused on Internet safety issues – not the kind of transformative critical thinking skills our kids need for today’s world.
As a parent of three, I am pretty conflicted about this. My daughters (8 & 6) are pretty tech savvy already and my 3 year old boy is clearly interested in what these different gadgets do as well. And I love my Blackberry, Ipod, laptop and all the accessories that go with them.
So as a family, we discuss what these tools should be used for, what's appropriate uses for kids and adults and how to balance this with all the other activities and opportunities we have in our lives.
They are going to use these and many more new technologies as grow into adulthood. I can only imagine how technology is going to change their lives in the future. The key is to keep them grounded in the real world, while they explore the virtual.
I just did an interview with a parenting blogger, about kids in virtual worlds, and she made much the same point about the need for parents to discuss the proper uses of technology with their kids. Also, when you think about social media in particular, many kids may have the technical, but not the social skills development, to let them use these tools effectively.
I'm the father of three boys and am fascinated by their relationship to computers. Like Stephanie, I had a computer at a young age growing up and learned to program in basic which really helped me understand logical structure and organize my thought processes. Today, computers are different things though. Growing up, the relationship you had with your computer was between you and the machine. Hence the interest in programming – that's the core of the relationship. Nowadays, the relationship isn't between you and a machine, it's a gateway between you and a bunch of webservers, social networking platforms, and entertainment (movies, music, etc.). My oldest is five, and here's an interesting question to ask kids his age: "What is the internet?" It's an impossible question to answer, but it's interesting to see what they come up with. They’re not filled with excitement about the internet, it’s just a given (from their middleclass perspective).
As to the original question, I treat technology much like anything else I do with my kids: it's something we do together. I'm not terribly worried about them interacting with technology (they need to know how it works), but I want to use it as another activity we can do together. He seldom wants to just kick a soccer ball around by himself, he wants to do it with someone. We sit and browse wikipedia together (I've read the wiki article on Barcelona FC more times than I care to remember), or watch video's on youtube, or surf over to (yes, I'm plugging you guys here) CBC Kids and play games. It's like any other activity, as long as the technology augments my parenting/interaction with my kids, it's cool. Baby Einstein, light up mirrors, robotic dolls, etc. They can parenting replacements, (i.e. sit here while I wash the dishes), so I'm wary of those.
As they grow, I want my boys to break/fix/build things, not just use them. This is where I see the biggest challenge coming from. When I was young (wow, now I feel old), I broke toys and fixed them. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. Breaking and fixing is a great teacher. My son's toys are increasingly circuit boards with a chip and a power supply – read: black boxes. They can't follow the logic of a system because it hits the chip and 'magic happens.' So I’m combining new technology with old technology. I’m taking up woodworking to walk them through the process of building physical things. On the other hand, we will start building digital assets together. It will start with websites, and progress up through some simple scripting and programming. I’m hoping that these will serve them well as they grow.
Your last point is something we've talked about a bit on the show before. With a manual tool or a simple machine, or even a mechanical device, form seems to follow function more than with an electronic device. As I mentioned in a previous post, the philosopher Albert Borgmann talks about it as a distinction between tools and devices.
I have three boys – aged 4, 6 and 13. They watch very little TV, but spend a lot of time on the computer. I am fascinated by my 4 and 6 year old's ability to surf the Internet and even navigate to the web pages they want. I'm pretty sure the first words my 6 year old could spell were 'back', 'play' and 'click here'.
As computers, and especially the Internet, become more important to the economy, political structures and our personal lives, I think computer literacy is a gift that we need to give to our children – it's simply where much of our lives is carried out now.
That's not to say that all of my kid's spare time is spent in front of a computer. My kids love snowboarding, skating, bikes – all of the joys of being a kid outside. But computer literacy is one of the tools that hey will have as they grow into adulthood and will enable them to have enriching lives.
The right amount of technology for your child is whatever is appropriate for your family. This statement’s accuracy is inversely proportional to it’s usefulness. The point of it is we have to be careful about vast generalizations on what is best for kids. Some families are intensely technological others are not.
My Background: I live and breath technology. The desk in my office has four screens and three computers. I manage databases, do support and write code for a living. When I’m not making money on computers I am watching video, listening to audio, reading and writing on them. They are the conduit of my expression. I’m also a serial joiner. I sing-up for almost every online service I can conceive of having a use for.
Despite this I didn’t own a computer until I was 19 years old. I occasionally used ones my friends had before that. Three years later in university residence I was helping everybody keep there’s running. The point here is to remember that not using technologies as a child doesn’t necessarily affect ability to use them as an adult.
For my kids, seven year old girls, we have given them technology as it seems appropriate. They can watch shows (as they call TV since we have no broadcast TV) Friday through Sunday. In addition to the tendency to only watch shows another reason for this is there is no time for it any other time. By the time I pick them up from after school care and get home they have a couple of hours for dinner and play and then it’s bed time.
They don’t have computers although my wife and I each have our own laptops. Occasionally they do stuff on our machines but they get a lot of computer time at school and they are very rarely bored at home without them. They spend a lot of time in free play with each other, doing crafts, science (usually with me), reading, drawing, etc.. We haven’t given them any real computer time because they rarely ask for it.
They do have some technology of their own. A couple of years ago they started borrowing our camera to take pictures. This year it reached a fever pitch of conflict over the camera so for their seventh birthday we bought them their own cameras. Not high end but not cheap kids ones either. They are having a blast taking pictures, movies and now voice recordings. I also showed them how to put the SD Card into the Wii and play with their pictures. Great stuff.
So yes we have a Wii as well that came last Christmas at their request. It falls under screens so they can only use it Friday through Sunday. The interesting thing here is that they don’t use it that much even when they can. Often they’re too busy with their regular play to remember they have machine to play on as well.
Then there are cell phones. Our kids don’t have them yet, in fact my wife and I don’t them either. I know they will have them at some point and that’s not a bad thing. Cell phones are social tools and having social kids is not a bad thing. Yes it is mediated but my experience with technology as a social tool over the last 20 years has led to me to great deal of face to face interaction.
Getting back to the original question, I think any technology is great as long the kids are being challenged. The cameras have worked great for our kids because they’re taking them and doing extremely interesting things with them. They quickly figured out they get around the weekend screens rule by filming the shows with the camera and then watching on that. This forced a rule modification to include certain uses of the cameras in the rule. When they found the voice recorders they started interviewing each other. They take pictures have the most unexpected things and teach us a lot about what fascinates them through their pictures.
The thing is to help your your kids to have a variety of activities. If a particular technology like video games becomes their sole entertainment then there is likely a problem. The same can hold true if all they do is read. A number of problems in my life came from a lack of social skills because I was the kid who obsessively read all the time. Brains need exercise and kids brains even more so. Our kids have shows, free play, cameras, skiing, video games, music (isn’t this another technology), hiking, travel, drawing, reading, and on and on. As parents we feel our job is to feed their brains with as many different things as we can find, technology is a part of that.
I'm not a parent, so don't have much to say about "how young is too young?"… but on a side note, I agree strongly with Fred Wilson.
The first time students are exposed to programming in Ontario is in highschool, where it is an elective. I think if we hope to see more women entering the fields of computer science and computer engineering, programming must be taught in middle school, and it should not be an elective. I know friends who were forced to take programming in first year engineering and realized they loved it so much (at age 19) they decided to pursue it as a career.
I think the earlier we expose kids to these things (even a taste) the more open their minds will be. Unless we expose them *all* to the field, working with the brains & guts of computers will never overcome its geeky stigma.
Might be a way to get around the tendency for people to feel 'I'm not good with technology', when the reality is, they just haven't been taught.
My kids, when they come around, will be starting with an original NES and Super Mario Bros. Once they learn to appreciate the solid classics, they can touch my PS3.
I have no issues with kids being surrounded by technology (to hide it from them would be to leave them unprepared for the realities they'll encounter much sooner than later), but I do think there's still value to older and simpler tech that still works. Bringing them up to speed, so to speak, by starting with simpler ideas from the past will allow them to not only appreciate what they can use today but also allow them to see the more empowering potentials and uses that come along with today's tech. Or so I think…
My perspective come from my own two kids, teaching at a computer camp for kids in 1982, and actually teaching basic computer literacy during high school in 1980.
The biggest variable is the child's rate of development, particularly in handling abstraction. Programming is like algebra; research will quickly show that algebra in grade 8 is still considered too early for some students. If you want that exposure, then cover that at home and see how well your kids handle it. Kids do need to know how to use software as a tool – word processing, spreadsheets, online research – but actual programming may be more than some are ready to handle.
Finally, the social factor affects computers, cellphones, and video games, even when they aren't being used. I love arcade classics, but your kids may be ostracized without exposure to modern console games. Techology has become like fashionable clothes – you don't have to be cutting edge, but you want to avoid being completely out of date.
I want to see a world in which kids get a lot more nature, and a lot more technology.
I believe that small things can make a big difference. I support the movement to have kids spend an hour a day being active outdoors (or, where weather intervenes, being active indoors). I also support encouraging kids to use and learn technology. My belief, though, is that game consoles can be pacifiers, while computers can be gateways to the future.
I consider the culprit in this novella to be neither technology nor nature luddite-ism, but instead programmed "team" activities which replace the joys of the sandlot and individual achievement with "programmed" sports and commercialized activities. Childhood has always been commercialized–but we can do better.
I want to see kids learn to program in Logo, not learn how to kill pedestrians in Grand Theft Auto on a game console. I want to see kids hiking and playing on the sandlot, not being regimented into leagues. I see childhood as the pavilion of dreams, which technology and nature enhance–not a laboring field for marketers, in which childhood is tailored to meet product demands.
I could ask the same question about books.It is not the medium but the content that is really the issue. In the bigger picture, anything in moderation is all right, everything can become a problem with obsessive use. There is no right secret formula and remember that just because you don't like it or understand it doesn't always make it bad.
Like many of the parents who have responded, we struggle with the rate at which our kids should be exposed to the digital world. We have 4 children ranging from age 4 to 9, and we have eased them into the world of electronic media very slowly and carefully. As noted by Dwayne, the most important thing is parental interest and involvement in their exposure to the gigantic world of digital media.
What's interesting to me, however, is that we are very happy when our kids are content to sit and read a book to themselves or to each other for hours, but I can see us balking if that book was displayed on an iPod or laptop computer. Part of it is a knee-jerk resistance to the 'gadgetization' of us all. Part of it is the concern about the distractions that multi-function devices provide. And part of it, too, is a good old fashioned 'it ain't broke, so I ain't gonna fix it'. Plenty of time for that later.
Hi Nora!
While I'm in favour of preparing kids for the future, it's a difficult line to draw (what do we present to kids and when?). I also think it's really important to make sure that kids are ready for the experiences and stimuli we present to them — that they have the ability to use the tools mindfully, and with critical thinking in place… and young children simply don't have these capabilities. I'm not saying that TV and computers and technology are bad for kids (though the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids under 2 years old not watch any TV and that those older than 2 watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming) but just that we need to really be aware of its effects. I think this will become harder and harder to do as more of us grow up surrounded by technology, and don't see it as something to question. Kids need to get outside, and need a wide variety of experiences! And parents need to make sure that their kids' well-being is primary in their decision-making. Technology is a tool, but one that we need to use wisely and critically.
I don't see much advantage in keeping digital technology away from your kids at an early age. How can you anyways, it is everywhere.
I had computers pretty much since I was five, starting with the commodore 64 and working my way up through the 286, 386, 486, and all the Pentium's. I also played games on the Atari, ColecoVision, NES, SNES, SEGA, Playstation, XBOX, and on all the PC's.
However, I love the outdoors and sports in general. I also love reading as well. When we did too much of one thing, parents suggested doing another. I'm glad I was exposed to all these different things and I believe that delaying exposure to certain things may give the kids a disadvantage of a late start.
I plan and already have exposed my two kids (one year old and three-year old), to phones, computers, any digital technology they find interesting. My three-year old loves CBC Kids and I'm excited to show her how to make videos, take pictures, code websites, and do computer programming as she gets older. If she's not interested, fair enough, but I definitely won't purposely stop her from exploring digital technology. I think that would be just as silly as stopping her from playing outside, which some parents do over their fears of their kids being kidnapped, lost, or hurt.
As an electrical engineer who's worked with computers for thirty years, I can testify to their addictive qualities. I am well regarded for spending so much time in front of my laptop – it is work I am doing, after all – even if I am secretly enjoying myself. But do you want your kids to spend so much time with their digital entertainment that the become eligible for premature obesity or other ailments stemming from inactivity?
The other point I'd like to make is that technology changes, relentlessly. Don't worry about exposing your kids to it from infancy, they will remain receptive to learning it well into their university years. At that time, BASIC may not (hopefully) even exist except as a historical footnote. As for building your own computer, it's not as much fun as it used to be before massively integrated circuits became the norm.
My kids are in their twenties now, so the pressures were different, but I always kept a careful eye on how they spent their time. That included restricting access to not only video games, but TV and our home phone. I've never seen evidence that their technology skills were behind others. Kids tend to learn the fun stuff in an instant.
I know if my child rearing had been delayed for twenty years, my kids would not be going to elementary school with a cell phone. (If safety is making you crazy, there are other options.) They spent far too much time talking to friends even when I had some control over the amount of time they were on the phone. Kids need time to think about who they are without constant input from friends. One 12 or 13 -year-old child is capable of inventing and justifying dumb actions. Three or four in constant communication can raise the "what were you thinking" level off the charts.
You can't force your child to talk to you or read, or develop a hobby. But you can make sure there is enough time in their day to allow for those things to happen. A teen with every gadget known to man is not motivated to develop skills that take more work and deliver delayed rewards. Give a kid a choice and they will choose the beeping fun every time. However, they would also choose McDonalds for dinner every night, too. That's why they have parents to make those choices for them.
My daughter is almost two and I'm facing this issue right now. I see too many techy toys for kids (from their electronic toys to computer games). Personally, I have an iphone and have downloaded a few apps to distract her when we are waiting for things and she just doesn't want to look at another book or sing another song. I hold the phone and we go through the games together on my iphone that are designed for young children. one such game is Peekaboo Barn, in which animals hide behind a barn door and make their sounds. You then press the barn door and the barn doors open and the animal is revealed. A child's voice announces the animal name and the animal sound is revealed again. She loves this game and we play it differently every time.
I don't let her watch tv (except on long drives), so this is really the only time she gets to see any media. In my estimation, she probably has the least amount of tech time of any other kid I know. It's hard to balance especially when you have to get things done!
My 12 son just asked for a cell phone with an unlimited texting plan. I gave him a pay-as-you-go cell phone and give him a $15 coupon each month; I hope he wil learn to budget phone call minutes and number of minutes. If I have to cut him off, I just don't give him the coupon.
My son uses my wife's old laptop computer. I gave him a prepaid Visa card with which to purchase his subcription to Runscape. I learned from my lawyer cousin, whose daughter is now in her second year of University, that 80% of identity theft in Canada occurs at colleges and universities. It appears there is a consequence to sending our kids out into the digital world with too little experience.
I write this as a self-confessed tech-addict and as an educator and proponent for the use of technology and media communication in the school system.
We need quiet time without electronic distractions. We need time to be alone with our thoughts, our creativity and ourselves. A child (or adult) who is always plugged in, forever texting, eternally status-updating and seemingly LOLing without understanding the joke is addicted to technology and they need to unplug and destress.
Of course, BALANCE is the key as it is to anything and using and understanding technology and media is the key.
When you want a media fix, I suggest checking out http://spartanyouthradio.com ! Sorry for the shameless plug but it had to be done.
Having grown up with a computer in the house (I am now 24 years old and have had a computer in the house most of the time since I was only two years old), I have to say that I feel that it is important to strike the right balance between allowing children to become familiar and proficient in the use of various technologies and having them spend time away from TV, the Internet, video games, and the like. Yes, when they do enter the job market, they will be expected to know how to use technology, but they also need to know how to unplug. They need to see the value in sitting down with a good book, in connecting with people, the value of just being engaged in what's going on around you at that moment and not off on some screen someplace. My major worry is that while computers can allow us to connect with one another and can be terrific tools for learning, if children do not learn the value of just being (that is to say of just being in the moment), of spending time outdoors, of using their imaginations, and of connecting with other people in-person, connecting on a deeper level, society may be even more disconnected than we can be now with our iPhones, iPods and BlackBerries. It is that, that potential for an even more disconnected society, that I have to say worries me a great deal.
Andrew
Skokie, Illinois