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really reminds me of rats I
running in a maze.”
The rapid-fire pace of
most electronic media is
different from the sustained thought necessary for in
depth reasoning, Healy says. She is convinced that pace
can be tied to the dramatic increase in the diagnosis
of attention-deficit disorder among today’s children.
Healy believes most children should be kept away
from computer screens until at least age 7, until their
brains have had more time to develop.
In the new digital world,
“adults are immigrants,”
says Sesame Workshop
CEO Gary Knell,
“and kids are natives.”
Gloria DeGaetano, an educator who founded the
Parent Coaching Institute in Bellevue, Wash., to help
parents cope with the challenges of raising children in
today’s culture, says parents need to be particularly
wary of videos or electronic games promoted as effec
tive preschool teaching tools.
“There’s an important theory in early
child education called the Theory of
loose parts,’ which means that chil
dren need to manipulate things in
a three-dimensional environment
to grow their brain,” she says.
“These video games and elec
tronic toys are replacing the
loose parts that kids need, and
it’s not the same.”
A recent study found that
videos such as the highly touted
Baby Einstein and Baby Genius series
actually slowed children’s language
development Shama Oilman, a professor of
developmental psychology at Pbint Park Univer
sity and editor of the Childhood in America book series,
says, “There’s really no reason why kids under 2 years
of age should be sitting in front of any kind of screen.”
Olfman points out that many popular video and
electronic educational products for children come with
commercial tie-ins. “I think the primary education
kids are getting through these things is to be con
sumers,” she says.
All these warnings may leave parents wanting to
raise their children in a cave. But on the other side
are those who believe the digital
revolution offers as many op
portunities for children as it
does dangers.
Green, of the Parents’ Choice
Foundation, which provides in
formation to parents who are
looking for toys and media
that could help children learn,
believes the best video games
and electronic toys can spur a
child’s imagination. As an ex
ample, she cites the Nancy Drew
video games: “You have to think
and really puzzle those things through.”
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization be
hind TV’s Sesame Street, is planning an ambitious ef
fort to spread its content across digital media plat
forms. The show’s famous fuzzy characters have popped
up on tiny screens from iPods to cellphones.
“We’re the first ones to promote reading a book,”
Knell says. “But we also know there are lots of kids who
are being exposed to iPods or video games or down
loads on the Internet. It’s there. It’s not going away. So
why not have content that’s appropriate?”
Knell says Sesame Workshop and Sprint recently
distributed nearly 100 video-capable phones in
BAD: Real learning requires
sustained thought,
not the rapid-fire pace of
electronic media.
Quotient 2, says parents need to “set
the stage for healthy use” of all electronic
media. That includes setting time limits he
stresses that digital media should be only one part of
a balanced life that includes exercise and reading
and paying attention to the video rating system so your
children play games appropriate to their ages.
Healthy use, Buckleitner says, also includes shar
ing the activity with your kids: “Get two controllers, not
just one. Or get four, and make it a social activity.”
Lisa Guernsey, author of Into the Minds of Babes:
How Screen Time Affects Children from Birth
to Age Five, began focusing her research on children
and screen time after she had her own daughters. She
found little evidence that small amounts of time, 30
minutes or less, in front of age-appropriate videos
harms young children. “The reality is, the time you set
them down in front of the screen is probably not time
you were going to be reading to them anyway,” she says.
For electronic toys and games, she says, the best
are those that allow a child the freest range of ex
pression. The worst are those that require a child to
Mow only narrow, preset patterns, which not only
stifles creativity, but also is frustrating to kids.
Rather than viewing electronic media and toys as a
yes-or-no proposition, Guernsey suggests keeping in
mind “the three Cs: content, context and your child.”
Make judgments based on the material, the way you
are using it and whether your child is ready for it
Buckleitner echoes that thought “There are ex
perts like me,” he says, “but there’s only one person
who knows your child, and that’s you.” C 3
Reed Karaim last wrote about light therapy.
a poorer neighborhood and provided a
download a day for kids. “More than
75% of the moms viewed this as a
tool for their kids to improve
their literacy,” says Knell, who
is scheduled to give the Sand
box Summit keynote address.
Warren Buckleitner, editor
of Children’s Technology Re
view and a believer in the ben
efits of mind-building software
such as Nintendo’s Brain Age
and Sony’s Practical Intelligence
USA WEEKEND • Dec 14-16.2007
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