The role of technology in child development
In a New York Times report, Warren Buckleitner wrote about the rapid evolution and proliferation of technology, and how the current generation of Moms and Dads are at a parenting loss, unable to benefit from the same wisdom the previous generation employed.
How parents handle the integration of technology into the home varies greatly. Some eagerly provide access to technology while others chain it down behind closed doors offering little access beyond school related activities. So what is the right approach?
“Studies of child development offer some middle ground. Long before the invention of the first microprocessor, the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development by watching his own children. His theories bring some logic to the debate about how to support your child’s growth with the latest technology.”
The roles technology can play in different stages of a child’s development:
AGES 0-2 Babies and toddlers cannot use a mouse so in order to work at this age, technology products must act like a busy-box, with lights or sounds that respond to a child’s actions.
AGES 3-5 Preschoolers today are growing up in a digital world. They like to play with pretend gadgets as if it were the real thing. This pretend-play is when children first understand that they can control the events on a flat screen. This is an age when they can take real pictures with cameras, can explore interactive versions of their favorite TV shows, and manipulate age-appropriate gaming systems and software.
AGES 6-11 At the age a child can ride a bicycle comes the ability to search the Web, and the whole digital world starts to open up. Parents are reminded that electronic devices should be used to “supplement rather than replace real experiences,”. By age 10, many children can start editing videos, program with software, and can handle being introduced to the notion of chatting and the online stand-ins known as avatars.
AGES 12 AND UP Middle and high-school students are reaching the cognitive functioning of an adult. They are able to juggle synchronous streams of information from phones, MP3 players and laptops.
Perhaps the best advice for parents of a young child, is that everything — whether it has batteries or not — is a discovery waiting to happen - and that toys work best when they are matched to a child’s level of development.
Read More: So Young, and So Gadgeted
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Emilysmom | Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
The 0-2 and 3-5 ones are interesting to me because I think our munchkins are somewhere in between the two. Em already knows how to hold the cell phone (any cell phone) and what to do with it. And they are figuring out the remote control does stuff with the tv -
And Em definitely knows that the keyboard and doing things to the keyboard causes stuff to happen on the laptop when ‘her page’ is up… gotta love kneebouncers