Too Much Technology for Young Children- Is There Such a Thing??

Today at school, while assessing two of my kindergarten students, something happened to me that has never happened in my five years of teaching.

When assessing Jimmy, I had asked him to spell the word "we"- one of our kindergarten high-frequency "bedrock" words. I waited for him to write the word, and when he moved his hand so I could see, there it was- in his sloppy (but legible) handwriting- "wii". After Jimmy, I later assessed Max, and when I asked him to write the word "we", he looked at me (somewhat confused) and asked... "Like the game?".

This experience really got me thinking about how far technology has come regarding exposure to it at home, and how much it touches the daily life of young children.

At lunch I was talking with some teachers about this experience, and one teacher asked "How much technology is too much for young children, anyway?" This question got me thinking, and when I got home and spent some time on the computer, I decided to "google" to see what I could find on the internet regarding too much technology for children.

I found this article, "Kids and Tech: How Much is Too Much?" on technewsworld.com.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/52677.html?wlc=1236809784

It has a lot of interesting points. A lot of it is about television and video games, but there were portions that involved the internet and computer use.

I could summarize the whole article, but I won't. Instead, I've pulled a few quotes that I found interesting and worthy of reflection.

In the "Pros and Cons" section, there is this quote:

"In the past, we only had to be concerned about too much TV exposure. Now we have video games, computers and cell phones. It is overwhelming for young children and creates patterns of behaviors similar to addiction patterns."

It continues... "[childrens'] brains get used to too much auditory and visual stimulation -- and in the absence of these stimulations, they do not know what to do with themselves," she told TechNewsWorld. "They get anxious, restless, bored and aggressive."

"The use of this technology begins early. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 31 percent of children age three and under are already using computers. Sixteen percent use them several times a week, 21 percent can point and click with a mouse by themselves, and 11 percent can turn on the computer without assistance."

(This reminds me of those "Windows" commercials, that have really young children doing amazing things on them, like importing photos from a camera, then editing and e-mailing the photo to a family member!)

"[A researcher] summarized a point on which most medical experts can agree: Parents should supervise their children's use of technology."

I think that the last point really is THE most important... That parents need to respect technology, use it with caution and use it appropriately- not as a "babysitter" or as a replacement for real-life experiences that need to be shared between a child and a parent.