What Does a Tablet Do to the Child’s Mind?
April 2nd, 2013Via: New York Times:
I recently watched my sister perform an act of magic.
We were sitting in a restaurant, trying to have a conversation, but her children, 4-year-old Willow and 7-year-old Luca, would not stop fighting. The arguments — over a fork, or who had more water in a glass — were unrelenting.
Like a magician quieting a group of children by pulling a rabbit out of a hat, my sister reached into her purse and produced two shiny Apple iPads, handing one to each child. Suddenly, the two were quiet. Eerily so. They sat playing games and watching videos, and we continued with our conversation.
After our meal, as we stuffed the iPads back into their magic storage bag, my sister felt slightly guilty.
“I don’t want to give them the iPads at the dinner table, but if it keeps them occupied for an hour so we can eat in peace, and more importantly not disturb other people in the restaurant, I often just hand it over,” she told me. Then she asked: “Do you think it’s bad for them? I do worry that it is setting them up to think it’s O.K. to use electronics at the dinner table in the future.”
I did not have an answer, and although some people might have opinions, no one has a true scientific understanding of what the future might hold for a generation raised on portable screens.
“We really don’t know the full neurological effects of these technologies yet,” said Dr. Gary Small, director of the Longevity Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind.” “Children, like adults, vary quite a lot, and some are more sensitive than others to an abundance of screen time.”
But Dr. Small says we do know that the brain is highly sensitive to stimuli, like iPads and smartphone screens, and if people spend too much time with one technology, and less time interacting with people like parents at the dinner table, that could hinder the development of certain communications skills.
I remember going to a friend’s apartment in ’91 and observing he and his girlfriend as they continually shoved Disney tapes in the video player for their two year old.
At the time I had stopped watching T.V. for about a year and a couple of months and was very sensitive to the weird phenomena that people deal with when they are around a T.V.
The kid was super rowdy until the tape was changed, but then became a physical receptor and extension of the sounds and light coming from the box.
From the time I stopped watching T.V. I started reading books ALL the time. Tons of “self helf” and positive thinking type books. And some spiritual/christian books. Many novels too.
As time went by I noticed a marked difference between my thought processes and vocabulary (pro tip:) and the people around me…especially my family.
Over the years when ADHD started becoming a big deal, it was obvious to me that kids raised on T.V. programming are going to have their brains completely wired to think in 5 to 15 second time intervals.
For an incredible, final piece of the puzzle, “ah HA!” type book on the brain and the process of thinking, I recommend the book PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS by MAXWELL MALTZ.
Really short read but packed with powerful truth and insight.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671700758/ref=nosim/cryptogoncom-20
As for these kids in the NYT story…. talk about a blank canvas for corporations. Imagine when they have kids. Brave new world stuff.
Lol, kinda trippy but not really. So I get done writing that above and hit submit and then go back to the home page and start to scroll down….WOW.