I wanted to share this good information with families regarding Screen Time at home. It is just a small
section of the full article. The link to read the full article is below. I actually struggle with having a computer in the classroom as this distracts children from other hands-on learning opportunities. I believe that children gain much more knowledge and learning from touching and experimenting with real objects, compared to touching a screen. I know that technology is an important part of our world, but I also thinks it limits us as well.
"Educational apps and TV shows are great ways for children
to sharpen their developing brains and hone their communication skills—not to
mention the break these gadgets provide harried parents. But tread carefully: A
number of troubling studies connect delayed cognitive development in kids with
extended exposure to electronic media," writes Liraz Margalit, PhD, in
a Psychology Today article.
Margalit
explains that "parents who jump to screen time in a bid to give their kids
an educational edge may actually be doing significantly more harm than good—and
they need to dole out future screen time in an age-appropriate matter...When a
young child spends too much time in front of a screen and not enough getting
required stimuli from the real world, her development becomes stunted...Much of
the issue lies with the fact that what makes tablets and iPhones so
great—dozens of stimuli at your fingertips, and the ability to process multiple
actions simultaneously—is exactly what young brains do not need.
"Tablets
are the ultimate shortcut tools: Unlike a mother reading a story to a child,
for example, a smartphone-told story spoon-feeds images, words, and pictures
all at once to a young reader. Rather than having to take the time to process a
mother’s voice into words...kids who follow stories on their smartphones get
lazy. The device does the thinking for them, and as a result, their own
cognitive muscles remain weak."
Source: “What Screen Time Can Really Do to Kids’ Brains,”
by Liraz Margalit, PhD., Psychology
Today, April 17, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment