Pros
Cons
Trained Brain: A series of recent studies found that playing video games can have a positive impact on concentration and decision-making skills. While gaming, kids receive instant reinforcement and reward for focusing on a task and making quick decisions.
Shoddy Body: Quality kids’ TV shows encourage movement and console makers have released active games for Wii and Xbox Kinect, but screen time generally leaves kids slumped in one position for hours. Sedentary behavior increases the prevalence of obesity and disturbed sleep.
Box-ing Clever: TV can be both an effective entertainer and educator. Shows like Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues revolutionized children’s television. Limited co-viewing of these programs with parents can have positive learning effects. In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell credits these educational TV shows with creating a learning epidemic in preschoolers. Kids may love Elmo and Blue, but the shows are painstakingly and scientifically designed to direct their attention toward the real star – learning.
I Don’t Think You’re Ready for this Telly: The average American child consumes three to four hours of TV and five to seven hours of screen time in total every day. Excessive TV, particularly on weekdays, can lead to worsened school performance. The problems are compounded for the 70 percent of American children who have a TV in their bedrooms (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). These kids watch more TV and more violent programming each day, as bedroom viewing tends to be unsupervised. No wonder these little tykes suffer from nightmares and disordered sleep!
Better Hand-Eye Coordination: Multiple studies have shown that playing video games that require finely-tuned spatial skills go on to build hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity away from the screen.
Damaged Eyes and Hands: In addition to the obesity risk, there are other screen-specific ill effects to beware of, such as eye strain, and repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and iPad finger.
Big Mother: Installing GPS tracking software on children’s phones is a growing trend. There are many free apps available to turn your child’s smart phone into a device locator. Even if they forget to text or call, you can still track of their whereabouts. Check out free apps Securafone, Life360, or SMS Tracker (available for both Android and iPhone).
Big Brother: Kids who grew up on the web may think nothing of tweeting their every thought. However, a recent Kaplan Test Prep survey confirmed that over 25 percent of university admission officials investigate applicants online. Some students have even had their college offers revoked due to inappropriate remarks. Students need to be aware of and manage their digital footprint appropriately.
Tech to Teach: In traditional education, students learned what the teacher had to teach. Technology has advanced student-centered learning and served as the catalyst for an educational revolution. In today’s classrooms, teachers are using technology to drive dialogical learning and facilitate self-directed research. For today’s digital natives (the kids who’ve grown up swiping and typing), self-directed learning is as automatic and reflexive as breathing.
A Web of Lies: When a deadline is looming, many students resort to plagiarism. The Internet makes it too easy for students to copy and paste vast chunks of text or pay for a professionally-written term paper. According to the Ad Council and Educational Testing Service, over 75 percent of college cheaters admitted they began cutting corners in high school. If students plagiarize their way through, they miss out on developing vital critical analysis and writing skills.
September 2013
beijingkids
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