I've created this blog to explore something that, with three little brothers and a very close extended family, concerns me -- and anyone, really.
The steady, constant expansion of technology has indisputably redefined human relationships. My specific goal is to examine the good and the bad ways in which family relationships have changed to better fit the digital world.
To start, I thought I'd share this article from Adweek: "The Next Great American Consumer." Journalist Brian Baiker discusses the growing market for media in babies and toddlers. Although he covers advertising, my interest is in the actual technologies mentioned that target children so shockingly young.
Baiker points to the upcoming Vinci handheld -- a handheld, touchscreen, educational electronic device for children 0-4 years of age. It strikes me as the iPad for babies. The Vinci website promotes the device's special features: games promised to build vocabulary and hand-eye coordination, virtual storybooks, and music videos showcasing animated dancing babies. Vinci promises that thanks to careful research, the device will help fulfill your child's learning according to his or her specific age in an engaging manner. The research seems thorough and therefore credible.
But Baiker mentions in his article Susan Linn of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood as saying "there’s no credible evidence that babies learn anything useful from screen media."
Vinci counters this on its website, which reads "simply exposing a child to Mozart’s music won’t turn him or her into a musical prodigy or mathematical genius... learning activities should target social/emotional and cognitive skills as well as language and gross motor abilities." They insist that Vinci is tailored to all areas of childhood development, which may be the difference between past attempts at on-screen education, like the failed Baby Einstein enterprise which Baiker mentions.
Even if Linn is right, and Vinci is a failure, parents won't necessarily see through the advertising. The marketing is quite convincing, and all parents want success for their children made easier by intelligence. Whether Vinci succeeds as a learning tool or not, these parents will also find appeal in the existing idea of the screen as a babysitter. The bonus of tutor will attract parents who may have found the thought of occupying their children with television or computer games distasteful before there was an intellectual benefit.
Some may veritably see a threat in this. Does the device plant dangerous dependence on learning from media and not from their natural early-childhood teachers, their parents? The Vinci is only designed for children four and younger. But if that age is as their makers claim, the critical portion of brain development, what could result is special favor to the Vinci. The Vinci plays with children, entertains them, and teaches them useful skills. It does many of the jobs parents do. I don't mean to suggest that it can totally replace parents as instructors, but it clearly has a strong power over formative minds.
The Vinci has much to prove following its release this month. I can't say I will have much use for it, but I will be interested in its success.
The thought that technology such as the Vinci and other computer games will soon take over as primary educational tools for children, is a disturbing one. Even though children may be able to learn useful - mostly mechanical - skills through technological enhanced devices, they will not learn the skill of socially interacting with another humans. This social aspect of learning is important in a child's development because it teaches children how to react and act around other people. In the learning phases reward, humility, and other human manners are important concepts for children to experience. Something like a Vinci would not be able to express these human emotions and behaviors.
ReplyDeleteMany parents who are busy with work or other activities often welcome such tools to keep their children busy. Too often one sees a parent turning on the TV or the computer to distract their child so that they can get some free time. However having been around many young cousins, I have seen young children getting easily bored much with technological devices and games. I think children would sooner or later get bored with the Vinci which would undermine it's whole purpose and would just end up causing more harm than good.