The Touchscreen Generation

The Touchscreen Generation
 "The Touchscreen Generation" is an article about the affects of technology- specifically touchscreen technology- on young children. It mainly looks to answer the question "Is technology good or bad for young children to use?" The author primarily talks about the whole debate surrounding technology and young children. He addresses the paranoia parents experience over letting their young children use technology. He ultimately comes to the conclusion that technology can be beneficial, but should be limited if it begins to cause problems in a child's behavior and development.

Quotes:
"By their pinched reactions, these parents illuminated for me the neurosis of our age: as technology becomes ubiquitous in our lives, American parents are becoming more, not less, wary of what it might be doing to their children. Technological competence and sophistication have not, for parents, translated into comfort and ease. They have merely created yet another sphere that parents feel they have to navigate in exactly the right way. On the one hand, parents want their children to swim expertly in the digital stream that they will have to navigate all their lives; on the other hand, they fear that too much digital media, too early, will sink them. Parents end up treating tablets like precision surgical instruments, gadgets that might perform miracles for their child’s IQ and help him win some nifty robotics competition—but only if they are used just so. Otherwise, their child could end up one of those sad, pale creatures who can’t make eye contact and has an avatar for a girlfriend."(Rosin1).

This quote is interesting because it sheds light on a reason for limitation of technology that I hadn't considered. It points out that parents limit technology to children because they are made nervous by its increased accessibility.

"Previously, young children had to be shown by their parents how to use a mouse or a remote, and the connection between what they were doing with their hand and what was happening on the screen took some time to grasp. But with the iPad, the connection is obvious, even to toddlers. Touch technology follows the same logic as shaking a rattle or knocking down a pile of blocks: the child swipes, and something immediately happens. A “rattle on steroids,” is what Buckleitner calls it. “All of a sudden a finger could move a bus or smush an insect or turn into a big wet gloopy paintbrush.” To a toddler, this is less magic than intuition. At a very young age, children become capable of what the psychologist Jerome Bruner called “enactive representation”; they classify objects in the world not by using words or symbols but by making gestures—say, holding an imaginary cup to their lips to signify that they want a drink. Their hands are a natural extension of their thoughts."(Rosin2).

This quote was interesting because it points out why iPads and iPad games are so appealing to young children. The touchscreen technology makes the games much more intuitive to young children than other games may be.

"Technically I was the owner of the iPad, but in some ontological way it felt much more his than mine."(Rosin2).

Its very interesting how the author feels alienated from her own possession due to the ease at which her child uses the author's iPad. This is interesting in light of the whole concept of "digital immigrants". She is the digital immigrant, her toddler is the digital native.

Questions on Quotes
"A longitudinal study of children older than 2 and a half showed that the ones who watched Blue’s Clues made measurably larger gains in flexible thinking and problem solving over two years of watching the show."(Rosin3)

How does this connect to the banking concept? Is it not an effective means of teaching because it is not interactive?

" People fret about television and ADHD, although that concern is largely based on a single study that has been roundly criticized and doesn’t jibe with anything we know about the disorder."(Rosin4)

Why do people think that ADHD is connected to TV use? I thought it was largely genetic. My dad grew up only being allowed to watch one TV show, one time a week- The Adventures of Batman and Robin, and yet he has ADHD. Most of his sisters also have ADHD. My brother and I also have ADHD. We inherited from our father, not from the television screen.

Rosin, Hanna. "The Touchscreen Generation" The Atlantic. 20 March, 2013. Web. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/the-touch-screen-generation/309250/4/