Its a frequent discussion these days as to whether its ok for kids to spend time with tablets, phones and laptop.
It is hard to argue that some of the youtube videos, educational apps etc are really good and can help kids to grasp the concepts quicker and better (though the benefit of “quicker” is quite arguable). But of course there is a catch.
- Is it realistic to assume that you can restrict the access to only the “right” things?
- And also is it realistic to assume that you can restrict the amount of time that kids spend time on these gadgets?
In my experience, the answer to both questions is ‘no’ for the most part. And I guess that if we (adults) can’t restrict our intake of junk food to a reasonable level most of the times, its unfair to expect kids to be disciplined about anything that is so tempting.
Thoughts? Best practices :)?
My question to you Manish ” HOw good are these smart gadgets for adults too?”
Sneha….I see where you are going (i.e. look at yourself before changing the kids behaviors 🙂 because they are going to try to mimic us!). Yes, its kinda similar I guess which means that these gadgets have made us a lot more efficient and productive if we use it for getting things done but of course it doesn’t stop there and we all know how much of a distraction these are especially in having quality time with kids and such.
But keeping that aside, its a fine balance when it comes to exposing kids to these things, and the question I have in my mind is what is that balance? I suspect that no one really knows :). But I am just looking for the wisdom of the (kutchi) crowd!
I have been guilty of using these devices as a way to soothe kids and keeping them busy if they are distracting me at home. Kids are playing less and less with actual toys and board games. 🙁
Recently we all went for a movie and Suravi who is not a movie fan wanted to sit out in the middle of the movie. The iphone came to the rescue and while we watched the movie, she played on the iphone in the theater.
Sadly our dependence on these gadgets is increasing. At the same time me and Dimple are trying our best to restrict kids access to these gadgets and instead diverting them towards books, toys and other physical games.
I have noticed that delivery of factual information is very effective using electronic devices. Kids seem to listen and retain more ‘information’ when transmitted via a non-human medium-any character in real-life or any character via an electronic medium. It may have to do with the fact that when dealing with humans, the complexity of human relations sub-consicously occupy some of the brains bandwidth limiting the rate at which information may be absorbed.
For tings like critical questioning, inculcating creativity, soft skills, people are the best medium as all these skills are inherently people centric.
I would gladly outsource information feeding to E-media and reserve the personal time for more fundamental skills.
My problem is that finding good content is overwhelming.
I have yet to use smart phone or tablets for myself, again, because finding something that is really useful is overwhelming.
Please do post good apps, websites, video links for kids and adults.