Can you believe we're already on chapter 3? LaToya wrote our first entry, and you'll see that she agrees with a lot of what Elkind has suggested regarding screenplay in the lives of children. I hope you take time to read her thoughts and see if you agree, as well.
In the third chapter of Elkind’s book, he spends some time focusing on a common question asked by parents and non-parents: “When, how much, and at what pace should we introduce children to the many faces of electronic media?” (p. 37). He talks about how some people think that all movies will affect every child in the same way. I honestly have had this lingering notion, that most children will react in the same way to a horror film and will naturally get scared. Elkind makes a good point in stating that children are individuals just as adults are. They will react according to their own personality traits. I thought this to be an interesting point and thought to myself, “He is absolutely right.”
We all know that most media can be destructive to young minds, but is it really as simple as thinking a child who watches a horror film is doomed to become a serial killer? Elkind explains that the “Media has to give the viewer a chance to take some initiative (play), to be emotionally involved (love), and to learn something about the world (work),” in order for the child to be impacted (p.38). Basically we need to very carefully pick and choose what our children are watching on television, including shows that are supposed to “enhance” their learning, because some of them may not even be age appropriate. For example, Elkind states that we should expect our infants to learn more from animation and musical films, versus real live words. Babies shouldn’t be pushed forward before the time is right.
There are healthy tv shows for our kids, believe it or not, and Elkind talks about these further on in the chapter. I really agree with the idea that we should not promote computer usage among infants. I don’t think I started using a computer program until preschool, or even elementary. There are now programs that claim to teach an infant to read. Babies’ cognitive development hasn’t reached the point to where they should be learning to read, in my opinion. I think we should stay away from programs like these.
Computers today have consumed much in our daily lives. There comes a time for the usage of computers in children’s daily lives. I notice that technology as a whole has taken up a lot of our kids’ attention, and time spent on the computer is growing, whereas time spent outside playing and exploring is declining. There’s even a big difference from when I was a kid. I am 22 years old and I have already seen kids' decreased outdoor play; it almost seems non existent. I remember doing it all when I was younger: playing outside for hours, playing on the computer, and playing video games. So there definitely can be a healthy balance.
I really like your closing comment about balance, LaToya, as that's so true. Screenplay in and of itself isn't bad, yet it appears it can be detrimental when children spend so much time with it that they do not engage in the other things that are important for their development -- having real world experiences with people and objects.
ReplyDeleteLaToya –
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the nail on the head when you spoke of how there can be a healthy balance with regards to children being involving with playing outdoors, using the computer, and playing video games. Just as you mentioned you had done as a child, so had I. I spent every waking moment outside running around with the other neighborhood children, and every now and then I would choose to stay inside and play a video game. I think the problem though is that parents nowadays do not set firm limits of what they expect from their children. My brothers and I were only allowed to watch the TV for half an hour every day, and use the computer for twenty minutes; timers were set, and when they buzzed, we had to close our program and find a different activity to do.
Just as you touched on the fact that there are healthy television programs for children, I could not agree more! The only issue in this is (and you mentioned it) that what we allow our children to watch needs to be age-appropriate. It makes me sad (and I would assume it has the same effect on you as well) when parents sit their children in front of the television, and give them free-range of the channels. Some shows are appropriate, and others are not, and it is the parents’ job to realize this. Even if the parent decides to play a Baby Einstein movie, at least it could be used as ‘cool,’ and used for the child’s own purposes, as Elkind’s granddaughter Heather had done.
LaToya, thank you for your insight on this chapter and your opinions about the use of screen-technology within the lives of young children, I suppose we have all learned that the “easy” thing to do with children (put them in front of a screen) is not always the best decision.
-Katie Carmichael
I completely agree with LaToya and Elkind: Children are just like adults. They are not all the same, but are actual individuals, and for that reason, they do not react in the same way to films of different genres. I completely agree as well with keeping computer programs away from babies. We need to let babies develop, not try to hurry them through development. Even though we might think the computer programs that are promoted on television to help the child develop faster in certain areas, in reality, they will not do anything. This is because the child's cognitive development has not yet reached that point. Children need to experience activities and experiment. They need to learn through their senses. Just like LaToya stated, more outdoor exploration needs to take place. More personal experiences are necessary to help a child develop.
ReplyDeleteAna Cisneros
I agree with you that many children today are spending their time on computers instead of doing outdoor activities. I've noticed in my neighborhood that there is a difference. There isn't any children running around the neighborhood like how it was when I was a child. I understand that there are computer or television programs that are beneficial to children, but I feel that children should take some of that time to spend on outdoor activities. Children needs to explore away from computers because I feel that children learn better by exploring and experimenting. -Chai Lee
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