As you know we love technology (this blog is a great example). But we’ve also expressed a number of reservations and concerns about the misuse or overuse of technology. In this story by MICHELLE SAN MIGUEL, NBC 10 NEWS that very same technology that’s going to save education and prepare students for the future…may be doing harm. Take a couple of minutes to read the story and share if you think others would find it interesting.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Devices like computers, cellphones and smart watches can make life easier but also come at the cost of children losing basic skills.
How many children know how to tell time from an analog clock or read and write cursive? What about following directions using a paper map, or calculating a tip without a calculator?
Kristin Charpentier is the lead teacher at the Dr. Pat Feinstein Child Development Center at the University of Rhode Island in Providence. She told NBC 10 News while technology can help children, it can also hinder their play, social and language skills.
“They’re not getting the opportunities that they need to build these foundational skills because they’re not using all of their senses. They’re not having social interactions with other people. They’re not having the opportunity to actively listen to other people’s ideas and also share their own,” Charpentier said.
Charpentier said technology is also hurting children’s emotional development.
“Technology is instant gratification oftentimes so children are expecting things to be happening as soon as they want them to happen and they’re not building their capability to wait or to persevere and that can increase their anxiety and their stress and their frustration level because their expectation is: ‘I get it now. I get it now. I get it now. I press a button. It happens right now. I don’t have to work toward it,’” Charpentier said.
Rhode Island State Sen. Elaine Morgan, a Republican who represents District 34, introduced a bill that would require students in grades first through sixth to learn cursive. The bill has not been heard yet at the State House.
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