TAMING THE MEDIA MONSTER Putting children on computers

Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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TAMING THE MEDIA MONSTER
Putting children on computers for any length of time is so ridiculous that
it hardly bears any further comment
-Jane Healy, Failure to Connect
This workshop will provide you with many reasons as to WHY it is beneficial to you, your program
and the children to rethink the use of TVs and Computers in your ECE program. However, here are
MY personal reasons for wanting to drive deeper into the subject area in the first place:
1. Computers and TVs present children with an artificial world that undermines their ability to
experience the real one.
2. TVs and Computers replace active engagement in REAL, here-and-now, hands-on
experiences.
3. Computers keep children indoors.
4. A desire to encourage questioning and to facilitate dialogue regarding our culture’s
apparent widespread (blind) embrace of technology in (pre)schools.
5. Computers do not contribute to the development of social and emotional competence, nor
are they tools that facilitate engaging play experiences.
Social Skills. Strength of character. Trust. Determination. Perseverance. You cannot download these
traits from a website. Every hour you spend with your brain in cyberspace marks sixty seconds you
aren’t sharpening the skills our world so desperately needs.
-Clifford Stoll, High Tech Heretic
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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COMMENTS OFTEN HEARD FROM PARENTS:
They need computers because that is what is in the “real” world…
They need to be computer literate in order to succeed in the global marketplace…
They need computer skills to get a job…
They need computer knowledge in order to stay ahead of the competition…
Computers are everywhere…
A few hours of TV each night can’t hurt…
We all need some down time/chill out time/relax time…
It’s on Disney/PBS/Discovery Channel/Learning Channel so it must be OK…
We don’t watch TV – we only watch videos…
“It’s educational”…
There is a growing social and economic stigma attached to those who refuse to ride the digital rocket
into cyberspace. We are labeled a Luddite, a lunatic, and a reactionary and told we stand in the way of
natural progress. Yet this is more than just another chapter in our continual resistance to change. This
is not past vs. future, uncertainty vs. nostalgia…. This is a fundamental shift from a real, physical word
to an unreal “virtual” one.
WHY IS THERE SUCH AN EMPHASIS ON GETTING A JUMPSTART INTO AN
ESSENTIALLY ADULT ACTIVITY AT THE EXPENSE OF PRESERVING CHILDHOOD?
I think we need to talk about it.
In the absence of precise educational goals computerizing classrooms
is merely an excuse to use expensive toys.
-Alison Armstrong, The Child and the Machine
THE RESEARCH:
Proponents of Computer use are quick to say that research supports technology in schools when in
reality the research strikes a more cautious if not downright critical note/tone. The “research” is set up
in a way to find benefits that aren’t really there. Most of the research isn’t valid; it’s so flawed that it
shouldn’t even be called research. Essentially it’s worthless. (Oppenheim, Atlantic Monthly)
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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Computers of our day and age are like filmstrips of the 60s and 70s. No one had to think for an hour,
the students got a break, the teachers got a break, but having access to the filmstrips gave the
impression to parents and to the public that the school was “high-tech” even though no one was
learning anything. (Clifford Stoll, Silicon Snake Oil)
How much computing do children really need? Up to age 12 – close to zero. Children need hands-on
learning until this time! High school and onto college they should begin acquiring some skills, but
how long does it really take to really take to learn how to send and receive email? Figure out word
processing? Create a spreadsheet? Use a database? Maneuver around the Internet? Maybe a few weeks
worth of instruction. Not semester after semester…starting in the crib! (Clifford Stoll, High Tech
Heretic)
Again our trouble comes in that we are “teaching” a skill that they aren’t’ yet ready for, so it takes
forever! Remember the calendar story…. 135 hours to teach about a calendar, yet if you wait until 1st
or 2nd grade it takes 5 minutes! We insist on spending time speeding them along when we don’t even
see how much actual time we are WASTING!
New students can learn all the computer skills they need in a summer.
-Joseph Weizenbaum, professor emeritus, computer science, MIT
DID YOU KNOW? A poll taken in 1996 revealed that teachers feel computer skills and media
technology are more “essential” than the study of: European history, biology, chemistry and physics;
more “essential” than the dealing with social problems such as drugs and family breakdown; than
learning job skills and than reading Steinbeck, Hemingway, Plato and Shakespeare???
IF THEY ARE TO HAVE COMPUTERS – WHAT WILL THEY HAVE TO DO WITHOUT?
Tens of thousands of dollars are spent, often matched by government funds, to purchase technological
equipment and software (little more than electronic games dressed up to look like math and language
instructions) while:
Art supplies are no longer ordered Libraries are closed
Music programs disbanded Classrooms in need of repair go unnoticed and unfixed
School nurses are eliminated School plays cancelled
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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The Visual Arts are not just about observing the world but also about being able to express what is
seen (observed) in a creative way. TVs, computers, videogames and movies have a baneful effect on
children’s ability to create their OWN IMAGES.
In a tightly controlled study it became apparent that the use of “Reader Rabbit” software decreased
creativity by 50% as evidenced by the fact that after using the program for seven months, 50% of the
children in the study were no longer able to answer open ended questions and showed a markedly
diminished ability to brainstorm with fluency and originality (Oppenheim, Atlantic Monthly).
If children use computers before they have a broad foundation of reading, stories and literacy from
books, they will be cheated out of opportunities to develop their imagination. You cannot take
children who have not been read to and fix that by sitting them in front of a computer. CD-ROM
books do not count! All they do is stuff their mind with canned images instead of stimulating young
children to create their own.
You can run an art program for an entire year for what it costs to purchase a computer. Students and
children deprived of the arts will suffer more than those without access to computers. Strong Arts =
Strong Schools. In 1993 a school tried an experiment to see if teaching the arts had a positive affect on
student performance. Within ONE YEAR of implementing an arts program the suspension rate
dropped from 70% to a mere 3%!!
Computer generated materials provides less scope for personal creativity because the child must work
within the constraints of the program rather than the constraint of his or her imagination and personal
vision.
Eventually they will learn what a computer can do for them, for now, they need to
learn what they can do for themselves.
Lauren Sheehan, Director, Swallowtail School, A Waldorf environment in Washington State
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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GENERAL TIME LINE OF COMPUTER USE IN SCHOOLS:
1970s: LOGO, BASIC, drill and practice programs were implemented as supplemental
activities often to provide practice for remedial work.
1980s: Word processing, keyboarding.
1990s: CD-ROMS moved computers from the libraries into individual classrooms.
1990s – now: Internet.
TV is passive and is considered “watched” whereas computers are seen as interactive and thus “used”.
Because of this BELIEF parents prefer their children to “use” computers instead of “watching” TV and
think that computer “use” is better. Yet BOTH activities are nothing more than sitting around
motionless in front of a screen that feeds them rapid successions of images that compromise real
experiences.
IMPACT ON REAL, NATURAL EXPERIENCES:
Watching a video of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis is NOTHING compared to watching one
out in the yard in the sunshine with the grass under your bare feet. Outdoor natural experiences are
being replaced with on-line technological substitutes.
Yet software gives children a FALSE idea of their relationship with the natural world. Nature is NOT
conveniently located at your fingertips or in the desktop. Mother Nature and her processes cannot be
reduced/accelerated/manipulated into “easy to read”, “printer friendly” formats. Nature does not
perform on demand! Ironically programs designed to encourage an interest in nature may have the
opposite effect since when they are actually confronted with the real they might be bored or threatened
and may well prefer the “screen version”.
There is no restart button in the real world
Computers keep interactions safe, sterile, clean and solitary. Reducing natural real world outings with
digital field trips deprives children of the creation of the emotional links that MUST BE FORGED in
order to care enough about the environment to preserve it.
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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…without intimacy with nature, we can confuse crimes against
the Earth with technological progress.
-David Suzuki, The Buddhist Way to Teach Kids Ecology.
When preschoolers are in front of the computer or the TV you MUST think about what they are NOT
doing. Learning through direct physical experiences WILL NEVER be able to be reproduced on a
computer screen. NO TV show or Computer Program can replace the direct first hand experience with
real things… planting a garden or a flower, watching the moon wax and wane, walking thru a forest,
putting your feet in a stream, catching a frog, climbing a tree, watching clouds, walking on a beach,
learning how to identify the stars, collecting rocks, sticks and shells and simply LOOKING at the
world around you…
There is a strong link between genius and the experience of being close
to the natural world during childhood.
-Edith Cobb
BIGGER! BETTER! FASTER! NOW!
Almost all programs are labeled “exciting” – show me the program that encourages quiet reflection!
There is a man named Seymour Papert who believes that you can use computers to accelerate the
cognitive development of children by shifting the boundary between concrete and formal operations
(Piaget) thus allowing children to transition into adult thinking at a much earlier age. He claims this
allows the propelling (catapulting) of children into the adult world ASAP thus enabling young minds
to leapfrog over the “tedious obstacles of childhood” in order to become full members of cyber culture.
Manipulating objects, storytelling, critical thinking, problem solving, playing with sand, water,
playdough and blocks all invite pondering and reflection whereas…
1. Computer software urges immediate action,
2. Word processing invites constant changes, substitutions, deletes and additions,
3. Speed and fast manipulation = power and this is valued over thoughtfulness and
understanding.
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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SHOW ME THE MONEY:
1998: $6.5 billion was spent on education technology.
- It is estimated that if each child has a computer at his/her desk with Internet access (a goal for
some school reformers) it would cost between $66 – 145 billion.
- The US Department of Education would like to have 1 computer for every 5 students. This
would cost $47 billion PLUS annual operating and security costs.
We currently need $112 billion to restore the 80,000 public schools to good condition and to comply
with accessibility and safety regulations including replacing leaky plumbing, fixing old outdated
ventilation systems, maintaining heating and air conditioning and replacing broken lights. Yet funding
technology is a higher priority. In 1997 one Northern California district spent $27 million on new
computers for a mere 11 schools, a school in Los Angeles dissolved it’s music program in order to hire
a tech coordinator, a school in Massachusetts fired the art teacher, music teacher AND gym teacher
only to then spend $333,000 on computers and many schools dismantled the libraries to create
computer labs. (Oppenheim, Atlantic Monthly)
We find funding for that which we deem important.
The COST of technology isn’t limited to the amount of $$ needed to put computers in schools…What
was cut to provide computer literacy classes? What used to be in the room where the computers are?
These too are important questions. If libraries are being dismantled, access to printed materials is
being limited, class sizes are increasing, music and art programs are being cancelled in order to pay for
TECHNOLOGY and it’s fringe requirements (classes, training, repair, computer desks and furniture,
tech coordinators, upgrades, security, theft, etc)…we must question what we are loosing.
A QUICK TEST: True or False?
1. Computers sharpen minds?
2. Computers accelerate learning?
3. Computers increase intellectual development?
4. Computers make children into better problem solvers?
5. Computers teach children how to think more effectively at an earlier age?
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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The brain is not a computer….our mind is not a program…
human memory is not a data bank…
Education = Educare, Latin, “to lead out”, as in drawing out the students awareness, insights and
knowledge that in turn dispels ignorance and leads to clarity of thought.
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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MYTHS and FACTS:
FACT A child’s mind develops as a result of physical movement.
FACT Language development increases alongside a child’s use of bodily muscles
FACT The brain needs to be activated by using the whole body
FACT Certain brain centers become undernourished because of a lack of tactile and
sensorimotor stimulation
MYTH 3 month olds need computer programs to assist them in “tracking”
FACT: Children spend more energy while doing nothing than when watching TV
MYTH By providing early exposure to computers we are doing our children a favor
FACT Children’s fingers are cartilage (NOT bone) until roughly 7 years of age
MYTH Computers teach hand-eye coordination
FACT: Children today are a part of the least physically active generation in our history
FACT Children do not possess sufficient hand eye coordination to effectively use a computer
and mouse until they are approximately 8-9 years old
FACT Hands-on lessons, active, physical play, the arts and direct experiences in the natural
world are not frills – but rather essentials for healthy child development.
MYTH Infants and toddlers need to experience lapware (software designed for the younger set,
allowing them to “experience computers” while sitting on someone’s lap).
FACT: Just because they can, doesn’t mean they should!
MYTH: Children must be able to take advantage of technology if they are to fully participate in
society
FACT: Children in North America watch 26 hours of TV each week and spend 30 hours sitting
still in class
MYTH: Computer Literacy = Job/Career Success.
FACT: Computing is not so difficult as to require early childhood training on digital systems
MYTH: Infants need a “comfort level” with computers (as stated on the outside of the box)
FACT: Built for motion, the human body was not designed for sitting still for long periods of
time
FACT: We avoid jumpstarting our cars yet insist on jumpstarting our children…
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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A FEW FIGURES:
1996: 15% of US homes had computers wired to the Internet
1998: 8.6 million 5-12 year olds are on line at home.
2000: 50% of all US homes have personal computers
2001: 70% of all US homes have computers, 52% of them are connected to the Internet.
2001: 20% of all children ages 8 –16 have computers in their bedrooms
2001: 11% of the computers in those bedrooms are wired to the Internet
2002: 21.9 million are on line AND 90% have Internet access in school too.
CHILDREN AS CONSUMERS
Parents and teachers think of the Internet as an “educational resource” yet corporate advertisers have
something different in mind! They are really nothing more than massive advertising campaigns with
“material” (information) wedged between logos, graphics and trademarks.
Schools should be sanctuaries for children and as far removed from the commercial marketplace as
possible. It is one thing for students to study the marketplace, and another entirely different thing for
them to be the unwilling and unconscious subject of an onslaught of advertising.
-Joan Almon, Coordinator, Alliance for Childhood
That such a dangerously influential force as advertising should be allowed to intrude on young
children’s learning is a sad reflection on the current state of education. Advertising infuses children
with images of fast food, plastic toys, distorted body ideals, and unnecessary consumer goodies.
12,000 US schools subscribe to “Channel One”. Channel One loans television sets to schools in
exchange for the schools’ agreement to give the company access to the students for twelve minutes
every day. 8 million students are bombarded with Channel One’s 12 minute “show” – a 10 minute
“news program” followed by 2 minutes of commercials and advertisements each day for Pepsi,
Mountain Dew, Snickers, MnMs, Twix, Bubble Yum and Froot Loops, etc etc. Over the course of a
school year this amounts to one solid week of TV viewing with one full day being devoted to watching
commercials, costing taxpayers a total of $1.8 Billion in lost class time per year.
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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By the time most North American children graduate from high school they will
have watched over 22,000 hours of TV. This equates to 2 ½ years of nonstop, 24/7
TV exposure! Schools need not contribute to this already astronomical figure.
We forget that the only reason TV shows exist is to serve as the vehicle through which advertisements
and commercials receive airtime in order to reach the consumers! We throw caution to wind and find it
in short supply when schools and government agencies are seduced by corporate sponsorships.
Computers deliver an abundance of symbols (font, logos, trademarks, icons) yet offer an
impoverishment of experiences (running, climbing, learning how to get along with others).
Try not to be intimidated by people who claim that children will be left behind or ill prepared for the
computer age unless they are exposed to the computer early on. People who say such things are
invariably trying to sell you something.
-Aaron Falbael, Mothering Magazine, Fall 1990
ERGONOMICS AND OTHER PHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS:
Many classrooms do not have workstations, but rather desks that hold the computers. There is not
room for any reference materials, so children are holding books, papers and reference materials on
their laps while the computer takes up desk space.
A 2002 study by the Berkley School of Optometry studied 253 children. Of them, 25-30% had initial
signs of far-sightedness (attributed to skewed visual perspective accompanying multiple-hour
computer use). Premature nearsightedness was apparent in children who spent time looking at a
distant object and then refocusing on the computer screen only 20 inches away. (IE: looking at the
teacher or the blackboard and then refocusing on the computer at the desk).
After 40 minutes you need to get up and move around and let your eyes relax, yet the average US child
spends an uninterrupted 1-3 hours in front of the screen on a daily basis!
Few resources have been devoted to studying the physical effects of computer use on children
because it has not cost society any money yet…
-Richard Pilkington, Occupational Health and Safety consultant
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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PHYSICAL ISSUES TO CONTEND WITH WHEN CHILDREN USE COMPUTERS:
1. Bad Posture: slumping, kneeling, sitting, laying down while using computers, twisting in
seats, neck arched up to see the screen.
2. Chairs too high, feet dangling off floor.
3. Muscle, joint and tendon damage due to repetitive strain injuries (RSIs)
4. Sensory and nerve damage to the hands and wrists due to mousing and keyboarding.
5. Reduced vibration sensitivity in the hands.
6. Computer workstations have not been designed to fit the size and shape of children’s
bodies.
7. “Sega thumb”
8. Headaches and eyestrain.
9. Toxic emissions and electromagnetic fields produced by TVs, computers and video
monitors. (Most computer mfgrs are unwilling to give out information about their
computers’ EMF emission levels)
a. EMFs can disrupt the production of melatonin – the hormone linked to the visual
system
b. EMFs can disrupt the circadian systems (biological clocks) of humans and primates
10. The mouse overtaxes the index finger as well as causes arm and neck strain.
11. Eyestrain – after a 90-minute stint at the computer in front of a monitor it can takes the eye
more than an hour to recover its full ability to see at other focal lengths.
12. Blink rate is reduced by as much as 80%
13. Eyes are opened wider than normal and a larger portion of the eye is exposed to the monitor
– this causes a reduction in the eye’s tear film (surface moisture), which causes dry, itchy
eyes and irritations.
14. Epileptic seizures in conjunction with the playing of computer video games.
15. Skin problems due both to stress, which often accompanies computer usage as well as static
charges of the monitor, which might cause toxic air particles to be deposited on the face of
the user.
16. Computer usage is a sedentary activity which does not allow children to move around in the
ways we know they need to in order to develop strong, healthy bodies.
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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IN CONCLUSION…..MY BOTTOM LINE:
Ten years from now when software has been eliminated and all the computers are in the trash heap we
will still be able to teach resonance with a tuning fork, vibration with cotton string and a spoon,
absorption with a coffee filter and colored water, evaporation with a puddle, a rainy day and some
chalk and density with shampoo, dish detergent, vinegar, colored water and shaving cream.
Which will make the greater impact?
Which lessons will they remember?
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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IN A NUTSHELL: Why don’t computers belong in early childhood classrooms!
1. They hinder and discourage essential bodily movements.
2. They do not encourage socialization.
3. They cannot and will not ever be able to offer REAL experiences.
4. The programs they learn will be obsolete in 5 years.
5. The machinery they are learning how to use will be obsolete by the time they are old
enough to enter the work force.
6. They do not facilitate creative thinking, problem solving or the kind of in-depth
thoughtfulness which will be required to solve the real-life problems these children will be
faced with as they grow up.
7. In order to make room and find funding, computers elbowed out music programs, drama
class, art programs, school plays, phys-ed classes, school nurses and libraries.
8. Creativity decreases after using computers.
9. Computers keep children inside and alone instead of being out in the world where they
forge emotional links with other people and with nature.
10. Children do not have sufficient hand-eye-coordination until roughly age 9.
11. Their fingers are cartilage until roughly age 8.
12. The many stated PHYSICAL ISSUES about children using computers including: not
blinking, pulled ligaments, bad posture, tension in neck and shoulders and joint problems.
13. Computers (at best) only engage 2 of our 5 senses - hearing and sight, and only 2-D sight at
that. Children need to manipulate real objects in their world.
REFERENCES:
The Child and the Machine: How Computers Put Our Children’s Education at Risk by Alison Armstrong and Charles
Casement, Robins Lane Press, 2000
High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don’t Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian by
Clifford Stoll, Doubleday, 1999.
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, by Jerry Mander, Quill Books, New York, 1977, 1978.
Failure to Connect – How Computers Affect Our Children’s Minds for Better and Worse by Jane Healy, Simon and
Schuster, New York, 1998.
“Heavy Computer Use May Strain a Child’s Eyes”, Alan Mozes, Reuters Health, March 18, 2002.
“Children’s Computer Use Grows, but Gaps Persist, Study Says”, By Tamar Lewin, New York Times, January 22, 2001.
“Software Debuts for Toddler Set”, Martin Wroe, San Diego Union Tribune, September, 1996.
“Pros and Cons of Computer Kids”, Darryl Owens, Orlando Sentinel, July 26, 2001.
“The Computer Delusion”, Todd Oppenheimer, Atlantic Monthly, July 1997.
Lisa Murphy, The Learning Through Adventure Co., 2002, www.ooeygooey.com (800) 477-7977
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