I was reading this interesting article called, "Girl Meets Game". The writer’s 3-year old daughter started using internet to play video games. Waw! Using internet at age 3, some of us started using internet at age 16. When Lily (writer's daughter) played her first game on internet at age 3, he found himself wondering about something, should I leave her alone or should I sit and watch, what should I do. Should I let her play or shutdown the computer?
The writer talks about kids websites like, PBS kids, Teletubbies, etc. He can see a big chance in his daughter, with internet and computer exposure at age 3, Lily was independent, now she was able to entertain herself, no need of anybody, even her buddies (mom/dad) of 3 years. That was a scary feeling to the writer; girl was dependent on him or his wife for almost 3 years now suddenly with the help of internet she is all independent, now she is able to entertain herself. What is internet or associated video games doing to our kids. Should we let them use computers at that early age, and if yes should we monitor 24x7, so should we make sure there are filters associated.
Writer further says he would make sure the computer is filtered for all adult contents, but he feels site such as pbskids.org help kids develop IQ and knowledge, which is necessary part of their growth. Computer games rewards kids for sticking with a problem until that problem is resolved. I think that is excellent, it will make them winner rather than a quitter. It will introduce them to passions, which will eventually help them.
There is a paucity of quality clinical data on little children and games, and the writer explains that video games often depend on analogies and symbols that kids may not understand in the way adults think. "Very young children are astonishingly concrete thinkers. If you look at a computer screen and understand that everything that happens on a computer is a metaphor for something real in life, it becomes very, very murky as to what they're actually getting out of this."
I found this article interesting as I am a proud father of 17month old daughter. At this early age she is curious and when ever she comes across computer all she wants do is stare at the screen and when ever she gets a chance hit on the keyboard.
2 comments:
My girls go online to play Webkinz (.com). What a brilliant idea this was for someone. You (parents) buy your kids a $10 stuffed animal, which you then register through their website, and children can play other logged on children in a variety of games. Your child's character online is the cartoon version of the stuffed animal they own, which just sits on the desk starring at them. There is no personal information on the site, and any IM's that are being used are pre-entered generic questions and comments, such as "your turn" and "want to play again?". They can also do activities to "earn money," which they can use to "buy" things for their animal. What makes this a marketing machine is that between both of my daughters, I think we have at least 10 different animals. I wish I had thought of it first!
I think it is great for children to learn how to use the computer at such a young age. However, they should be monitered. My neighbor growing up started learning how to use the computer when he was 4 and by the time he was in middle school he was developing computer games and selling them for profits. He was also named a computer child prodigy. I think that exposure to technology is great and the younger a child is the better start they have to get ahead of everyone else.
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