Why, oh Why?
Second Life June 12th, 2009Why on earth isn’t this child drawing and colouring in, playing outside or collecting stamps? And how can he maintain his dignity and lust for life in such circumstances? I demand immediate action from social services to save this poor mite…
June 12th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Hi Gavin,
You know when he gets home he’s going to be watching TV and playing PSP simultaneously. There’s this constant need to be stimulated and entertained for every waking moment otherwise life is determined as boring. How can kids have proper social lives if they are expected to be screen based 90% of the time.
Hope all this online/screen interactivity comes with eye care.
Jane
June 12th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Jane,
Many thanks for your comment – though I suspect you haven’t read my blog much before
My feeling is that all these things need to be done in moderation – an hour of playing on a PSP is fine if it’s balanced with an hour of running around outside and perhaps an hour of homework….
As parents and adults we spend too much time complaining about the time kids spend using technology than we do ensuring that they learn the value of balancing everything.
I think his school looks great in the main, though I hope they run around at playtime as well as do braintraining on the Wii. Lots of interaction, lots of creativity, ,ots of involving the parents, lots of direct links between school and outside school, etc.
Beats the pants off what I had at school…
Gavin
June 12th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Hi Gavin,
You’re right I am a newby. I totally agree that it’s a good school and that this is the way forward- but I do worry about the constant need to be stimulated. My son is PSPing while watching TV right now, and I find it impressive that he can do the 2 things- my problem is for the poor teachers who don’t have this kind of technology (and here in Portugal most schools still have chalk boards!) and there is a huge gap between what teachers think is interesting and what level of stimulation the kids need now. The generation gap has widened considerably in the last 5 years.
I’d better do my homework next time and read more of your blogs !
Jane
June 12th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Jane,
Not a problem – I just thought it was funny that the first person to comment was new to my blog and obvously didn’t know my (undeserved) reputation as rabidly pro-technology. Nothing wrong with being a newbie to my blog – welcome, and please come back and talk some more when you have the time!
The thing about your son, I guess, is what else has he done today? Has he been to school? Has he played with friends? Chatted to you? If he’s done a variety of things, both indoors and out then I don’t see a problem with a little PSP (I draw the line at TV, not having had one for years
). It’s impressive that he can do both at the same time, though my guess is that he won’t remember much of the TV since it’s more of a passive medium and he’ll be concentrating much more on the game he’s playing.
If you’re interested in reading more about all that then I’d recommend Everything Bad is Good For You by Steve Johnson and Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning by Marc Prensky. They’re both light, pop culture takes to an extent, but they do have some good content and observations in them.
As for schools and equipment, yes – I know. I travel a lot for my work and have seen schools this year in twelve countries so far and equipment often lags behind the ‘outside world’. There are many reasons, of course – economic, societal, training, attitude… Hopefully this will change soon wherever it’s actually feasible.
Now, go and grab the PSP and go out and play with a ball against a wall for half an hour!
Gavin
June 19th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
[...] 19, 2009 I came across this video – thought it was worth re-posting. The original blog post where I found it suggested ironically that this poor kid needed to have some time to collect [...]