Raising Humans in a Digital World Read online

  While there is considerable concern that screen exposure may negatively influence the development of executive function, research on this issue has produced mixed results.33 But we do know this: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)—which some researchers believe is a deficit in executive function—is on the rise.34 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S. alone:

  •One in ten children between four and seventeen years of age have been diagnosed with ADHD.

  •The number of young children (ages two to five) with ADHD increased by more than 50 percent between 2007 and 2012.

  •The percentage of children with an ADHD diagnosis continued to increase, from 7.8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007 and to 11.0 percent in 2011–2012.”35

  There is no consensus on what is causing this alarming rise of ADHD. More awareness of ADHD? Earlier diagnosis? Increased screen time? Many lay the blame on screen time, pointing to studies that show a correlation (though not necessarily causation). Lesley Alderman, who reported on this issue in Everyday Health, wrote, “A recent study assessed the viewing habits of 1,323 children in third, fourth, and fifth grades over thirteen months and found that children who spent more than two hours a day in front of a screen, either playing video games or watching TV, were 1.6 to 2.1 times more likely to have attention problems.”36

  As debate rages on as to whether too much screen time is causing inattention in school or elsewhere, Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, one of the country’s foremost addiction experts, writes in Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids—And How to Break the Trance that he would “offer several arguments to push the dial toward causation rather than correlation— meaning that screens are indeed causing disorders of attention.”37

  DO SCREENS MAKE IT HARDER FOR KIDS TO FOCUS IN SCHOOL?

  I’ve made it a habit to ask educators if they think technology contributes to inattention in the classroom. Shelley Glaze-Kelley, the educational director at Journey School, is one of them. For the past two decades, she’s been either a teacher or an administrator and thus has spent a lot of time in various classrooms. Glaze-Kelley and I have taught Cyber Civics together, so I’ve had the opportunity to see how kids light up when she enters a room; they know she’s about to entertain them with a funny story or an impromptu dance party. It is hard to imagine that she ever struggles to hold the attention of a classroom full of kids, yet she tells me, “The biggest difference I’ve seen in students is the lack of focus and the amount of time a student can stay focused. Ten years ago, when I was a fourth-grade teacher, I typically held class meetings that lasted for forty-five minutes. But today when I work with fourth graders, I find they can only pay attention for, say, fifteen to twenty minutes before needing to transition into a game, side conversation, or some other activity. Their attention spans just aren’t the same.”38

  She believes this is the biggest challenge in education today. “We’re dealing with children who are so stimulated and so used to seeing something for five minutes, and then something else for five minutes, and then ‘oh, if I don’t like that, I can swipe and get something else.’ Educators can’t match those same experiences. So students are uninterested mostly because of their attention spans, which is extremely unfortunate and hard for a teacher to fix. It’s become a major challenge in today’s classrooms.”39

  I find it challenging, too. Today, a small latte from Peet’s Coffee no longer sustains me through the four back-to-back classes I teach at Journey School on Mondays. It takes a large espresso with an extra shot, and sometimes that’s not even enough caffeine to catapult my energy level into the same stratosphere as my students. What’s got them so amped? Judging from their chatter, it’s the video games they’re playing, the coding they’re learning, the YouTube videos they’re watching, the pictures they’re taking and posting, and the group texting they’re participating in. While adults worry that kids can’t focus in class, these same kids seem pretty darn capable of focusing their attention on the things they do online.

  It’s the same at every school I visit—large and small, private and public, those with the strictest media policies and those that have a laissez-faire attitude toward tech use. Kids everywhere are excited about technology and eager to talk about it. Even families who do their best to keep their young kids tech-free are raising them in a world where technology dominates our spaces and conversations, and that’s not going to change. But Glaze-Kelley is right: This cultural shift is making it harder for everyone to get through the school day. Somehow, we have to help kids gain the skills they need to be successful both offline and online.

  This work must start when you have young ones at home and can exert a modicum of control over their day. Be mindful of the potential impact of screens upon their social skills, language development, and attentional capacities. This is the foundational work you must do while you have the chance. It will pay off in spades as they get older and their enthusiasm for all-things-tech kicks in.

  As Dr. Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra puts it, “I’m not saying there is no place for technology. It can be hugely beneficial, but it also poses huge risks. It’s up to us to understand what those risks are and to mitigate them.”40

  MAXIMIZING BENEFIT, MITIGATING RISK

  Unless you plan to raise your kids with paper bags securely fastened over their young heads, it is inevitable they will encounter screens—probably interactive ones—as they grow. And as determined as you may be to shield your youngest children from them, this is an impossible task today.

  “I’m a pragmatist in these things,” says David Kleeman. “Families do what they have to do to make their lives work.”41 Kleeman, who describes himself as an itinerant children’s media expert, is the senior vice president of global trends for Dubit, a strategy and research consultancy and digital studio based in the UK. He has led the children’s media industry in developing sustainable, kid-friendly practices for over three decades, and thus has watched families grapple with this issue for a long time.

  “Between ages zero and two, there is no need for a child to be on devices; they are just not going to get anything from them that’s going to be critical in later life.” However, Kleeman told me it concerns him when parents are made to feel guilty about exposing their young children to screens.

  As we spoke I recalled delivering a presentation at a school that was staunchly tech free. A young mother raised her hand to ask if I thought it was okay to let her toddler watch a kids’ show on her iPad while she made dinner. “I’m with my child all day, and by five o’clock, I’m exhausted. Sometimes I just need a few minutes to get something done.” Though I was there to support the school’s no-screens-for-young-eyes policy, in this case I couldn’t do it. I flashed on all the times I’d been utterly exhausted, too, with a husband out of town, and two small children begging to be entertained while I tried to pull dinner together. Thank goodness for Steve Burns, the engaging host of the children’s show Blue’s Clues. Without his help, my young children most certainly would have starved, and that’s what I told the young mother. We do the best we can do.

  “I don’t say ban it; I don’t say it’s all fine. I say let’s empower families with the knowledge they need to make their lives work,” says Kleeman.42 If early societies could figure out how to live with their new tools, certainly we can figure out how to live successfully with ours as well.

  INTRODUCING TECHNOLOGY IN DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE WAYS

  In 2012, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center (FRC) crafted a joint position statement to help early childhood educators understand how to use technology in developmentally appropriate ways with their students.43 Although published in 2012, eons ago in technology years, according to Dr. Chip Donohue, director of the Technology in Early Childhood (TEC) Center at the Erikson Institute and one of the authors of the statement, it “has stood the test of time.”44 Their recommendations are relevant today, for both educators a
nd parents:

  •When used intentionally and appropriately, technology and interactive media are effective tools to support learning and development.

  •Intentional use requires early childhood educators to have information and resources regarding the nature of these tools and the implications of their use.

  •Limitations on the use of technology and media are important.

  •Special considerations must be given to the use of technology with infants and toddlers.45

  Current screen time recommendations for infants and toddlers are as follows:

  •For children younger than eighteen months, avoid use of screen media other than video chatting.

  •Parents of children eighteen to twenty-four months of age who want to introduce digital media should choose high-quality programming and watch it with their children.

  •For children ages two to five years, limit screen use to one hour per day of high-quality programs.46

  “We’re seeing great promise when technology is used intentionally and appropriately and in the context of relationships,” says Donohue. “We’ve gone from worrying about technology to having deeper conversations about its appropriate and intentional use and more.”47

  USING TECHNOLOGY WITH INTENTIONALITY

  It seems fitting that the Fred Rogers Center is still providing guidance on how to use technology with intentionality. Most adults fondly remember the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood television series from their own childhoods. I know I do. Even though my parents hated it when my four siblings and I plopped ourselves in front of the TV, as they were sure it was rotting our brains, they never complained about Mister Rogers. I can hear his soft, melodious voice coming from the TV in my family’s living room as he sang his theme song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” while changing into his sneakers and trademark cardigan sweater. Who can forget being transported to his “Neighborhood of Make-Believe” to visit King Friday, Lady Aberlin, and Henrietta Pussycat, before returning to the quiet comfort of Mister Rogers’s house via the castle’s adorable trolley? Rogers skillfully employed the technology of his day—television—to thoughtfully and purposefully introduce children to positive character traits. My siblings and I remember the lessons we learned from this kind and gentle role model. Even today, Mister Rogers provides a powerful example of how technology—whether it’s TV, a tablet, or a smartphone—might be used to deliver positive content to children in developmentally appropriate ways.

  Face it—we aren’t going to win the battle against screens in the daily lives of our young ones. My parents couldn’t do it with TV, and it’s even more difficult now that the screens go everywhere we go. But we can and must be intentional about their use, especially with young children. This includes choosing Mister Rogers–like content (like the PBS series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the animated program built upon Rogers’s social-emotional understandings), limiting screen time, co-viewing, explaining, and basically being present. Sorry, folks, but you have to put down your own devices to do all of the above.

  As parents, caregivers, and educators grapple with the daily, continued encroachment of tablets, smartphones, voice-activated home speakers (like the Amazon Echo), interactive toys, and other devices, Fred Rogers reminds us that we can find a sensible path forward.

  In a follow-up report to the original position paper, authors Dr. Katie Paciga and Donohue continue to draw upon Rogers’s approach to whole-child development. They write, “Like Rogers emphasized, too, we argue that the child’s interactions with other people remain incredibly important—the screen cannot ever replace the impact and influence of a caring adult.”48

  “Screen media and technology tools should always be used in the context of (or with the potential for) social interaction,” says Donohue. He advises parents to “understand how technology can be a tool to encourage interactions and strengthen relationships, not just disrupt or prevent them.”49 In the words of Rogers himself, “Nothing will ever take the place of one person actually being with another person. There can be lots of fancy things like TV and radio and telephones and the internet, but nothing can take the place of people interacting face to face.”50

  TIPS FOR RAISING YOUNG CHILDREN IN A WORLD OF SCREENS

  While you can’t change that screens are here to stay, you can change how you raise your little ones in a screen-filled world. Be mindful of what young children need most—face-to-face interaction with loving human beings. This is how children gain social skills, emotional self-control, creativity, resilience, and most of all, the ability to get along with other people and to see things from other perspectives.51 These are also the seeds of digital literacy. Screens keep these seeds from taking root and growing.

  The work you do today will set the foundation for all of your child’s interactions tomorrow, with people and with screens. It will be well worth your effort. Enact these four guidelines from “Children and Screens”:

  •Set boundaries. Limit exposure for the very youngest children, turn off devices during mealtimes or one to two hours before bedtime, and make children’s bedrooms media free.

  •Monitor use, behavior, and content. Block inappropriate content, watch and play the video games your children are playing, keep electronic media in public places, and talk to the parents of your children’s friends about what your children do at their homes.

  •Be clear about what is acceptable. Establish and enforce house rules about screen time, and don’t let media interfere with family relationships.

  •Engage and lead by example. Obey your own house rules, and remember your children are watching.52

  If you do decide to use interactive technologies with your young children (please heed the advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics and avoid screen use before eighteen months of age), consider the “Top Ten Tips for Using Technology and Interactive Media with Young Children,” which Donohue recently shared with Imagine Magazine:

  1.Remember that relationships matter most. Using technology with young children begins with low-tech, high-touch opportunities for interactions, shared experiences, discoveries, and joint-engagement with media.

  2.Integrate technology use into social and emotional learning. Technology should be used in ways that support positive social interactions, mindfulness, creativity, and a sense of initiative.

  3.Use technology as a tool. Technology is an additional important tool for exploring, learning, and creating that you can put in children’s hands. It is not more or less important than other tools children use to learn in the early years.

  4.Trust your instincts. Focus less on how many minutes a child engages with screen media and more on the quality of the content, the context for using media, and the engagement level. Pay more attention to what the child is doing, not simply on how many minutes.

  5.Empower children to use technology as a tool for twenty-first-century learning. Select technology that encourages inquiry, exploration, discovery, documentation, and demonstration of what they know.

  6.Provide beneficial technology experiences. Offer media experiences that are engaging and interactive; include positive interactions with others; give the child control; emphasize interactions, language use, and relationships; and invite co-viewing and joint engagement with media.

  7.Make media use a language-rich experience. Narrate your own technology use, and when children are using screen media, talk about what they’re doing, ask questions, make comments, and offer suggestions about what they can do after the screen is turned off.

  8.Help children progress from just consuming media to creating it. Simple tools like a digital camera are powerful media-creation tools when paired with a child’s curiosity and creativity.

  9.Pay attention to your own technology use in front of children. Children learn media habits and how and when to use technology by observing the important adults in their lives.

  10.Be a media mentor. Young children need trusted adults who are active and intentional media mentors and role models to gui
de them safely in the digital age.53

  CYBER CIVICS MOMENTS

  Skype with Loved Ones

  My dear friend Patti Connolly is a school development specialist who has consulted and worked with schools, primarily Waldorf, for nearly thirty years. Today she advises them on how to slowly introduce technology in developmentally appropriate ways. “Just as you would never hand over a kitchen knife to a two-year-old, you shouldn’t just hand them a digital device either,” Connolly told me. She suggests “satisfying a young child’s natural curiosity by showing them what these screens are all about and then how to use them in intentional ways.”54 There’s that word again. Intentional. I asked Connolly to give me an example of intentional and developmentally appropriate technology use with young children.

  Connolly’s work has taken her and her husband, Tim, also a longtime Waldorf teacher and administrator, to far-flung locations around the globe to work with various schools. They are also devoted grandparents to twin grandsons and use Skype regularly to stay in touch. “The boys don’t just want to chat,” Connolly told me. “They want you to move around and show them things, so that’s what we do. This is a great way to demonstrate some of the positive benefits of new technologies to young children. It shows them that it can be used for communication and connecting. People feel like screens close us off from one another, and this demonstrates the exact opposite. Screens can connect us with those we love.”55

  Here’s what you can do:

  1.Do you have distant relatives and friends? Show your young ones how you use screens to keep in touch. If you don’t already have one, sign up for a Skype account (or one of the many other free communication tools available on the internet, like Google Hangouts or Apple FaceTime). If you have never used Skype, or other videoconferencing software, turn to Google or YouTube and type “how to use Skype” (or whatever tool you use). Dozens of instructional texts and videos will pop up to guide you through the process of installation and use. Let your young children see you using technology to figure out this new software.