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- - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K Is flaming still a problem on the Web? Weigh in on the unbearable lameness of flaming in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y The Xy files Revolt of the couch potatoes The 21st Challenge No. 12 Results Suicide watch on the Net Wired: The book - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE - - - - - - - - - -
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W .....H ..Y kids 
Don't feel guilty about not buying your toddler a Pentium, a new book argues: You may be doing the kid a favor. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "FAILURE TO CONNECT: HOW COMPUTERS AFFECT OUR CHILDREN'S MINDS -- FOR BETTER AND WORSE" ANDREW LEONARD | When my soon-to-be 4-year-old daughter changed preschools a few months ago, I worried about the new school's lack of computers. The old school had a Macintosh, and the kids would spend half an hour or so each day messing around with learning software programs and sending their parents unintelligible e-mail. But the new school was far from the computing cutting edge, and that made me feel guilty: Was I hindering my daughter's ability to successfully compete in the 21st century? I certainly wasn't helping out at home. You might think that someone as obsessed with technology as a professional technology reporter would make sure his kids were programming in C++ before kindergarten. But in fact I don't own a single "learning software" program. To my enduring shame, I'd much rather kick back and watch "The Simpsons" with my daughter than escort her through the interactive CD-ROM version of "Green Eggs and Ham." Bad Daddy, my daughter might blurt. But maybe not. However unwittingly, however base my motives, by limiting my daughter's exposure to computers I may actually have been doing the right thing -- at least according to Jane Healy, author of "Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds -- for Better and Worse." "Failure to Connect" is no neo-Luddite rant; instead, it's a must read for anyone who cares about kids and computers. Healy is an educator with decades of experience, and she has researched her topic to exhaustion. Demolishing the hype of what she calls "technology pushers," Healy delivers a hearty rebuttal to the conventional wisdom that declares that every child's classroom and bedroom should have its own computer. Not only is there scant evidence that computers actually enhance "learning" in the very young, she argues, but there is good reason to believe that too much computer time can actively stunt the healthy development of a child's mind. "Some of the most popular education software may even be damaging to creativity, attention, and motivation," she writes. Bold words, and not ones that the "edutainment" software industry wants to hear. But they're well worth saying. According to Healy, the market for edutainment programs for home use in the U.S. is growing by 20 to 30 percent a year. And just last year, school expenditures on technology reached $4.34 billion. Meanwhile, music and art programs -- which, unlike computers, have been demonstrated to increase "intelligence" -- are constantly being defunded, class sizes continue to rise and underpaid teachers are expected to master nonstop waves of new technology with little technical support or training. What's wrong with this picture? - - - - - - - - - - - -
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