Mommy, Help Me Download Farmer in the Dell to My mp3 Player - NY Times
I can hardly believe how technology has changed so much from the time when I was a child. One of my favorite things was to sit with my cassette player and listen to my nursery rhymes and children's songs tapes. And when I got a little older my younger brother and I used to record mini radio shows with our friends using the "record" feature. The only parental involvement absolutely required for that was asking Mom and Dad to buy new blank cassette tapes!
It's amazing how technology isn't just the new toy for adults or even teens, but now it's available for children as young as age three! According to this article, Fisher-Price is set to release a kid-friendly mp3 player and digital camera for the 2006 holiday season.
There are so many different positions one could take about this information. On the positive side, kids are introduced to the technological age practically from birth so they will grow up with all the knowledge and confidence necessary to use such technology. However, as the article points out, there are several major drawbacks:
Another item of similar interest is the kid-friendly cell phones that are out these days. It is not like a regular phone with a keypad. They only have 4 buttons, from what I can recall. Each one was a pre-programmed number. One was for home, another for mom/dad's work phone, and an emergency 911 button. I can see why this would be of interest because it's really nice to have the opportunity to call and check in with your child regularly, but at the same time, kids need to learn a sense of independence and they can't do that with Mommy calling constantly. It could lead to some major attachment issues in the future.
What do YOU think?
It's amazing how technology isn't just the new toy for adults or even teens, but now it's available for children as young as age three! According to this article, Fisher-Price is set to release a kid-friendly mp3 player and digital camera for the 2006 holiday season.
There are so many different positions one could take about this information. On the positive side, kids are introduced to the technological age practically from birth so they will grow up with all the knowledge and confidence necessary to use such technology. However, as the article points out, there are several major drawbacks:
- This is a toy that requires major parental involvement
- This kind of toy requires at least some reading comprehension to operate, and not many pre-schoolers are able to read. Actually, there's a lot of kindergarteners who can't read, and that's age 6!
- A personal mp3 player isn't much of a social toy, and kids should be encouraged to play with other children instead of regularly listening to music alone.
Another item of similar interest is the kid-friendly cell phones that are out these days. It is not like a regular phone with a keypad. They only have 4 buttons, from what I can recall. Each one was a pre-programmed number. One was for home, another for mom/dad's work phone, and an emergency 911 button. I can see why this would be of interest because it's really nice to have the opportunity to call and check in with your child regularly, but at the same time, kids need to learn a sense of independence and they can't do that with Mommy calling constantly. It could lead to some major attachment issues in the future.
What do YOU think?
posted by Elaine @ 9:42 PM
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