Exposing children to computers negatively affects their brain development. Photo by Reuters

Around the world, schools are rushing to equip classrooms with computers. Our country also has experience in teaching computer use to children 3-4 years old. Impressive: such a kid - and dashingly taps on the keyboard. Children around the world easily type texts and move their fingers on touch screens, putting paper and pen aside. But is it really that good?

The famous Russian scientist, Doctor of Philology and Doctor of Biological Sciences Tatyana Chernigovskaya has long warned about the dangers of early introduction to gadgets. Children do not know how or stop writing with a pen and as a result they lose a lot in their level of thinking. The development of fine motor skills is extremely important for a child, because the same area in the brain that is responsible for the development of speech is responsible for fine motor skills. It is necessary to sculpt from plasticine, cut with scissors, weave from beads - this promotes brain development.

The negative effect of the introduction of computers in primary school is evidenced by the results of a study in the field of cognitive neuroscience conducted by Professor Karin James at the University of Bloomington in the USA.

Children who had not yet learned to read (knew letters, but did not know how to put them into words) were divided into two groups: some were taught to write letters on paper, others were taught to type them on a keyboard. First of all, they paid attention to the children's ability to remember letters and at the same time, using computed tomography, they tried to understand how brain activity changes over time while children learn the alphabet. Research indicates a direct connection between writing ability and reading skill. Before and after classes, computed tomography was performed and the data of the two groups was compared, measuring the level of oxygen consumption in the brain.

They found that the brain behaved differently depending on whether children learned the alphabet by handwriting or typing. The brain activity of children who learned to write by hand was similar to the brain activity of adults who can read and write. In the case of children learning to type on a keyboard, the result was different. Scientists have discovered that the brain makes a connection between the process of writing by hand and the ability to read.

“The imaging data shows that writing prepares the reading system, which makes learning to read easier when children reach this stage,” Professor James said. Developing the fine motor skills needed to develop writing skills can benefit other areas of cognitive development, she says.

Some American schools have made penmanship lessons optional, so they are often not taught. Computers and typing are used for almost all subjects, while writing takes a backseat. According to Professor James, it was in vain that they rushed to introduce computers into the educational system from the primary grades. She hopes her research will question the wisdom of the trend to replace handwriting.

However, in the USA there are schools where there are no computers at all. These are the schools where employees of Silicon Valley giants send their children: eBay, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard... The school has an old-fashioned appearance: blackboards with crayons, bookshelves with encyclopedias, wooden desks with notebooks and pencils. For learning, they use tools that are not related to the latest technologies: pens, pencils, sewing needles, sometimes even clay... And not a single computer. Not a single screen. Their use is prohibited in classrooms and discouraged at home.

School and computers don't mix - a view that has become widespread in the heart of the high-tech economy. Advocates of learning without IT technologies believe that computers suppress creative thinking, mobility, human relationships and attentiveness. Parents believe that when it really comes down to introducing their children to the latest technology, they will always have the necessary skills and opportunities at home to do so.

Finally, a joke. Kids in kindergarten are busy around the sandbox on their own, while the teacher is enthusiastically talking on the phone, not paying attention to them. She is reprimanded that the children might run away. “They won’t run away,” the teacher answers confidently. “We only have Wi-Fi in the sandbox.”

eBay's CTO sent his kids to school without computers. Employees of other valley giants did the same: Google, Apple, Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard. It has a very simple, old-fashioned look - boards with crayons, bookshelves with encyclopedias, wooden desks with notebooks and pencils. For training, they use familiar tools that are not associated with the latest technologies: pens, pencils, sewing needles, sometimes even clay, etc. And not a single computer. Not a single screen. Their use is prohibited in classrooms and discouraged at home.

2nd grade students, standing in a circle, repeated the poem after the teacher, while playing with a bag filled with beans. The purpose of this exercise is to synchronize the body and brain.

Last Tuesday in Year 5 the children knitted small wool patterns on wooden knitting needles, recapturing the knitting skills they had learned in the lower grades. This type of activity, according to the school, helps develop the ability to solve complex problems, structure information, count, and also develop coordination.

This comes at a time when schools around the world are rushing to equip their classrooms with computers, and many politicians are saying that not doing so is simply stupid. Interestingly, the opposite view has become widespread in the heart of the high-tech economy, where some parents and educators are making it clear that school and computers do not mix.

Proponents of IT-free learning believe that computers suppress creative thinking, mobility, human relationships and attentiveness. These parents believe that when it comes time to introduce their children to the latest technology, they will always have the necessary skills and facilities at home to do so.

Paul Thomas, a former teacher and Furman University professor who has written 12 books on public education practices, argues that it is best for education to use as little computers as possible. “Education is first and foremost a human experience,” says Paul Thomas. “Technology is a distraction when literacy, numeracy and critical thinking are needed.”

When proponents of equipping classrooms with computers argue that computer literacy is necessary to meet the challenges of our time, parents who believe that computers are not needed are surprised: why rush if it is all so easy to learn? “It's super easy. It's like learning how to brush your teeth, says Mr. Eagle, a Silicon Valley employee. - At Google and places like that, we make technology as stupidly simple as possible. I don’t see any reason why a child wouldn’t be able to master them when he gets older.”

The students themselves do not consider themselves deprived of high technology. They watch movies from time to time and play computer games. Children say they even get disappointed when they see their parents or relatives entangled in various devices.

Orad Kamkar, 11, said he recently went to visit his cousins ​​and found himself surrounded by five people who were playing with their gadgets, not paying any attention to him or each other. He had to shake each of them by the hand and say, “Hey guys, I’m here!”

Interviews with Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and other representatives of the US tech elite show that Silicon Valley parents limit their children from using newfangled gadgets and devices.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs raised their children away from technology

Alena Somova

Bill Gates didn't allow his daughter to use a phone until she was 14 years old. Photo: Shutterstock Rex

Jobs, who was Apple's CEO until his death, told the New York Times in 2011 that he banned his children from using the iPad. “We try to limit the use of technology in our home as much as possible,” Jobs told the reporter.

In Screen Kids, Clement and Miles argue that wealthy Silicon Valley parents are more aware of the harmful potential of smartphones, tablets and computers than the general public. And this despite the fact that these parents often earn their living by creating and investing in technology.

"Just imagine that in a modern public school, where children are required to use electronic devices such as iPads," the authors wrote, "Steve Jobs' children would be among the few who would refuse this initiative."

Unfortunately, Jobs’ children have already graduated from school, so one can only guess how the co-founder of the corporation would react to modern educational technologies. But Clement and Miles believe that if they went to the average American school today, they would use technology in the classroom much more than they did at home when growing up.

According to the co-authors of the book, things are different in specialized training. A number of Silicon Valley magnet schools, such as Waldorf schools, take a low-tech approach to education. They use regular chalk boards and pencils. Instead of learning to code, children learn skills of cooperation and mutual respect. At Brightworks School, children learn to be creative through DIY crafts and tree house activities.

eBay's CTO sent his kids to school without computers. Employees of other Silicon Valley giants - Google, Apple, Yahoo!, Hewlett-Packard - did the same.

Advanced mothers in Russia boast to each other: “Mine, at 2 years old, can play on a tablet herself.” Another echoes her: “And when I was 7 years old, I created a YouTube channel.” And everyone is collectively rushing to the most computerized schools, saying: “Oh, why teach how to write with a pen in copybooks, it’s so outdated,” “Oh, why are they forcing children to learn poetry - the last century, it would be better if they taught how to make computer presentations.” And, in fact, they are deceiving themselves.

ABC in the law

Smart people, while the rest of the world is increasingly hooked on the Internet needle and gradually - all for the sake of progress - hooks their children on it, choose the most “backward”, it would seem, education.

Nowadays, a school called “Waldorf of the Peninsula” is in particular vogue among high-brow employees of Silicon Valley. Its building was built almost at the dawn of the founding of the United States of America. The classrooms inside have the most old-fashioned appearance: ordinary, as in Soviet times, blackboards with colored chalks, bookshelves filled with a wide variety of literature, wooden desks, no tablets instead of textbooks and notebooks. For learning, they use familiar tools that are not associated with the latest technologies: pens, pencils, brushes, paints, paper alphabet books and other textbooks. And not a single gadget. Their use is prohibited in classrooms and discouraged at home.

The most senior computer geniuses followed exactly the same approach to raising children 10-15 years ago. Three children Microsoft CEO Bill Gates - Jennifer Katharine, Rory John and Phoebe Adele- under 14 years of age were deprived of the right to own smartphones. But even after buying gadgets for children when they reached this age, the richest man in the world strictly limited the time they could use a mobile phone. He explained that he feared the harm that electronic equipment could cause to their health.

A book is the best entertainment

Apple founder Steve Jobs He also strictly guarded his four children from excessive use of technological devices, including the iPad. He introduced a ban on children using gadgets at night and on weekends. In addition, cell phones were illegal when families gathered for dinner in the evening. Fortunately for his three daughters and son, Steve was such an interesting conversationalist that they did not perceive this ban as a deprivation, but enjoyed the communication to the fullest.

Many technology company leaders are following the example of Gates and Jobs. So, 3D Robotics CEO Chris Anderson introduced parental controls and limited time on all electronic devices in the house. He learned from his own example what too close interaction with electronic gadgets leads to. According to Anderson, the danger of new technologies lies in harmful content and the emerging dependence on electronic innovations.

Other leaders of the IT revolution also acted as “stranglers” of freedom. For example, Twitter founder Evan Williams allowed children to use tablets and smartphones only for an hour a day. When they tried to organize a protest, the father said: “There are several hundred paper books at home. If you want to have fun, read as much as you like!”

Prince without gadgets

The 4-year-old heir to the English throne recently went to school. Prince George. He will study at the prestigious preparatory private school "Thomas's Battersea" in southwest London. The media paid great attention to the menu in the school canteen: they say, instead of hamburgers, they serve quail and passion fruit, but few people noticed that it refers to the most prestigious schools in the UK, which have completely banned the use of computer gadgets. Adherents of education without IT believe that computers suppress creative thinking, mobility, human relationships and attentiveness. “Education is, first of all, a human experience, gaining experience,” says Innovative teacher Paul Thomas.“Technology is a distraction when literacy, numeracy and critical thinking are needed.” Returning to the school where the children of IT geniuses go: they themselves do not consider themselves deprived and unfashionable at all. Moreover, some lament about the mental and physical health of their overly computerized parents: how can you be so dependent on a gadget!

The 4-year-old heir to the English throne, Prince George, was sent to a school where gadgets are prohibited. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Expert opinion

Our parents were no less worried when we voraciously read books; they considered such a hobby excessive, I’m sure psychologist Anna Maslova. - You shouldn’t be such an uncompromising opponent of the Internet. Well, if there was no Internet, they would kill time differently - they would hang around in the gateways. We don't know which is worse. Ban cannot be considered the only panacea for fighting Internet addiction. We must first look for the internal causes of Internet addiction. Perhaps it is caused by a lack of interaction with peers in the real world. Or maybe he doesn’t know how to reach you, the parents. Then the child seeks understanding, support and approval in online communities.

Steve Jobs wrote his name in history as the man who gave the world the iPhone and a number of other revolutionary inventions. But he was better known to his own children as the man... who took away these iPhones from them. It’s hard to believe, but the godfather of the digital revolution forbade his children to spend a lot of time with tablets and smartphones. One of Jobs' biographers claimed that he banned children from using gadgets at night and on weekends. In addition, cell phones were illegal when the family (Jobs had three daughters and one son) gathered for dinner in the evening. True, Steve was such an interesting person that when he started talking with children about politics, history, books or new films, none of his offspring ever had the desire to bury their nose in the tablet screen.

Other leaders of the IT revolution also acted as “stranglers” of freedom. For example, the children of Twitter founder Evan Williams complained about the draconian laws that dad established: tablets and smartphones could only be used for an hour a day. When they tried to organize a protest, the father said: “There are several hundred paper books at home. If you want to have fun, read as much as you like!”

If people who have let the computer genie out of the bottle are trying to protect their children from the influence of the Internet, what can we say about ordinary users?

Many parents limit their offspring not only in the use of gadgets and computer consoles, but also categorically prohibit the use of social networks. For example, an active supporter of such bans is ex-member of VIA Gra Anna Sedokova.

“I myself am widely represented on social networks, it’s part of my job,” says the pop star. “But kids have absolutely nothing to do on social networks.” Social networks are toys for adults, not children. When I read comments on social networks, I want to cry. Why so much anger and hatred? By the way, the most offensive and obscene comments are left by children. My daughter has asked me more than once to allow me to create an account, but I firmly tell her: “No way in the world!”

Are we really on the verge of an information epidemic that could become much worse than common childhood diseases like mumps and chickenpox?

Signs of Internet addiction

Constantly waiting for the next time to go online

Loss of interest in other hobbies

Increasing opposition to parents, friends, significant emotional alienation

The child ceases to control the time spent on the Internet and cannot stop

Forgets to eat, neglects personal hygiene, may sit at the tablet all night long

Feeling good or euphoria at the computer

Aimless travel on the Internet, constant search for some often unnecessary information.

EXPERT COMMENT

Binge reading caused the same fears in parents

Psychologists believe: there is no need to be afraid of the Internet, you need to learn how to handle it correctly.

How to save children from moving to the virtual world? We decided to ask Yulia Babaeva, Candidate of Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of General Psychology at Moscow State University, about this. She is a co-author of one of the first studies in Russia on the topic of Internet addiction.

- Yulia Davidovna, is it necessary to limit the time that children spend on a computer or smartphone?

The problem of Internet addiction is very acute; I am asked about this even more often than about childhood drug addiction. But it seems to me that we have the wrong idea of ​​a ban as the only way to solve all problems. Internet addiction is an external manifestation of some internal problems in a child. First of all, parents need to understand what makes him go into the virtual world? There is no one reason that gives rise to Internet addiction. Sometimes this is a lack of communication with peers in the real world, a state of depression or anxiety. Or maybe a child in online communities is looking for understanding, support and approval that he does not meet at home. Well, if there was no Internet, he would kill time differently - he would hang around in the gateways. We don't know which is worse. Then what is a ban? This is an attempt to take the problem beyond the child's will. And you need to negotiate with him.

- What if, as is now fashionable, we simply introduce “sanctions”?

This can cause the child to become aggressive towards the parent. I know that now in some schools they “disarm” students before classes - they take away their gadgets. But do you really think that schoolchildren then begin to study with all their might? Don't fool yourself. If the situation is advanced, time spent communicating with the computer should be limited (pornography and extremist sites should be illegal). But the “keep and keep out” policy itself is not a panacea.

- What can help, except for a ban?

Parents must first understand themselves. Firstly, sometimes they themselves “help” the child get confused on the World Wide Web. Let's say mom needs to do something, she turns on the computer and says: “Play, baby, while I cook something to eat.” Secondly, we need to think: why is my child’s company less interesting than the monitor screen? We need to find time to play with him. Be able to find interesting topics for discussion. It is necessary to form a harmonious circle of interests in the child: sports, books, friends, hobbies. But it’s much easier to show yourself as a tough “leader” and draw up a schedule in the spirit of: “You play for two hours, then do your homework.”

- With the advent of the Internet, a large number of phobias have arisen: that people will forget how to remember, will stop thinking, since it is easier to find ready-made solutions on the Internet. Are these fears justified?

Horror stories are very popular here. But the Internet is just a tool; it is neutral in itself. Moreover, this is a tool that provides fantastic opportunities. It's all about how we use it. For example, you can use a violin bow to cut firewood. True, productivity will be low.

- At one time, similar concerns were caused by the distribution of books. Parents were shocked when romance novels were found under a girl’s pillow. Remember Famusov “To stop evil, collect all the books and burn them.” Are there similarities in how society perceived the emergence of these two media?

We know that the advent of printing gave a huge impetus to the development of civilization. Thanks to this, during Famusov’s time there lived a large number of fantastically intelligent and educated people. They treated books differently. For example, Chatsky could not utter such words. Humanity received the same, if not more powerful, impetus for development with the invention of the Internet. There is no need to be afraid of him. A child can be enriched by both books and new information technologies. You just need to teach him how to handle them correctly.