Should Children Use Computers

from the good-or-bad? dept

The Detroit Free Press has an article looking at some of the debate over whether or not young children should learn to use computers. While many families with kids today start them young, some researchers are saying that kids shouldn't play with computers until after they're seven years old, and that it might do more harm than good. I would actually be surprised if this were true. I would imagine that kids (when supervised by parents) wouldn't have any adverse reaction to using a computer at a younger age, and could actually learn quite a bit from it - but I certainly have no qualifications to think that, so I'm likely to be absolutely wrong.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    FearOfBeingNamed, 23 Aug 2002 @ 3:58pm

    re: should kids use computers

    I've done some reading on the subject (including Jane Healy's book, mentioned in the article), and there is some evidence that using computers at a young age can be bad, mostly because the most formative years are the earliest ones. it seems some of the habits that computers ingrain -- like instant response, clicking-until-you're-right (instead of thinking out the answer) -- might not be great for brain development in the long term.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    D.S., 26 Aug 2002 @ 7:06am

    Re: should kids use computers

    we neeed to separate different computer activities. If it's just for games - I agree it's not good. Like TV - watching cartoons whole day will not make your kid smarter...but watching Disc channel - will teach them stuff. Same with computers.... playing with educational games, learn programming - good for kids. And of course, there is a ballance... not more than 3-4 hours a week...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    chloe goodman, 15 Jun 2007 @ 9:32am

    Re: Re: should kids under the age of 12 use comput

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    chloe goodman, 15 Jun 2007 @ 9:36am

    Re: Re: should kids under the age of 12 use comput

    i think kids under the age of 12 should use the computers because they need to do there homework and play games if they are bored but should be able to type without looking at the keyboard or sit up straight and type and look at the keyboard if you need to

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.