Straight From Womb To The Keyboard

from the surfing-in-the-crib dept

Here's a story that just won't go away. As technology becomes ever more important in society, parents don't want their kids to "miss out" in any way, and have been getting them involved in technology at a younger and younger age. The trend has been spotted in mobile phone usage in the past and now many are beginning to wonder how young is too young for a kid to be using a computer. Some parents are apparently buying computers for their kids before they even turn one year old. Others, however, are afraid that such early exposure to computers is damaging for kids who learn to only focus on the computer and never learn spacial and physical things like how to play with building blocks. That might be a bit extreme, but it does seem that if you're still counting their age in months, they probably don't need their very own computer. This article is also one of the first I've seen that points out the fact that, whether the parents want the kid to use a computer, since the parents are using one already, it will just make the kids more interested. Thus, comes the rise of "lapware," where a parent can hold their child on their lap and play some sort of game on the computer, involving both the parent and the child, rather than just seating the kid at the computer on his or her own.