Could digital devices be harming your child’s ability to learn?
Idle hands may not be the devil’s tools – they may be essential to learning.
The popular belief among scientists has long been that it is processes which occur during periods of sleep that are responsible for cementing memories into our brains. But new research from the University of California in San Francisco partially contradicts this – and it could be bad news for our device-addicted kids (and device-addicted adults too, for that matter).
In a recent article entitled Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime, the New York Times reported:
“At the University of California, San Francisco, scientists have found that when rats have a new experience, like exploring an unfamiliar area, their brains show new patterns of activity. But only when the rats take a break from their exploration do they process those patterns in a way that seems to create a persistent memory of the experience. The researchers suspect that the findings also apply to how humans learn.”
The problem is that many kids take hardly any breaks from mind-stimulating activities. Whether it’s checking Facebook before climbing out of bed, emailing through breakfast, fiddling with an iThing on the school bus or playing video games after school, kids are constantly engaged with their devices – which means practically zero downtime. And, if the new research is correct, that could have an impact on our kids’ ability to learn. There are also a number of other studies which indicate a link between the use of technology and reduced academic achievement (copied from a previous post):
- A study in Romania that looked at the academic results of two groups of children from low income families after one group had been provided with a voucher for a computer and concluded there was, “strong evidence that children in households who won a voucher received significantly lower school grades in math, English and Romanian.”
- A study in North Carolina which found (in the words of the NYT), “Students posted significantly lower math test scores after the first broadband service provider showed up in their neighborhood, and significantly lower reading scores as well when the number of broadband providers passed four.”
- A study in Texas which concluded, “there was no evidence linking technology immersion with student self-directed learning or their general satisfaction with schoolwork.”
Initially, I suspected that academic scores dropped because computers and iThings were distracting kids from their studies. But maybe that’s not the case at all. Maybe the constant use of technology and lack of downtime is really affecting kids’ ability to learn.
What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Your article is another reason for me believing that personal electronics in unlimited use is bad for the human race and children in particular.
Having been in the advanced technology business for he past 40 years, I believe I have formulated my opinions based on realistic observations over a broad section of the technology industry of the impact of these technologies on the child. I have worked with PC’s in education, both at grade school and university and “educational” software as well as in the wireless industry mostly in business development, sales and marketing.
My opinion is that the constant use of “smart devices” including personal electronics, games, and the PC is mostly based on generating a response to a stimulii of the device, and in fact over time generally reduces the cognitive abilities and creativity of the child. It is similar to humans teaching animals to do tricks by rewarding them with instant pleasures of treats, but it does not make them smarter.
I know many experienced educators in grade school and university who from personal observation have witnessed a steady decline in the thinking and creative abilites of students across North America. This is an alarming trend that readily can be traced to the lack of traditional “play” and socialization that created the modern human over hundreds of thousands of years. Spending so much time with these devices and relying on websites to deliver “prepackaged” learning and information results in a downgrading of the personas ability to discover and think and use their imagination.
We are therefore running a giant “experiment” on all modern children by making such technology the key part of their lives without any thought to the long term consequences of perhaps shrinking or turning of parts of the brain and therefore turning our kids human development backwards. All children need a balance to develop all aspects of the human creative thought process. This balance is being stolen from this generation!
what your article is dealing with is Neuro Plasticity the brains ability to change. It is scientific fact that the brain of mammals and humans alike increase and decrease depending on the types of stimulation or lack of stimulation.
It is well documented in all Western civilizations and those who adopt western societal patterns. That electronics can have a detrimental effect or downsizing of key physiological brain areas.
“the Internet is just one of those things that contemporary humans can spend millions of “practise” events at, that the average human a thousand years ago had absolutely no exposure to. Our brains are massively remodelled by this exposure—but so too, by reading, by television, by video games, by modern electronics, by contemporary music, by contemporary “tools,” etc.”
Dr. Michael Merzenich, 2005
Forty-three percent of American children two years or younger watch television daily and a quarter have TVs in their bedrooms. About twenty years after the spread of television, teachers of young children began to notice that their students had become more restless and had increasing difficulty paying attention. Educator Jane Healy documented these changes in her book Endangered Minds, speculating they were the product of plastic changes in the children’s brains. When those children entered college, professors complained of having to “dumb down” their courses each new year, for students who were increasingly interested in “sound bites” and intimidated by reading of any length. Meanwhile the problem was buried by “grade inflation” and accelerated by pushes for “computers in every classroom,” which aimed to increase the RAM and gigabytes in the class computers rather than the attention spans and memories of the students. The Harvard psychiatrist Edward Hallowell, an expert on attention deficit disorder (ADD), which is genetic, has linked the electronics media to the rise of attention deficit traits, which are not genetic, in much of the population. Ian H. Robertson and Redmond O’Connell have had promising results using brain exercises to treat attention deficit disorder, and if that can be done, we have reason to hope that mere traits can be treated as well.
This is a huge and exceedingly important topic that bears study for those of us in the sciences and those who want to improve the lot of their children and themselves. Educate yourself by going to well known universities to read the research papers, look for reputable books. The University of South Florida is a great starting point, the writings and discoveries of Dr. Norman Doidge, M.D, the plasticity research of Dr. Michael Merzenich of whom I have done understudies through and know to be beyond reproach.
It is as I have stated many times in classes if you want to succeed put away the computer, television and earphones to give your mind a chance to regroup. Sleep in a quiet dark environment, use the last hour before sleep to relax in quiet thought. It takes time and practice to make it a habit, though a shorter time frame than you might imagine and the benefits will within a few days will manifest in positive changes to your mental abilities and will have a beneficial effect on the physical as well.
Single Geek, Dr. Sc, PhD Mathematics, PhD Psychology
Electronic Addiciton – Dr. David Strayer Ph.D.
David Strayer decided he wanted to test the idea that it could be good for your brain to ditch the blackberry for a week in the woods. He’s the head of the Advanced Cognition Lab at the University of Utah.
And earlier this summer, he convinced four other brain scientists to join him for a week of electronics-free paddling down the San Juan River … just to see what would happen to their brains. David Strayer was in Salt Lake City.
If you read these links an unbiased answer to the question do we spend too much time in the company of technology will be conclusively answered. These studies are just the tip of the iceberg, bearing up many other studies that conclude this to be true. The brain can be damaged through daily passive and active interaction with electronic technologies such as television, video games and bombardment of hearing overload directly affecting the brains pattern.
The CBC radio interview can be found at the below address:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2010/09/september-3-2010.html
The Brain that Changes Itself
Thursday July 30, 2009 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2008/brainchangesitself/
This is an document by The Nature of Things program which is also the book by the same name written by DR. Norman Doige about neuroplasticity and how the brain changes.
If your children are having difficulties learning or are reading below grade level, you might want to check the following website. The authors are legitimate scientists whom I know personally otherwise no connection with their research or company website. As of 2010 they in conjunction with Dr. Michael Merzenich the inventor of this program have helped one-million children and adults regenerate stable pathways of brain functionality. The testimonials are heart warming, genuine and certainly life changing and life saving whose heights and breadths only time will tell. One thing is certain these boys and girls will have a incredible impact on our world in very positive ways.
The Reading Brain (Video)
http://www.scilearn.com/our-approach/brain-fitness-in-education/brain-science-video/
Video Library: with testimonials and science interviews.
http://www.scilearn.com/resources/videos/
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I was wondering if anyone could lead me to a recognized study on the effects of interactive technologies on neurological constructions to the point whereby neuromotor abilities are modified?
I’m aware of the Clifford Nass study on media multitasking, and the study by Patricia M. Greenfield on technology and informal education but I wondered if there were any other key studies I could site.
Many thanks