Living in the 21st century- Digital Life

Source: historyteachers. (2013, February 18). Digital Life [video file]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO0-7YAxxDY

Hopscotch, 5 stones, skipping, hide & seek, pretend cooking and even spontaneous plays we used to play as kids are now being replaced by computer games, ipad games or even PSP games in this digital world, where children of today communicate via facebook, twitter and etc.Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and even the Internet (Prensky, 2001).Therefore parents often question at what age is appropriate in exposing children to technological devices. As we now live in the technological era,children are exposed to technology ever since they were born. Those born at the start of this century, have been labelled as the “Net generation” or, more descriptively, “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001). They live in a world with bountiful digital devices such as television, iPads, camera phones, iPods, MP3, and interactive video games ever since they were born. Such devices now enable them the privileged of watch television, listen to their iPods, sending text messages, and playing games on their iPads– all at the same time. Therefore, a current issue often found parents and their children all engaged in their electronic devices even during meal time. It is commonly found nowadays at almost everywhere where such devices act as a babysit tool and minimized social interactions. However, I believe that starting children young on these electronics too can be beneficial for them with the help of the adults in guiding or limiting their usage such as teaching them how to explore some basic features of the computer and how to move the mouse for that of younger children. Additionally, using the iPads or digital cameras too may help in young children's education as these helps them in collecting information for making their own story books etc. Technology not only can help children in learning things better, but it can also help them learn better things. (Roschelle, Pea, Hoadley, Gordin & Means, 2000). What do you think?

References:

Prensky, M. (2001). “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”. In On the Horizon, October 2001, 9 (5). Lincoln: NCB University Press.

Roschelle, J., Pea, R., Hoadley, C., Gordin, D., & Means, B. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in school with computer-based technologies. The Future of Children, 10(2), 76-101. Retrieved from, http://ctl.sri.com/publications/downloads/PackardChangingLearning.pdf