"An iPad for children is child abuse '- Volkskrant

By: Tonie Mudde – 06/21/13, 08:00

© ANP. Child with iPad

Ask young children, minimize its exposure to computers, advises the German psychiatrist and psychologist Manfred Spitzer. “They stimulate a cursory way of learning.”

Computers, according to the German memory researcher Manfred Spitzer should get a leaflet: beware, not suitable for the developing brains of young children, high risk of addiction and poor school performance

Spitzer, director of the psychiatric. University Clinic in Ulm, is short in Amsterdam to discuss his book Digital dementia that appears next week in the Netherlands. In Germany it became a bestseller and led to heated discussions about the role of computers in education.

Computers are crucial in modern society. Then it is good therefore asked to make children know
‘Cars are also indispensable, yet we wait until a child is 18 before it can sit behind the wheel. Why? Because we know that there are risks to stick, especially in the hands of young children. With computers is no different.

‘Psychological Science recently published an experiment with boys from 6 to 9 years. Their parents considered one console to buy them, but had not yet done so. The researchers gave half the children a PlayStation II and the other half did not. Result? The PlayStation II owners went to spend less time on their homework, and their school staggered backward read and write performance. “

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  © ANP.

same researchers do not exclude that the games also have positive effects, such as friendships between boys.
“I can so few studies compared explain that just show a strong connection between computing and loneliness. “

Every new technology has advantages and disadvantages. Not you staring blindly at the disadvantages? the “Show me a thorough study is not sponsored by the ICT lobby showing that children spectacularly better reading and math with computers. Such a study does not exist. But there are well-conducted studies that give rise to great concern.

‘In China, the number of children with reading problems risen to unprecedented levels. This is a direct result of the learning to write with a keyboard rather than with the hand. Typing is a superficial exercise, draw a Chinese character requires concentration, motor skills and precision. How superficial is an act, the less it lasts.

‘People remember information a lot worse when they know that a computer stores the data anyway. That is the danger of computers in education: they stimulate a cursory way of learning that your little rears’

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It seems you deny that the world is changing. In the Google era does it make sense to learn all kinds of information out of your head
‘for brains is: use it or lose it. The less your calls on your memory, the worse it will function. The reverse is also true: the more knowledge in your head is, the easier it is to acquire new knowledge. Someone who speaks six languages, learn a new language much faster than someone who only mastered a language. We are to lead who know extremely little. Rapidly becoming generations of children in They learn not to use their memory and that we will see to what catastrophes leads. At the stage when the brain is just up should develop.

‘About twenty years Then you sit with pain in your chest against a young doctor who turns to his screen. Just google the word ‘heart’. ‘

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Netherlands begin this summer a number of primary schools that tablets just seen as an important tool for learning. Children from 4 years to get an iPad.
“So young? That is child abuse. “

Yet 83 percent of teachers in Dutch primary schools agree with the statement ‘ICT improves the quality of education.”
‘ That I’m surprised. Who conducted this survey? “

Knowledge Network, an organization in the field of ICT and education.
” Well, who of course have no interest in concluding that you should keep. computers from classrooms Part of the enthusiasm for ICT in education is in my opinion stems from a fear of being old-fashioned. Found Who now says you have to give a child a computer is quickly dismissed as cave dweller. “

You save memory researcher also presenter of a popular science TV show. What if their children watch an episode on their tablet?
“The program is intended for adults. But also in children will be easy damage. The dose determines how toxic something is, and the show takes fifteen minutes. “

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