Today I received an email with the following catchy subject line: Newsflash: 3-year old tosses PDA out car window!
My first thought upon reading this was, "good for you kid! stick it to the man." Then I opened the email only to belatedly realize it was actually a marketing promo for a new toy from LeapFrog. Here's the teaser link to the landing page. I invite you to take a quick look and then read on.
You back? Ok.
First off, are they effing serious!?
Look. If your kids are desperately trying to get their hands on your PDA of choice, the best solution might not actually be to go out and buy them one of their very own. Instead, you may want to put the goddamn thing down for five minutes and pay attention to your children!
Don't get me wrong. I'm as guilty as the rest of you when it comes to getting sucked into technology when I should be focusing on my kids. And I'm not a complete luddite in terms of technology and children. At some point, kids should learn how to operate a computer, a cell phone, and other devices. These things are here to stay and a kid who has no idea how to use a keyboard or surf the internet is going to be sorely disadvantaged.
But a PDA for preschoolers? Come on LeapFrog. Here we have the perfect example of an innovative toy company squandering its resources to churn out crap.
Let me get this straight. Are they suggesting we parents hand this little gem over to our three and four-year olds so they can stay occupied while we stare at our Crackberries for hours on end? Do we really want to teach our kids that it's ok to tune out their surroundings and instead focus their attention on a hand-held device? Of course I realize this isn't a real PDA for little kids...just a wanna-be that claims to teach them their ABCs. I personally don't care if the damn thing can teach them calculus! The bottom line is, a toy like this is designed to stop kids from interacting with the outside world. And that, frankly, is the last thing kids these days need.
Lest you think I'm overreacting, let me further explain why this toy irks the hell out of me. A lot of studies have been done over the past 30 years with regards to how young children learn. And turns out, kids who are given free-play time outdoors and indoors and given the opportunity to tap into their innate creativity, generally turn into well-adjusted, confident, and intelligent adults. Conversely, kids who spend the majority of their time interacting with things as opposed to people and nature never really learn how to connect with those around them. They are generally more aggressive, have shorter attention spans, and lack the empathy and problem-solving skills of their peers.
Of course, I'm totally oversimplifying things here. There are myriad reasons why some kids struggle and others don't. Over-exposure to technology is likely just one of many contributing factors. But I guess it pisses me off that we keep pushing young children to resist their natural desire to explore their surroundings by foisting ridiculous, battery-operated, plastic crap on them. And especially knowing as much as we do today about how young children learn, its just plain irresponsible.
PS Two excellent NPR interviews that discuss what I've been ranting and raving about above: here and here
PPS Full disclosure: M has a V-Tech laptop toy given to her by my mom a few birthdays ago. My mom now admits she bought it in a fit of senility
PPPS Oh, and M LOVES her mini-laptop
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