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AS schools across the kingdom press ahead with plans to introduce more digital learning in the classroom, a word of warning has been voiced by health experts.
The two-year-old who can nimbly use an iPad or kill a gazillion monsters playing a video game isn’t necessarily a genius, said Professor Manfred Spitzer, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist.
That child could be en-route to trouble with memory and thinking, a condition he and others call ‘digital dementia’.
“When you use the computer, you outsource your mental activity,” Prof Spitzer said in a recent talk. While computers can be fine tools for adults who are using their minds all day long, they’re poison for kids, he claimed.
Prof Spitzer, medical director of the Psychiatric University Hospital in Ulm, Germany, has published Digital Dementia: What We and Our Children are Doing to our Minds. His conclusions are stark: Digitalizing classrooms can have a negative effect on learning, especially in young children, undermining the neuroplastic capacity of their brains. And, in contrast, there are no independent studies ‘that unequivocally establish that computers and screens in the classroom make learning more effective’.
Over time, learning is stunted, and reliance on digital devices results in dependency. “In reality”, concluded Professor Spitzer, “using digital media in kindergarten or primary school is actually a way of getting children addicted.”
And additionally, the multi-tasking that comes with smart phones, tablets and computers inhibits concentration and impedes the development of the right side of the brain.
Although some say those fears are overblown, the American Academy of Paediatrics has also raised concerns.
The academy said that ‘unstructured playtime is critical to learning problem-solving skills and fostering creativity’.
“Media use has been associated with obesity, sleep issues, aggressive behaviour and attention issues in preschool and school-aged children,” the academy said.
Parents should limit screen time for children of all ages to two hours a day and set ‘screen-free zones’, including bedrooms, the academy suggests.
The term ‘digital dementia’ was coined a few years ago in South Korea, home to one of the highest digital-using populations. Doctors reported seeing young patients with memory and cognitive problems, conditions more commonly linked to brain injuries.
Many children don’t memorise anything because they can ‘Google it’, Prof Spitzer said. He argues that multi-tasking and clicking around are distracting and contribute to low attention and impair learning.
“The more you train kids with computer games, the more attention deficit you get,” he claimed. Prof Spitzer believes the minimum age for media consumption should be between 15 and 18. He sees children with high frustration and stunted social skills. “The more time you spend with screen media … the less your social skills will be,” he added.
Warren Spector, director of the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy at the University of Texas, claimed that Prof Spitzer’s arguments were the same ones social critics and researchers made about movies, TV, comic books and rock ’n’ roll music. “Today, all of those media are widely accepted as legitimate art forms,” he said. “They’re studied in universities. And their effects on children and adults are considered ambiguous, at most.”
St Christopher’s School has recently announced controversial plans to ensure all pupils bring iPads and lap-tops to school, as reported in GulfWeekly.
