Maybe Low-Tech Schools Aren't So Bad!?!

By now, you've undoubtedly read the stats from a newly-released study about kids and media. You know, the one that reveals if our kids aren't asleep, they're online?

Of course, 7 hours per day in front of a screen is an average. Around here, I am vigilant about electronic time--but not hysterical. I say to myself, "Maybe it's not a bad thing." As you know, I think technology can be educationally helpful. But my kids are young, they are developing social skills, and I want them to know nature, be physically fit, and, by golly, figure out that books are their friends. In spite of that, my son got a laptop for Christmas, has a DS and a Wii; ditto for my daughter. (They share the Wii.) The other day, for about half a playdate, my son and his friend played Internet games on his computer.

They are wired kids. WE are a wired family, and becoming more so each day. I do try to point out to my children that I rarely play games on my various gadgets, but use them to work, write, make social connections, and find info. I think if/when my kids start doing the same with theirs (as opposed to only playing games), I'll actually allow more time with electronic media. (Don't get me wrong: I think gaming is great. To a point.)

So now, I am rethinking my insistence that schools use more technology, more effectively. Maybe a technologically lean school is a GOOD thing after all. As numerous articles around this data have pointed out, schools are the one place kids are NOT necessarily wired up. I've had this thought before as I've watched my kids become ever more electronically enamored. I'm actually even reconsidering my ideas about cursive and handwriting! A little.

I was in my children's school today. My son's class had been using laptops, but a few minutes later the kids were eating lunch in the "cafeteria" (gym) with just one another for entertainment. At home, they might be watching TV with that sandwich. Gulp.