Children should be banned from using computers in schools until they are at least nine years old because it is a threat to their cognitive development, a leading expert said yesterday.

 

Psychologist and author, Dr Aric Sigman says that the premature introduction and overuse of technology is damaging young children whose brains are not yet fully formed. As a result, the controversial ‘nappy curriculum’,  which says that computers should be introduced from 22 months and that from 40 months children should be able to ‘perform simple ICT functions’ risks ‘subverting the development of children's cognitive skills’.

 

Speaking to a conference of childcare specialists yesterday, Dr Sigman, author of Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives, said children needed to use the three dimensional, real world to learn.

  

Dr Sigman says:

 

‘The young brain needs to be primed through real world 3D experiences that place plenty of cognitive demands on it. Children need to hold, feel, rub, taste, see and move real things to educate their neurological and cognitive infrastructure with a basic understanding of the real world.

 

He continues:

 

‘There is evidence to show that introducing information and communication technology in the early years actually subverts the very skills that Government ministers said they want children to develop, such as the ability to pay attention for sustained periods. There is a conflict between multitasking and sustained attention. These things cannot and should not be developed at the same time. Sustained attention must be the building block.

 

The big problems we are seeing now with children who do not read, or who find it difficult to pay attention to the teacher, or to communicate, are down to attention damage that we are finding in all age groups.’

 

Dr Sigman, who describes screen-based technology as the ‘flavour enhancer’ of the educational world, says that ‘stimulating a young child through strong audio-visual sensations is not the same as inspiring or educating a child’ and whilst screen technology can be an important tool in learning, it should feature in schools much later than it does at the moment.

 

He says:

 

‘It must be introduced and used judiciously at much later ages – ideally at least age nine – or it can subvert the development of the cognitive skills and curiosity it was intended to foster and enhance. We risk infantilising the child's mind by spoon-feeding it with strong audio-visual sensations.’

 

 

Research evidence on the effect of ICT on children's learning, social development and health is mixed but the debate is becoming increasingly polarised. In the US a number of studies show that age-appropriate software can bring benefits in areas like language development. However, other research suggests that prolonged television and computer viewing stunts brain development.

  

Dr Sigman, a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and associate fellow of the British Pscyhological Society, dismissed arguments used by some academics and the education technology industry to justify exposing very young children to computer use. He says:

 

‘We’re pressured to believe children must start technology early and use more or ‘they’ll lose out’. The risk is not that children lose out from starting late but lose out by starting too early.’

 

He continues:

 

‘The rationale behind [the argument] is that children are interested in these things and that it is the world that children are growing up in. Therefore we must have them getting to grips with it at 22 months. Children might be interested in alcohol, hand guns and pornography – that doesn't mean we should give them access to these things. Just because children are interested in something, it does not mean by any stretch of the imagination, that it is in their interests to expose them to these things.

 

Children may well be good at using technology but monkeys can learn to use new technology, it is not necessarily something to strive for in itself.’

 

What are your thoughts on this story? Is 22 months too early to be introducing children to ICT? Or is ICT such a big part of the world today that children should become familiar, at least in basic terms, from a young age? We’re keen to hear your views, log in or register for free to share your thoughts and opinions with the rest of the bee-it community.