Children Becoming ‘Addicted’ To Computers

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kids-computers-internetThe Telegraph of England reports: Children’s access to smartphones and computers should be limited to stop them becoming “addicted” to electronic gadgets, according to a schools’ leader.

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said young people’s reading and conversational skills were being put at risk by overexposure to modern technology.

He said parents should resist buying sons and daughters a smartphone until they are at least 15 and limit computer use to an hour or two a day.

Mr Lenon, the former headmaster of Harrow School, also called for the greater use of multiple choice questions in exams, saying they were an effective method of covering more of the syllabus and less susceptible to marking errors.In an interview, he said that exposure to computers was particularly damaging to boys, harming their long-term development.”Far too many children, and particularly boys, become quite addicted to computer use,” he said.

“It is very hard to prevent children from accessing damaging material through the computer, but the main issue is that children spend far too long on computers and, as a result, they are not doing the two things that we want [them] to do, which are reading and conversation.”

Mr Lenon told The Times that parents should be advised to restrict children’s access to computers and televisions in favour of reading stories together.

He also said computer use should be limited to one hour a day for children aged up to 12 and two hours for older pupils.

{The Telegraph/Matzav.com Newscenter}


7 COMMENTS

  1. The brain will grow and prosper with computers of course and this is a very smart and good thing of course. So if you are a child today, get yourself out and run around, but do not go too crazy with the computer, unless you might have aspirations to be a blogger, computer programmer, writer, doctor, astronaut, professor or any other calibre of profession.

  2. Let me ask…..who in this technological age is not addicted to the computer or other electronic gadgets? What exanple are the adults in todays generation giving? Can we expect our children to be better than the adults who can’t put their cell phones, blackberries etc. down for 2 minutes to communicate with their children? The article should have read….”Children and Adults addicted to the computer.”

  3. Do parents, teachers, educators, etc. realize the damage they are doing to young ‘developing’ children with so much computer use? The eyes, and everything else has to be affected and also they lose valuable time playing outside and getting the proper vit. D from the sun. Parents should think of that first – it’s the health of their children.

  4. Obviously, we don’t need the Telegraph to tell us the obvious. But I do want to say, we in our home ‘used’ to have 2 laptops and iPad- seeing the destructions it was doing to our kids – less attentive, addicted to games, not listening and affecting school work- we did the impossible and cancelled the our internet connection. It was very hard (and still is – as there are times we need to fill forms or quickly pay a bill). But we did it and we’ve seen improvements almost immediately.

    I use the internet in the office when we need to buy something, look something up ( even sometimes use our blackberries to look up things)

    It’s not easy- but it was the right choice. I think in the years to come- we will be evermore grateful for our decision.

  5. This fellow has a problem. He opposes computers because they take time away from reading, then advocates multiple choice tests where no writing skills are required. Maybe the teachers find multiple-choice easier than essays because the teachers have a reading problem? I’ve taught (undergraduate level) and I can tell you that nowadays the college textbooks come complete with multiple-choice “test banks” so the teachers don’t even have to make up the tests themselves. Maybe the teachers should stay away from the TV while they’re advocating that the kids stay away from computers?

  6. firstly, i agree with #2. Adults are extremely addicted to their ‘connections’.. how often i walk down the block and a couple walking together are each talking on the phone, etc…
    secondly, KUDOS to #4.
    and finally, its nice to see this coming from the outside world,
    additionally, i think this video is a must for everybody to see whats going on in this world
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45FJOcXIbx0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSAa43o3n8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
    its a two part video total under 20 minutes and will change your outlook on this topic, GUARANTEED!

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