Global Breaking News - Thursday, May 16, 2024

Bringing Up Baby — on the iPhone
BabyFirstTV, which is aimed at children as young as 6 months, is expanding its programming. Toys that incorporate iPhones appear on the rise, along with apps geared at the diaper set. And moms and dads are freely handing their iPads over to their toddlers in order to finish that cup of coffee at Starbucks. Yet, the American Academy of Pediatrics stands firm in its belief that screen time for children under 2 years of age should be avoided. Are parents relying too much on technology to occupy their infants’ attention?
* be aimed at ~ = ~을 목표로 삼다/ on the rise = 증가하고 있다/ geared = (~에 맞도록) 설계된(구성된)/ hand sth to sb = ~를 ~에게 건네주다/ toddler = 걸음마를 배우는 아이/ pediatrics = 소아과(학)/ stand firm = 완강히 버티다/ occupy sb's attention = ~의 주의를 끌다    

 부모들이 그들의 유아의 관심을 끌기 위해 (과학) 기술에 너무 의지하고 있나요?

1. Babies Need Real Interaction
Babies gain the ability to speak and express themselves through back-and-forth interactions with one idea building on the next in a personal context.

2. How I Found a Happy Medium
After much trial and error, the way I come out on this topic is that technology should be used with babies and children as a learning tool.

3. Avoid Screens for Children Under 2
An adult glued to a screen has a fully formed prefrontal cortex, which means he can think about the content he sees and hears; that's not the case with an infant.

4. Technology Can Stimulate the Brain
If you really have to cook your dinner while keeping your infant occupied, interactive games can be a healthy distraction.

Sample Essay

Babies Need Real Interaction

When my daughters were toddlers, they became wide-eyed with wonder whenever they could make something happen on a screen. Back then, just 10 years ago, they were pressing buttons on the TV remote or, with my help, using a computer mouse. Today’s interactive touchscreens eliminate middle-man mom. They bring the dazzle even closer. It’s a thrill to watch babies and toddlers discover what happens under their chubby little fingers with just a touch.

But what are they learning exactly? With my girls, the experience definitely seemed more stimulating than simply watching. They were experiencing “interactivity.” And aren’t we taught to believe that interactivity is a good thing? But look under the hood of interactivity, and it gets complicated. Does all interactivity equate with the one-on-one social interaction that science tells us is so important for brain development? Or are these little tots just learning about cause-and-effect?

Take a look at this YouTube video of a baby boy playing with Talking Tom, a popular app based on a simple premise: Talk to Tom, a cartoon-like cat facing you on the screen, and he will talk back. The microphone in the tablet picks up the sounds from your voice and plays them back to you in Tom’s “dialect.” It’s copy-cat, 21st century style.

In the video, the little boy is charmed — and charming. You can’t help but smile at his engagement. Clearly this is an interactive experience. But it is nothing like what child development experts look for in interactions that support learning. Babies gain the ability to speak and express themselves, for example, through back-and-forth interactions and “serve and return” dialogues that are true conversations, with one idea or question building on the next in a personal context. That authenticity isn’t possible with a piece of software that merely repeats back everything you say or enables balloons to “pop” with the touch of a finger, or any number of other moments that fall under the label of interactivity. Don’t get me wrong: Authentic social interactions can, and do, and should, happen around digital media and apps at any age. But with children under age 2 especially, creating those authentic interactions will take active involvement from mom, dad or another caregiver talking and learning with them while playing.

As the developmental psychologist and cause-and-effect researcher Carolyn Rovee-Collier once told me, “I think babies have plenty of ways to learn cause and effect.” Her suggestion: Play with the doorbell. “That’s cheaper,” she said.