Anyone who has ever spent time with a group of toddlers knows that 1- and 2-year-olds are incredibly active. They wriggle, bounce, run, roll, crawl, climb—and that’s just in the first 20 minutes! It is difficult to imagine these busy little bodies sitting in front of a computer screen. Yet, increasing numbers of very young children are being introduced to computers, usually at home by parents eager to give them a head start for school. Industry figures indicate that the fastest-growing segment of the educational software market is programs designed for children under age 5. An estimated $50 million is spent each year on software programs for young children (Morrison, 2001). And much of that $50 million is going toward the purchase of “lapware.” Lapware refers to programs intended for adults to use with children ages 6 months to two years; the assumption is that the child uses the software while sitting on the lap of a parent or caregiver.
Lapware is a relatively new product sector. These software programs intended for children under age 18 months were first introduced in the late 1990s. By that time, the use of computers by preschoolers had become widely accepted among parents and within the field of early childhood education. For example, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Position Statement on Technology and Young Children, adopted in 1996, states that “the potential benefits of technology for young children’s learning and development are well documented.” But the NAEYC position statement refers specifically to children ages 3 through 8. Can the same claim be made about the potential benefits of technology for very young children, those under the age of 3? Opinions vary.
Computer use by infants and toddlers is the subject of ongoing and heated debate among child development specialists and educators. On one side are those who fear that too-early exposure to computers will have harmful consequences for children’s development. David Elkind, well-known author and professor of child development, is firmly opposed to computer use by children under the age of 3. “The parent’s lap notwithstanding, the use of computers with the very young carries many more risks than it does benefits” (Elkind, 1998). Elkind believes that educational software for infants and toddlers is not only developmentally unsound, it is both wasteful and potentially harmful. He worries, for example, about the possibly harmful effects that staring at a computer screen may have on a young child’s vision. Susan Haugland, a professor of child development and president of K.I.D.S. & Computers, Inc., shares Elkind’s concerns: “I do not recommend computer use for children younger than 3,” she says, adding, “Computers simply do not match their learning style. . . . Computers are not a good choice for the developmental skills these children are learning to master” (Haugland, 1999).
Educational psychologist Jane Healy goes even further. In her book Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children’s Minds—for Better and Worse (1998), Healy counsels waiting until children reach age 7 before introducing them to computers. After a detailed examination of the potentially detrimental effects of computer use on all aspects of the child’s development, she warns that “the minute we introduce an artificially engaging stimulus with fast-paced visuals, startling noises, silly scenarios, and easy excitement, the brain is diverted away from its natural developmental tasks” (Healy, 1998). Healy’s views are shared by members of the Alliance for Childhood, an organization of educators, doctors, and psychologists. The Alliance for Childhood has published a report, Fool’s Gold: A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood, that claims that computers can have damaging consequences for children under age 7 in terms of their health, social relationships, and intellectual development.
The release of Fool’s Gold in the fall of 2000 generated immediate reactions from those who support the extension of computer use into infancy and toddlerhood. The influential Children’s Software Revue issued a formal response on its Web site, claiming that “more than 50 independent studies . . . show a positive relationship between computers and student achievement,” and concluding that “We think that decisions about any learning material should always be made by an adult who knows the children on a day-to-day basis and considers their multifaceted needs” (Children’s Software Revue, 2000). Warren Buckleitner, editor of the Revue, is a former preschool teacher with 14 years of experience reviewing children’s software. He contends that well-chosen software can give the child, even the very young child, an educational advantage, and that computer use in moderation is not harmful to young children.
Professor Douglas Clements shares that view, as he stated in this interview with Scholastic Early Childhood Today in October 1999: “Clearly[,] children as young as one or two can sit on someone’s lap and interact with the person and with what’s on the screen. . . . In my professional opinion, if the child enjoys the experience and seems to be interacting and engaged, then the same benefits are present as when reading a book or playing blocks together.”
It is unlikely that this debate will be resolved any time soon, because little solid research exists about the effects, positive or negative, of lapware. Computer use by infants and toddlers is too recent a phenomenon to have received the close scrutiny of careful research. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2000) recognizes that “while a market for computer software designed specifically for toddlers and young children continues to grow, little is known about the actual impact of this new technology on children’s developing minds and bodies.” Last fall, the organization made a commitment to funding research to investigate the developmental effects of computer use.
Meanwhile, though, parents do not seem to be waiting for the results of the research. It’s likely that computer use is already a part of the daily home life of many young children. In a recent article in the New York Times, David Pogue described his experience as the pleased parent of a computer-adept toddler. He never realized that there might be drawbacks, however, until he overhead a neighbor comment disparagingly about computer use by children. One of the mothers that we interviewed for this issue expressed similar surprise when asked if she had heard that some experts have concerns about computer use by infants and toddlers. “I’m shocked!” she exclaimed. “I was taken aback. It never even crossed my mind that [computer use] might be negative. . . . It is not something I ever considered bad for [my daughter].”
What does all this mean for infant/toddler caregivers? First, that caregivers need to talk to parents of infants and toddlers about computers. In interviewing parents and caregivers for this issue, we were astonished to find out how little they had discussed computers. Caregivers can begin by investigating some of the more popular lapware programs and talking with parents about the programs they use. Many of the lapware programs that are self-described as creative, interactive, and age-appropriate for infants and toddlers are actually composed primarily of skill-and-drill activities such as letter and number recognition, shape matching, counting, and naming colors. Parents may be surprised to learn that these kinds of activities are not the best way to prepare their children for school, and that computer literacy is not a requirement for kindergarten entrance. Even parents who are strongly committed to encouraging their infants and toddlers to use the computer are open to suggestions about how to make the experience more meaningful for their children.
As the NAEYC Position Statement on Technology and Young Children states, “Early childhood educators must take responsibility to influence events that are transforming the daily lives of children and families” (NAEYC, 1996). It’s time for infant and toddler teachers to do some reading and get educated on this issue. We need to learn more about the potential effects of computer use on young children’s development. Many parents’ view on exposure to computers is “the earlier, the better” to expose children to computers. If that’s the case, it won’t be long before infant and toddler programs are pressured to introduce computers into their daily routines. Caregivers will need to be prepared with an informed and informative response.
References
Alliance for Childhood. (2000). Fool’s gold: A critical look at computers in childhood. www.allianceforchildhood.net.
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2000). Request for proposal: Research on young children and computers. www.aap.org.
Children’s Software Revue. (2000). Are computers harmful to kids? A formal response to the “Alliance for Childhood.” www.childrenssoftware.com.
Computers and young children: Interviews with Douglas H. Clements, Ph.D. and Jane M. Healy, Ph.D. (1999). Scholastic Early Childhood Today, 44-47.
Elkind, D. (1998.). Computers for infants and young children. Child Care Information Exchange, 44-46.
Haugland, S.W. (1999). What role should technology play in young children’s learning? Part 1. Young Children, 54(6), 26-31.
Healy, J.M. (1998). Failure to connect: How computers affect our children’s minds—for better and worse. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Morrison, G.S. (2001). Early childhood education today (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1996, Sept.). NAEYC position statement: Technology and young children—ages three through eight. Young Children, 51(5), 11-16. Also available at www.naeyc.org.
Pogue, D. (2001, March 22). Itsy-Bitsy Spider meets the mouse. The New York Times, pp. E1, E7.
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