Moving To Learn, Exploring the Effects of Technology on Children
Moving To Learn is a new website specifically for parents who are struggling with what to do with their kids’ use/exposure to high tech wireless technology. Lots of excellent articles and a must for schools and parents concerned about the unintended consequences of our growing addiction (dare I say enslavement) to new technology. A much needed site!
Don
Excerpts from the website.
Arousal Addictions “” The final frontier for families
Working with families who overuse or are addicted to technology, has been an eye opener into a world of child deprivation, isolation, and neglect. Mom”s obsessed with Facebook, and Pinterest, and Dad”s immersed in video games and porn, are leaving children on their own to fend for themselves. Seemingly safe and happy hiding behind screens, today”s tech families are actually sliding down a slippery slope toward addictions without a care in the world. Thinking they are preparing their young child for the future by handing them a device, today”s parents appear oblivious to the damage their deprivation and neglect wreaks on their children. Gone are family outings, regular meal times, naps, and anything that even resembles meaningful conversation. Children are getting lost in the fray of tablets, phones, and endless devices which separate them from the love and attention that determines their very existence. Drifting deeper and deeper into the abyss of arousal addictions, the art of parenting is now only an afterthought, if that. Parents either have forgotten what it means to parent, or simply don”t care anymore, and their neglected children are falling through an increasingly widening chasm into the abyss. The consequences of child neglect are harsh, both for the family and society in general, and in many cases, are irreversible. Schools plead for more support as they struggle to manage severe behaviours associated with not only neglect, but also prolonged exposure to violent and fast paced media content. As humanity”s desensitization to sexual and physical violence intensifies, cyberbullying, fights, swearing, rapes, and violent crimes committed by children escalate. Prolific and unrestricted technology use by today”s family has resulted in whole family arousal addictions, indicating we may have reached the final frontier in family dysfunction.
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Ten reasons to NOT use technology in schools for children under the age of 12 years
Refuse to Use is a world-wide Movement by responsible and futuristic thinking parents and teachers to ban all school-based technology for children under 12 years of age, and bring back tried and true methods of teaching. The 0-12 years are formative for brain and body development, and are a fragile time when deprivation and damage can be permanent. Four critical factors for enhancing child development, behaviour, and learning are movement, touch, connection, and nature. Technology stops children from engagement in these critical factors. Technology is sedentary, isolating, overstimulating, and results in child neglect, causing delays in child development, problematic and difficult to manage behaviours, as well as limited attention and learning ability. Teachers teach, not technology. Join the Refuse to Use Movement by reading “Ten reasons to NOT use technology in schools for children under the age of 12 years”, and signing below petition to show your support.
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From Real to Virtual “” The alarming trend toward transhuman behavior in children
Envisioning the future has proven to be an effective technique for those children who are obsessed with present pursuits, such as playing video games every waking minute. So, as a pediatric occupational therapist working with these young warriors, I regularly ask them “What do you want to be when you grow up”. A few years back, the response was “I want to design video games”; today it”s “I want to be ________ (a video game character)”. The further and further children become immersed in the virtual world, the harder it is for them to cope with the problems and challenges of real life. Everyday life for today”s child is fraught with meaningless activity, endless challenges, and people who don”t do what they want. Video games are predictable, controllable, and they”re an instant star. TV offers them opportunity to pretend they”re someone else, seconded by Facebook, texts, and tweets. Google offers an endless stream of facts, just enough to impress attention deficit adults. The result? The desire to escape from the real world to the virtual gets stronger and stronger, as does the desire to become the false image created on Facebook, to become the TV, sports, or gaming character, to become the device, to become transhuman. Meaning “beyond human”, transhuman
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Read these articles and much more here
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