I guess a lot has already been said about computers, children, gaming, addiction and such. However, I don't think enough has been said, because I constantly get pulled into meetings with parents concerned about children not using hardware and software properly.
Children know how to use hardware better than adults. Much of the time, they're faster and more intuitive about using software also. However, where children fail to pass the test is at selecting proper ethical criteria for different situations. It's not that most children don't have a notion of what's right or wrong about computer usage; it's that they don't have the developmental stage to use computers and software innocuously.
There's a reason why you can't sign up for a Facebook account before the age of 13. I hate to admit it, but Piaget was right. Children don't really move into thinking about others until their teens. Sure, young boys and girls can learn about empathy, but not in abstract terms, always related to concrete situations.
So when a child is faced with the possibility of "killing" things on a screen, posting whatever he or she wants and having a permanent Internet connection, they really do not know what to do. So they copy what they see older children and adults doing, which is texting, emailing, talking and playing. Since they do not have any filters, they end up making mistakes. The adult world tends to label these mistakes as a moral issue, cataloguing children as lacking in values. Young children don't filter what they write because they don't have the skills to filter. The vast majority of children do not want to hurt anybody when they post things online.
I remember a few years back when a group of twelve-year-olds decided to block a classmate from Facebook. It was easy. On click and you're out. When confronted with the pain their classmate was feeling as a result of their actions, these children were sincerely ashamed, sad, but ready to remedy the situation. It took a concrete experience to learn to measure the consequences of their actions, but only in that specific context. Transferring knowledge and skills is not a given.
The accent should really be placed on how and when children have access to specific hardware and software. Access is the key. Children are not any different from when I was growing up. Instead of sending offensive messages, we’d make crank calls and ring on someone’s door and run away. Children have been accepting and ostracizing their peers in groups and clubs for ages; now it’s done online. When I was very young appliances had knobs on them. Gradually they began to have buttons. I remember in the late 80’s when my father bought a stereo system that was sensitive to touch… wow! A few decades ago, appliances and gadgets were for adults only, but now many young children have access to extemely expensive equipment. Does a ten-year-old need a mobile phone? We grant children access, but then we whine when children make a mess out of things.
It is essential to talk as parents and make firm and well-informed decisions and rules about access. An especially difficult, but very rewarding way to grant suitable access it to phase children into using gadgets and their apps. I fully recommend granting access to PC applications, including games, with a mix of educational and recreational content. Access to a PC can be monitored and granted in specific doses. At home we use Salfeld’s Child Control 2011, but there are countless utilities for child protection. My wife and I have eased our children into computer usage through safe games and apps. Our eldest son has now access to a touch-based MP4 player, but not to wireless networks. He has learned how to monitor his own use of devices and his younger siblings now have a peer model they can follow.
I’d be happy to discuss concrete hardware and software for specific ages.
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