On Computers and Kids

Yet despite a wealth of good intentions, too many caregivers are being lured down a flawed, even dangerous path by makers of so-called "educational" computer games and software. Purveyors of these products would have us believe that their software provides meaningful, stimulating, educational play in an environment that helps prepare for a lifetime of using computers.

Do you remember baby food makers who told mothers that formula was more wholesome than breast milk? Do you remember agribusiness giants who told consumers that pesticide drenched, genetically modified fruits and vegetables are somehow more wholesome than their organic counterparts? Do you remember Ken Lay, who told employees and shareholders that Enron stock was a good value?

Then remember this: the makers of educational software and computer games are lying to you. It’s a sad fact, yet from experience we know that some companies will lie to you to sell you products that are bad for you, your families, and the children you love. Today’s computer games do not prepare children for a lifetime of using computers. On the contrary, they rob our kids of relevant, meaningful experiences that will help them maintain perspective and succeed in an increasingly complex world.

A bold claim, to be sure. But one that we intend to support.

First consider your own experience with computers … it’s probably like ours. We are both somewhere in our 40s. We attended high school in the 70s and graduated college in the early 1980s.

Throughout our formal education, we had very little exposure to computers. In high school, Scott wrote a few "BASIC" language computer programs. In college, he took a course on programming FORTRAN on punch cards. Sarah’s experience was even more meager.Our point is this: our exposure to computers then bears no relevance on the way we use them today. We gained nothing from this early experience, yet computers are fundamentally integrated with our lives: we work on computers, we’re connected to the Internet for eight or more hours a day, and we operate an online business.

Almost certainly, this history is destined to repeat itself. The computers of the future won’t be the awkward, tethered desktop appliances we toil with today. They’ll be everywhere, moving with us as we move through life. Their intelligence will be wholly and seamlessly integrated into the tools we use every day. Many different types of computers will be purpose built to accomplish narrow tasks … the "be all, do all" machines we use today will be little more than relics.

In short, the experience that children gain from computer games and software today will be just as relevant to their futures as Scott’s now-lost expertise in computer programming is to us today. Completely and utterly useless.

Yet if computers are destined to be so deeply intertwined with our lives, then how do we prepare our children? Quite simply, by exposing them to broad, diverse, exciting experiences. By enriching them with intelligent, inquisitive minds. By preparing them to appreciate, understand and cherish the real world that’s all around them.

For those children who will, like most of us, will become avid consumers of computers, this understanding of the world will help them better use these tools and toys of the future. Their more open and creative minds will be quicker to grasp the tools and use them to their fullest benefit. And their deeper appreciation of the real world will help them know when it’s time to set the tools and toys aside.

And for those children who will someday work in the technology industry, perhaps creating the computers of our future, the opportunity today to live and play in the world, away from the screen, is the best gift we can give them. It should be obvious: there is simply no way they can create new technologies that are useful to peoples’ lives, unless they first understand and appreciate what life is all about.

So how do you really prepare children for a computerized future? In truth, it’s simple. Encourage them to play games that stimulate their intelligence. Encourage them to play with toys made from nature. Encourage play outside, where they’ll take in the scent of fresh air, hear the songs of the birds and relish the feel of mud as it squishes between their toes.

Encourage active play. Encourage energetic play. Encourage natural play.

Scott Champion and Sarah Mayer are the owners of NaturalPlay.Com

<  |  >