Digital devices are good for children - moderator's introduction

I can remember how it was just a few years ago, when facebook didn’t exist or iPads hadn’t yet been launched. The devices we could have access to were televisions and computers, and every family wouldn’t have one. But nowadays, children are growing up in a very different environment. Computers are widespread, the number of mobile phones has skyrocketed, tablets can be seen everywhere and almost nobody, at least in the developed countries, can imagine life without Internet. Not only that, but when a few years ago most devices were used mainly for work by the adults, they are now used even by the youngest. That is changing completely how children are being brought up and how they see the world. And the differences with how their development could have been before are just going to become more numerous as digital devices spread. (Continues below the fold.)

by CB 

Like it or not, children will have more and more possibilities to use digital devices. That statement raises an issue about whether or not digital devices are good for children and their development. This is why we decided that this week’s debate motion should be “this House believes that digital devices are good for children”.

Some are convinced that these devices can bring only benefits, and have started embracing them. A few teachers believe that it helps children’s creativity, makes classes more dynamic and makes learning easier. They try to include the use of digital devices in their lessons, be it by taking their pupils to a computer room or making them use their phones to look up things on Internet. Tablets are even being used in nurseries. Having fun seems to help learning a lot, and digital devices just might be the right thing to entertain children. And using them from an early age allows them to master the devices much faster than adults. That can be a very useful thing in a world that seems to be wanting people to use new technologies, be it for work or in everyday life.

But others point out the fact that there are drawbacks. First of all because some think that digital devices might hinder creativity. Many think that they cause the attention span of children to decrease, and studies have been conducted on that subject. Scientists aren’t quite sure yet of how using these devices alters the development of children’s brains, and it will take a few years before we can really measure the effects. Not only that, but it seems that children can get addicted to digital devices. For example, when a child is not able to use his phone less than five hours a day, it doesn’t seem very healthy. 

And children may be unhappy if they use digital devices. There are a lot of examples where they are insulted or harassed through social media. However, some young girls try to get insulted for fun, because it seems that they like the attention.

As you can see, there are quite a few questions around the use of digital devices. Creativity seems to play an important part in the debate. But there are quite a few other questions, like the attention span, and whether or not it is necessarily bad to have a lower attention span in a world filled with technology. Or even children’s happiness and how digital devices have an impact on it.

So now let the debaters try and convince us.

CB