From hand-held video games, to cell phones, to instant messaging and laptops, technology is everywhere. In light of this, parents and educators have long-standing concerns about the correlation between technology and learning, worrying about everything from loss of language skills, to attention deficits, to an overall impact on intelligence. So, is technology ‘dumbing down’ our kids?
“I don’t believe that technology can make someone dumber or smarter,” states Naomi Hupert, a senior researcher at the Center for Children and Technology in New York. However, Hupert is careful to point out that there are some valid reasons to be concerned about the impact of technology on children. One is that we don’t yet understand its overall impact and how it will affect us 20 or 30 years down the road. Another concern centres on usage. “Depending on how you use it, your outcome varies,” explains Hupert. Your child may learn a new language by using a CD-ROM or spend the same time shooting at “criminals” in a video game.
Language and Writing 
Does technology have a negative impact on the way we communicate, read and write? Reading expert and author of Proust and the Squid: the Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf warns that the reading brain may be lost to the digital culture. “We must work as a society to preserve the development of particular aspects of reading, both for this generation and for generations to come,” writes Wolf about the onset of technology.
These days, many children and teens use texting (text messaging) and instant messaging to communicate with friends and family. And, even if you know what ROFL or LTR mean, the vast amount of acronyms, slang and new spellings used in texts can be bewildering. Hupert’s not convinced this negatively affects language. “It doesn’t mean that if you ‘text’ that you will write the way you text,” says Hupert. “People often learn various dialects and slang…[and we understand that there are] certain ways of writing that are appropriate for some environments and not for others.”
Analogous to this, Maryanne Wolf points out that 2,000 years ago Socrates warned against the use of the written word because it was a superficial way of learning. The same thing happened with the invention of the printing press and the typewriter. All along, humans have managed to rewire their brains to adapt to new technologies and ways of communicating. (more…)
