More Kids and Computers Debate

I had an "aha!" moment today.  I was reading a debate on the Wall Street Journal forum about whether or not the author should introduce his 5 year old son to the computer. Some of the responses disturbed me, although I wasn't surprised. People used words like "taint" and "push" when talking about introducing a child to the computer. But when I saw what people though about computer use, namely game playing, chatting/IMing and restrictive educational software, it made a lot more sense. I think so many parents today started using a computer because of the Internet that they don't at all understand what's magical about computers. And, yes, I'm a total geek.

We had a bit of a debate about the topic back in November over an article I wrote about introducing kids to computers and the Internet. At the time, I knew there was a disconnect going on, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Generally, parents don't seem to know what to DO with their kids on a computer. They either don't have the time, the skills, or the interest to show their children what a computer really is once you remove all those nice, shiny, clickable buttons on the screen. That makes sense, since most people have absolutely no clue what's going on behind the scenes. Unfortunately, the computer culture we've created makes for passive computing and a lot of people are not in favor of passive activities for their kids. And rightly so.

So, this gives me hope. Sure, there are still going to be parents who are against computer time, and that's just fine. But for the rest of us, I'll find some great activities you can do with your kids that goes beyond Webkinz and Disney Learning software (both of which are high quality for their genres). I'll even create some tutorials to help you get started on the trickier stuff. We're in for a fun year!

In the meantime, please share your thoughts...