Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

JESSINTA · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 7 Location: MALAYSIA

ARE CHILDREN SHOULD BE EXPOSED TO COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE? IF YOUR ANSWER IS YES, PLEASE GIVE REASONS.

jayashany · Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Posts: 12 Location: MALAYSIA

Today, you can find computers in almost every household. And computer has been introduced into the early childhood education programs and elementary schools at the national level.When parents were asked why they used computers with their children at home, the most frequent response was "helping in learning" followed by "important in today's society". While it is true that computers can be used in developmentally appropriate ways beneficial to children, but they can also be misused.Here are some potential harm:
Do you expose your child to computer games at young age? That was one strong reason how a child will grow up to addict to computer games. When they are exposed to computer games from young, they will tend to be attracted for more graphical and motional intensive games which lead to violent computer games eventually.In addition, computer game playing appeared to increase children' aggressive behavior and affecting their ability to control potential anti-social element of their behavior. Hence, only expose your children to educational programs.
Some parents tend to use computer as a babysitter. When this happen, children could be spending a lot of time with computer. As a result, they have high potential of trouble with social interaction in the long run and are harder to engage in more traditional play and reading. Not to mention about the physical consequences of children staying in front of the computer at very young ages. One guideline is to limit young children's time with computers.Generally, 30 minutes a day on the computer is reasonable for 2-3 year olds. Most importantly, accompany children while at the computer to help and discuss what
the child is seeing or making happen on the screen.
So we must be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of exposing children to computer at early age and preapare ourselves to overcome the negative parts of it.