Michelle Matias's List: Preschool

• Yet external symbolic  representation such as the written word, visual images on television, and  complex three-dimensional videography are all sensed, processed, stored, and  acted on by the human brain. Because the brain literally changes in response to  experiences, these "new" (from a historical perspective) experiences (the  written word or television) cause changes in brain development, brain  organization, and brain function that were never expressed hundreds of  generations ago.
• Modern technologies are very  powerful because they rely on one of the most powerful genetic biases we do have  — the preference for visually presented information.
• The developing child requires the right combination of these experiences at  the right times during development in order to develop
• On the other hand there are  many positive qualities to modern technologies. The technologies that benefit  young children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow the child  to develop their curiosity, problem solving and independent thinking  skills.
• Computers allow interaction.  Children can control the pace and activity and make things happen on computers.  They can also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.
• So to tape a conversation and  replay it for an adult means something entirely different than when a  three-year-old hears their voice on a tape. These experiences can be very  positive and mind-expanding for a child — as long as they are done at the right  time.
• Children need real-life  experiences with real people to truly benefit from available technologies.  
• As parents think about the  future they need to realize two things: technology is not going to go away and  we are in the midst of a major sociocultural quantum shift. These technologies  are revolutionizing the world our children will live in. So our task is to  balance appropriate skill-development with technologies with the core principles  and experiences necessary to raise healthy children.
• I think the key to making technologies healthy is to make sure that we use them  to enhance or even expand our social interactions and our view of the world as  opposed to using them to isolate and create an artificial world.
• In the end, as with all other tools, adults must protect children from misuse or  inappropriate access.

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