The Child, the Tablet, and the Developing Mind

As I finish up your unplugged challenges, I read today (3/31) this blog in the NY Times on the effect of disruptions on very young children's developing minds.  It starts with a mom pulling two iPads out of her "magic bag" to give to her two very young children who were squabbling in a restaurant while the mom was trying to have a conversation with her brother, Nick Bolton, the author.  The kids were immediately quiet.  He wrote the article because his sister wondered if she were doing the right thing by shutting up her kids with iPads.

To summarize, Nick learned: (1) Dr. Gary Small, director of the Longevity Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of "iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind", says we do know that the brain is highly sensitive to stimuli, like iPads and smartphone screens, and if people spend too much time with one technology, and less time interacting with people like parents at the dinner table, that could hinder the development of certain communications skills.

(2) Is it an electronics vs. non-electronics issue?  Is coloring on a piece of paper better than coloring on an iPad? Ozlem Ayduk, an associate professor in the Relationships and Social Cognition Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, said it didn't matter. Children sitting at the dinner table with a print book or crayons were not as engaged with the people around them, either. “There are value-based lessons for children to talk to the people during a meal,” she said. “It’s not so much about the iPad versus nonelectronics.”

“Conversations with each other are the way children learn to have conversations with themselves, and learn how to be alone,” said Sherry Turkle, a professor of science, technology and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of the book “Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.” “Learning about solitude and being alone is the bedrock of early development, and you don’t want your kids to miss out on that because you’re pacifying them with a device.” (my emphasis). She goes on to say that children "need to be able to explore their imagination. To be able to gather themselves and know who they are. So someday they can form a relationship with another person without a panic of being alone,” she said. “If you don’t teach your children to be alone, they’ll only know how to be lonely.” Read more...

 After reading your unplugged challenges, it makes me think maybe you are unable to be alone from technology (unless you are isolated from others). What do you think? You're in your 20s and in college, so you have more opportunities to see and talk to people, to develop social skills, but will your future relationships (personal, work) hinge on your friends on Facebook. If you are better talking to people in person, to what do you attribute this? If not, why not? Does it go back to childhood?

Wisdom 2.0

Arriana Huffington recently spent the weekend at the happiest place on Earth.  It wasn't Disneyland, but if felt like that to her.  Last week she went to a conference called Wisdom 2.0, which is designed to address "the great challenge of our age: to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work, and useful to the world."

The conference is in its third year, and its founder and host is Soren Gordhamer, who has dedicated himself to helping conference members find ways to tap into our inner wisdom even as we integrate more and more technology into our lives. This is also the topic of his book, Wisdom 2.0: Ancient Secrets for the Creative and Constantly Connected.

What is timely about reading this article is that it is exactly the point we discussed in class, and that the readings on our "Brains on Computers" about what we know to be true: that technology is taking over practically every aspect of our lives. "There is also a growing awareness that our increasing dependence on technology puts us at risk of becoming disconnected from ourselves. The fact that this awareness, and the desire to do something about it, is no longer confined to the touchy-feely crowd was amply demonstrated in the conference's list of speakers, which drew from nearly every sector of society." They included:

• Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company
• Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn
• Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. She's not only the first Hindu member of Congress, but, along with newly elected Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, one of the House's first female combat veterans.
• Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer of Cisco.
• Sherry Turkle, psychologist and author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.
• Thupten Jinpa, Buddhist scholar, writer, principal English translator for the Dalai Lama, and a visiting scholar at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford's School of Medicine.
• Jon Kabat-Zinn, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and author of the mindfulness classic, Wherever You Go, There You Are.

Clearly, this was not an anti-technology crowd. Most of them had already launched successful careers, and were at the stage where they're charging ahead and hitting their strides. Having spent a large part of their lives getting acquainted with the benefits of technology, they are now increasingly realizing the costs.

Read this article and link to the Wisdom 2.0 list of speakers.  After you see the list, click on the Videos at the top of the page.  As you contemplate the Unplugged Challenge, you should realize that you are in good company and take it seriously.   Rather than focus on how miserable you are, try to settle in on the quiet.

What do you think?  Are you, or others that you know, giving up some degree of technology use.  It is  a habit, if not an addiction.  Habits can be broken.  I'm just giving you a reason to do so.  Thoughts?