Studies on Kids and Tech Flip the Meaning of Digital Divide
According to Common Sense Media research, “lower-income teenagers spend an average of eight hours and seven minutes a day using screens for entertainment, while higher income peers spend five hours and 42 minutes.” Two other studies revealed that, “white children are exposed to screens significantly less than African-American and Hispanic children.”
Elsewhere, NYT takes a deeper dive into the growing consensus that screen time is bad for children, with the threats of addiction and stunting development and overblown promises of educational benefits. Apple chief executive Tim Cook stated he would not let his nephew join social networks, and Bill and Melinda Gates wouldn’t let their children have cellphones until they were teenagers. Even Steve Jobs kept his young children away from iPads.
Now, “rank-and-file Silicon Valley workers are obsessed … [and] no-tech homes are cropping up across the region.” Nannies are signing no-phone contracts, and Greylock Partners/former Mozilla chief executive John Lilly “tries to help his 13-year-old son understand that he is being manipulated by those who built the technology.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/studies-on-kids-and-tech-flip-the-meaning-of-digital-divide/