The "Generation IM" article is very interesting. It amazes me how even young children spend so much time on digital devices outside of school. "Young people spend about 6.5 hours a day outside of school using media. That’s more than 44 hours a week reading, surfing the Internet, playing video games, listening to music, and watching TV. And more than a quarter of the time, kids were “media multi-tasking.” The article also says that 67 % of preschoolers use the computer.
"While fears of online predators and cyber bullying have made many adults wary, the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Web site states that “despite the potential known and unknown dangers of going online, this technology can be useful to develop literacy, cognitive, and social skills.” I do not neccessarly agree that using technology helps one develope literacy, cognitive and social skills. If anything, I think it does the exact opposite. I think people lose the knowledge and ability to use social skills from always being on a digital device.
You could use this article in a science lesson by having your students keep track of how many hours a week they are on some sort of digital device and then compare that amount of time to that of their parents. From there you could have your students investigate their technology skills and compare theirs to their parents or grandparents, since this generation of students are digital natives and the older generations are digital immagrants.
Although technology may help develop literacy, cognitive and social skills to some extent, I think an overuse of technology inhibits kids in their social growth. I have seen kids who spend tons of time glued to computer games grow up to be very socially insecure. Also, when kids spend a lot of time online, they are often are not spending much time learning how to engage themselves in quiet play, use their imaginations, or practicing their motor skills.
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