

IPad: the perfect computing device for children? - suraj
http://corte.si/posts/general/ipadbaby.html

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Tichy
I guess I should create an app that plays a Chopin piece when you touch the
screen. Then parents can buy it and imagine their kids are genii.

Just saying... But of course it is interesting how kids can interact with
computers, no question.

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tome
Don't you mean "genios"? If you're going to do the Latin inflection for the
plural, you might as well do it for the accusative case too.

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Tichy
Geniuseseses??? I don't know :-( Plural of Genius.

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aw3c2
Things like this make me so sad. Why not give that kid fingercolours? Or a
xylophone? Make him experience the real world instead of simulation of
something hidden behind a screen.

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josefresco
You probably don't have kids, but I'll respond anyways. What if your kid
already has real finger paints, musical instruments and all manor of "real
world" toys and objects?

I recognized that my two children could use a touchscreen almost a year ago
when they were 1 and 3 years old. When the iPad came out it was a no-brainer.
Unlike a mouse, touchpad or keyboard, the touchscreen on my iPad is very
usable (apps are a diff story) for my now 2 and 4 year olds and makes
discovering computers a joy for them.

Yes they still go outside, get dirty and explore like any other kid. They just
have this in addition to all that "real" stuff.

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bodski
The thing is... these devices are quite hypnotic and addictive for fully grown
adults, let alone infants.

As a father of two young children, I kept them away from computers and screens
as much as possible until they were 3 years old.

Babies are wired to be learning about and interacting with their physical
environment and the lifeforms around them. Exposing them to highly artificial
and abstract phenomena before they have developed the abstract thought
processes to assign relevance and meaning to them seems to be at best at waste
of hard earned neural circuitry, at worst developmentally damaging.

We need to be gently nurturing our children's imaginations not flattening it
and rendering it obsolete via technology. There's plenty of time for kids to
discover computers, but once they do other all the other things they love
doing will have some serious competition for their attention.

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erikstarck
"Exposing them to highly artificial and abstract phenomena"

...you mean stuff like stuff human speech, maths and other modern inventions?

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gigajeff
Sorry but I'm with the other luddites here. I don't encourage iDevice usage
with my small (2 and 4) kids. I prefer them using old-fashioned machinery
(books, sticks, rocks, dirt, toy trains)

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jswinghammer
This is part of the reason I bought an iPad. My daughter has speech issues and
playing some of the games has helped her a lot.

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upinsmoke
Which apps/games helped her?

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finin
If the iPad had LOGO on it, that 10 week old baby could be learning how to
program and understand the real power of computing devices.

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hexley
Damn you, Poe!

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akshayubhat
iPad should come out with Disney specific version (in pink for girls and in
red/blue for boys). Consider the opportunities, an inbuilt iTunes store with
all superhero / Cinderella type cartoons [they will learn to pay for the
content from the childhood itself no need for RIAA / MPAA lawsuits], there is
so much opportunity in this field, I can totally see kids harrowing their
parents for one. Wonder how Steve jobs hasn't already began producing one.

