A Word about Technology

This post comes as a response to the article, "A New Study Shows that Students Learn Way More Effectively from Print Textbooks than Screens" published on October 15, 2017, in Business Insider:

Ahem!!!!

From a mama who had her child's school-loaded iPad stripped to nearly nada and instead purchased a full set of good old-fashioned, hardback and paperback text books (and don't get me started on cell phones) . . . I've been screaming this for years, and I will continue to for years to come. We deny our children--OUR CHILDREN--real life lessons that, by all accounts, could stand to be re-instituted en mass, by issuing these dagum things!

There is real value in having to go to your locker, change books, and get to class on time. There is real value in learning to keep up with your supplies for multiple subjects and classes. Real value in actually taking notes and not just snapping a picture. Real value in making notes in the margin, dog ear-ing a page, and using a highlighter. (Lisa Frank, take me away!)

We have taken to sharing and buying into "shocking" new finds and diagnoses (sitting disease, nintendoitis, and tech-neck . . . look it up) that illustrate exactly what we've bought into as necessary. Issues with basic development and hand strength, for goodness' sake, in small children and teens, programs to aid and overcome what could so easily be avoided by not fixing what isn't broken--most of which gets into social development, communication, and language . . . btw . . . ty . . . omg . . . lmnop.

There is no doubt our children in this day and age will encounter a screen or computerized gadget even if we took away tablets and such in schools. Most parents will argue (and believe me, they do--with me--a lot) that their precious will be left behind if they aren't exposed to and allowed to have this mess. I'm calling B....ologna! Most grandparents and great-grandparents I encounter have some sort of social media account, smart phone, and GPS system to name a few, all of which they learned how to operate as adults who didn't grow up screen saturated. And as a bonus, they are a delight to chat with because--HA!--they actually know how! So to say that our children MUST have these tools goes hard against that bumper sticker you plaster on the back of the family cruiser. Your honor roll genius will grasp it too.

I'm just not buying it . . . I don't agree with it . . . and I will preach it as long as I have a platform.

--Stacey