Editor:
Before teachers jump on the "technology train" by increasing computer use in school-based settings, (Coast Reporter, Feb. 26, "Technology in the classroom") they might be wise to consider the question: How much is too much?
Seventy-five per cent of Canadian children have TVs in their bedrooms (Kaiser Foundation, 2004), and use an average eight hours per day of a combination of technologies such as TV, video games, movies, Internet and cell phones (Active Healthy Kids Canada, 2009).
The results? 21st century children are sicker than they have ever been. One in three children enters the school system developmentally delayed due to a sedentary lifestyle (P. Kershaw, 2009). One in three children is obese, again due to a sedentary lifestyle (M. Tremblay, 2007). One in six children has been diagnosed with a mental illness (C. Waddell, 2007), and one in six is on some form of psychotropic medication (J. Zito, 2002). Child aggression from media violence exposure has now been categorized a public health risk (L. Huesmann, 2007), causing significant behaviour management problems in both home and school settings. Half of Canadian Grade 8 students do not have job-entry literacy (Human Development Index, 2007).
The incremental rise in physical, mental, behavioural, social and academic disorders as a result of technology overuse has caught the education and health care systems unawares and wholly unprepared for the devastation yet to come. While there is minimal research showing a computer can actually "teach" a child anything and surmounting research showing that any time spent in front of a computer is detrimental to child development, why is School District No. 46 blindly moving full steam ahead with initiatives to expose children to even more technology in the classroom-based setting?
Cris Rowan, Sechelt
