I latterly offer some advice on how to configure an one-time iPad for a child , and while the subsequent reaction was largely positivistic , there were the few ( and expected ) reply that suggest break a small fry to an iPad would lead to a simple machine - drug-addicted future , devoid of fresh air , firm sinew feel , and rightful human interaction .
It ’s a familiar response — one we ’ve seen tie in to novels , radio receiver , movies , television , plug-in games , television game , and rock ‘ n ’ roll . Ah , but it ’s more insidious now because , seemingly , you have the opportunity to interact in a virtual environs with other the great unwashed and those fundamental interaction are taking the place of shared - space exchange — FaceTime is replacing face time in this linear perspective .
“ But , but , but … ” those people disposed to call down will tut , “ it ’s far worse that that . These are devoid child ! How can you put such tools of misdirection in their cherubic deal live that it precede to a life story of isolation and tedium ? ”
Star Walk
It ’s a reasonably simple task to permit the aura out of the “ anything other than the way I was raised is incorrect ” fury . Many of us can testify that we ’ve thrive rather than contracted our societal round by come across people in the online man , making a personal connection with some of them , and then gone on to pass time with them in the existent earth . And I consider we can all agree that spending 18 hours a day glued to any one matter — societal connection , online game , tavern , backwash data track , or shopping TV channel — is a signal of a problem far bigger than technology . Excess is excess , irrespective of the fomite .
Of naturally when this involve children , the rhetoric gets more heated and the title of impend death more dire . And justly so , as any good parent will be concerned with his or her nestling ’s welfare and hereafter . But I ’d like to cast a petty light on this hypothesise booger and show that — at least in my slip — the experiences my girl and I have had with applied science have , in many way , enhanced her lifetime .
Looking it up
Growing up I had a friend whose family keep a large cyclopedia and dictionary near the dinner table . In the course of action of transition , the family unit discussed a broad chain of mountains of topics and invariably a word or field of study get along that want further explanation . Unlike in my family line where my father simply held forth , Bob , my friend ’s father , was the “ Go look it up ” bozo . If you had a interrogation , you trotted over to the encyclopedia or dictionary and explore for your answer . Your job was to then explain what you ’d scan . This not only helped enlighten the rest of the syndicate , but it also ensured that you infer what you ’d chance .
Today , I ca n’t swan that there ’s a bound encyclopedia within a mile of my dwelling , but I have something dear — an iPad , a web web browser app , and a diverseness of knowledge apps underwrite such subjects as uranology , geology , ornithology , and marine biology . With this applied science and Bob ’s example , I ’m the family line ’s “ Go look it up ” guy . When a enquiry comes up , out comes the iPad and we ’re all over it .
The selective information we harvest may spark extra questions or open up up hidden stake . For example , we had nectarine for sweet one Nox , which lead to a discussion of how a nectarine was unlike from a knockout and how it perplex that way . This , in twist , sparked my daughter ’s interest in memorize about plant hybridization . And that sent us to the local glasshouse the next weekend .
Star Walk
I ca n’t imagine accomplishing the same project with the old Encyclopedia Britannica I grew up with . First , the information would have been out of date . And second , I would have been bored wacky by a schoolbook - only description . I ca n’t conceive of version past the first paragraph . Thanks to the double and hyperlinked information in the iPad ’s web web browser , my girl and I could easily be a lead to more information that interested us .
Identification
An oft - used wheeze of technology chiders is that kids who practice technology deficiency for sweet atmosphere . Because , as we hump , engineering can be effectively used only when underground ( preferably in your parent ’s basement ) . And I suppose that would be whole true if it were n’t entirely false . One of tremendous things about devices like the iPhone and iPad is that they can be used alfresco . Another couple of for - examples :
While on a Hawaiian vacation a duad of summertime ago my daughter and I sat out of doors looking at the clear Nox sky .
“ What are those ? ” she asked about the three shining object line up in the sky .
Playing Für Elise with Magic Piano
“ Probably planet , ” I respond , “ but it ’s cool that they ’re in a wrinkle . Let ’s see what they are . ”
And with that I pull in out my iPhone , fired up Star Walk , gave the app my location , and point the phone at the object . The iPhone ’s display mirrored what we check before us . for certain enough , Venus , Mars , and Saturn were demonstrate together across the heavens . Within the app we zoomed in on Saturn and learn something of its ringing and moons .
On that same slip we used the iPhone to help us name the fish we observe while snorkeling . And the birds we discover and heard while boost . And , using Google maps , check out the terrain around us while visiting a vent . And , with Safari , con about Pele and the formation of the islands as we walked through that volcano .
When a child has to pay for her own books, she may opt for free.
Ask my daughter what she recalls from that trip and it ’s not the boiler - cooked white potato chips , the chocolate - cover macadamia nuts , or the sun filmdom she wore each twenty-four hours . It was the sky , the fish , the birds , the plants , and the island . Could she have come away with some of that noesis without the iPhone ’s help ? Certainly . But the power of this engineering is that you’re able to use it in a “ teachable moment . ” Pull out your iPhone , observe what you take when curiosity is at its bully , and chances are , it ’s live on to be more meaningful because it ’s relevant to what you ’re doing at that very second .
Exploration
I ’m innately melodious and I recognize that ability in my girl . However , having choose forte-piano lesson since the age of four , I wanted to let her greater pick in when ( or if ) she started exploring music . I showed her a few thing on the piano and suggested that she endeavor to plunk out some tunes ( while I discreetly left the room ) . Enough come of it to reassert that she has the knack . We eventually signed her up for lessons and it seems to be go OK .
One Clarence Day I heard her picking out the part we all recognise from Beethoven ’s Für Elise .
“ Where did you larn that ? It was n’t in one of your lesson . ”
“ Oh , I was playing it in Magic Piano and I sound it out . ”
If you do n’t know , Magic Piano is an app I quite enjoy fromSmule , the same people who produced Ocarina and I Am T - Pain . In addition to countenance you flirt tune on a keyboard , you’re able to also choose pieces from an in - app song book and play them as part of a game . The notes are represented by green dose that slowly set down down from the top of the screen . Higher note come along on the right and lower notes , to the left . Your job is to tap the screen as if there was a keyboard nowadays . Again , knock to the right hand for the higher notes and to the left for the humbled ones . When you tap at the correct time , the birdcall vocalise as it should .
From Magic Piano , my girl was able to take away some of the topography of the song — very by and large the distance relationship between the bank bill — and its rhythm . Because she has a full spike , she was then able to take what she learned and map it to the piano keyboard , with good results .
Yes , a teacher could have taught her the musical composition , or it ’s possible that with repeated listening she could finally have picked it out on her own . But Magic Piano taught her much of what she needed to do without Das Kapital - T - Teachingher . Not only did she have fun learning , but it helped instill the confidence that she need n’t be tie to a sheet of euphony to play . She could rely on her ear and power to translate what she heard in her head to complementary finger movements .
And this is just an stray incident . Because of Draw Something , my daughter is refining her sketching , with the approximation that it ’s of import to draw objects that another person can actually identify . This has contribute her to search other , more traditional , lottery , and house painting app program .
Thanks to Boinx’siStopMotion for iPad(and its accompanying remote iPhone television camera app ) , The Girl and I have tried our hand at claymation . As we ’ve done so we ’ve had to spend time learning about lighting , writing , time , and motion .
The Epicurious app is helping her learn to fix . Google Earth picture her our existence in shipway impossible when I was her age . Her monthly iTunes valuation account has taught her something about budgeting and intelligibly evaluating what is and is n’t worth her money . And as part of that financial lesson , she ’s learned that free is good . This has translate into her downloading a honest phone number of devoid ( read : classical literature ) books via the iBooks and Kindle apps . She may not be up onTwilight , but she ’s readConan DoyleandVerne .
What hasn’t changed
After watch over my daughter ’s eyes light up when encounter these now - workaday miracles I think of the things she would n’t know ( or know less about ) without them , picture the obstinate “ refreshing aviation is all you need ” crowd , and escape from my head teacher .
Can technology in the shape of too - much - of - a - good - thing smash a kid ? Of course . Just as can too many Henry Sweet , too little rest , and too little or much discipline .
But the answer does n’t lie in deny a child technology because you either fear or do n’t infer it . Rather — as it ’s always been — the answer is in parents paying attention and participating . cast off an iPod touch compact full of games at a child and provide them to their own equipment is n’t a whole lot more helpful than planting them in front of a TV all day . baby-sit down with your shaver , however , use that iPod as a puppet that teaches as well as entertains , show some ebullience for what that equipment can aid you both ascertain ( and have it off when to put it down and research on your own ) , and you ’ve gained a powerful ally in raise your tike .
[ Christopher Breen is a senior editor for Macworld . ]
