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Kids Can Swipe a Screen But Can't Use LEGOs

Posted by Soulskill on from the also-struggle-with-concept-of-hopscotch dept.

SpankiMonki sends this news from The Guardian: "Children are arriving at nursery school able to 'swipe a screen' but lack the manipulative skills to play with building blocks, teachers have warned. They fear that children are being given tablets to use 'as a replacement for contact time with the parent' and say such habits are hindering progress at school. Addressing the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference in Manchester on Tuesday, Colin Kinney said excessive use of technology damages concentration and causes behavioural problems such as irritability and a lack of control."

5 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Relevant Skills by msobkow · · Score: 5, Informative

    The issue is not the building blocks themselves, but the serious lack of coordination skills on the part of the children.

    If you can't get a couple of blocks to snap together, how are you going to deal with tying your shoes?

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  2. Re:most lego's are a rip off by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I didn't know that the bricks could only be used once, and in one specific order.

  3. Re:most lego's are a rip off by Kielistic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Allow me to blow your mind. Those same pieces can be used to build what ever you can imagine. Then they can be taken apart and used to build something totally different. The instructions are only a suggestion.

  4. Re:Parents fault by radtea · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most parents today are horrible.

    So, just like all parents have always been everywhere, except in the halcyon myths of ahistorical memory, then.

    Stories like this are hilarious. Do people really think that "moral panic over new tech" is going to sell to anyone who's been paying attention, well, ever?

    Bad parents will always parent badly. New tech has nothing to do with it. Removing new tech from bad parents won't make them better. It will make them parent badly in different ways.

    --
    Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
  5. Re:most lego's are a rip off by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Reminds me of one of the most frustrating realizations of my life. When I was a kid, I was a big fan of Lego. I often asked for lego as gifts but rarely got any.

    As an adult, I found out why. My mom asked me what a little boy in the family might want as a gift. I asked what he was into, and one of the things was Lego. Apparently he was a big fan too.

    "Then you can't go wrong with more Lego," I said.

    My mom replies "But he already has Lego."

    *GIANT FUCKING FACEPALM*

    Now it all made sense :-(

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel