Young Kids Learn Tech Skills Before 'Life Skills'

I guess the comment I placed under the article on toddlers and technology got me thinking ... and I did some research. According to a new ‘Digital Diaries’ study from Internet Security Company AVG,

"Small children today are more likely to navigate with a mouse, play a computer game and increasingly – operate a smartphone – than swim, tie their shoelaces or make their own breakfast."

The AVG Digital Diaries is a series of studies looking at how children's interaction with technology has changed. In one of the studies, researchers polled 2,200 mothers with Internet access and with children aged 2-5 in the U.S., Canada, the EU5 (U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Spain), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The mothers were given a list of tech skills and a list of life skills and asked which ones their very young children had mastered. Some of the results are as follows:

1. More kids aged 2-5 can play with a smartphone application (19 percent) than tie his or her shoelaces (9 percent). 
2. Almost as many 2-3 year olds (17 percent) can play with a smartphone application as 4-5 year olds (21 percent)
3. There is no tech gender divide between young boys and girls. As many boys (58 percent) as girls (59 percent) can play a computer game or make a mobile phone call (28 percent boys, 29 percent girls)
4. European children aged 2-5 lead their U.S. counterparts in knowing how to make a mobile phone call (44 percent in Italy vs. 25 percent for the U.S.), playing a computer game (70 percent U.K. vs. 61 percent U.S.) and operating a computer mouse (78 percent France vs. 67 percent U.S.)

The study received quite some attention - and criticism.  One of the more recurrent commentaries was that "It's much harder to learn how to swim or learn how to ride a bike than move your wrist or press a button..." and that it requires a different set of skills to successfully ride a bike than to use a computer. 

A more profound study on the use of touch screen technology in early learning, undertaken as part of a study for the U.S. Department of Education Ready to Learn Media Grant, the Michael Cohen Group contends that there is a compelling case for using touch screen devices as learning tools - but the study also places a lot of emphasis on the design of the learning app's that "...is as critical as the platform and needs to be intuitive in order to easily afford access."

According to the study, from a developmental perspective iPad usage can be organized in six ability and preference categories. These categories include: 

1. motor skills
2. approaches to exploration
3. game concept
4. generalization of skills
5. preferences for activities and designs
6. comprehension of App interface

The study makes some recommendations on application design, both from a usability and a content perspective and ends with an interesting overview table, including recommendations.

AVG's Tony Anscombe, meanwhile, recommends finding a healthy equilibrium between tech and tradition, and urges parents to exercise what he calls their "digital responsibility." Anscombe thinks that today's parents "need to look at making sure that we give our children a balanced life and a mix of both life skills and technical skills." I couldn't agree more.