Examining the effects of technology on children’s

education

Introduction:

One of the most alarming issues educators and teachers discuss these days

is the decrease of children’s academic performance and the escalating

aggressiveness among them. The scope of this awful fact has reached a

dreadful point: teachers are only ‘pushing’ students from one grade level to

another. In the meantime, electronic devices providing access to movies and

video games that are full of sexuality and violence—intended for children—

are booming. As children’s mental abilities (still in development) can be

shaped by whatever they are exposed to, these digital devices, used mainly

to entertain with movies and games, may have played a role in the wrong

turn of children’s education. In other words, the technological advance, that

once was anticipated to enhance children’s education, has turned out to be

rather harmful to their cognitive and social skills development because

technology marketers have set consumption, not education, as a main goal

to electronic innovations. To investigate this matter deeply, I relied on works

of renowned educationists in an attempt to raise awareness about this

subject. Indeed, understanding how technology may harm some precious

elements of our society, children, may draw parents’ and teachers’ attention

so that they act to save kids before it’s too late. To apprehend the topic at

hand, I first explained what the basic objectives of children’s education are.
Second, I showed how technology may contribute in teaching and learning.

Then, I detailed the harm the unguided use of computers and other

consumption oriented technology tools may cause to children’s health,

behaviors, and education.

A/ Education is the tool by which children acquire literacy and

develop cognitive and social skills.

I / Literacy has always been the basic aim of education throughout

history.

Literacy, the ability to read and write (and count), has always been the prime

concern of learning. Neil Postman (1994), the greatest cultural critic and the

former chair of the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at New

York University, states, in The disappearance of Childhood, that The Greeks

and the Romans did create schools to teach children how to read and write.

These schools had, indeed, played a notable role of spreading literacy to

many parts of the world. After the fall of the Roman Empire and because of

materials’ scarcity, literacy became of interest to only few people, the

wealthy and the Nobles. During the dark Middle Ages (form the fifth to the

fifteenth century), people—in Europe—sank deep into the darkness of

illiteracy and ignorance. After all, they were able to communicate orally,

which is learned naturally by the age of 7 with no need for formal instruction.

Moreover, those who can read did it word by word without knowing the

meaning of these words mostly. Some were even saved from death by hang
for crimes they committed just because they were found able to read: “The

said Paul reads, to be branded; the said William does not read, to be

hanged” (Postman, 1994, p . 32). It was the invention of the printing press

(by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440) that spread literacy,

books, schools, and knowledge. Nowadays, all over the world, literacy and

numeracy are taught in schools, and countries strive to make eradicating

illiteracy an ultimate goal to their schooling programs.

II/ Education aims to develop children’s cognitive abilities.

In this era of technology, individuals are more than ever required to gain,

through education, useful technical skills to aspire to a decent life. As I

stated above, in the Middle Ages, in England for example, just being able to

read a sentence from the Bible may confer to a convicted criminal the

privilege of being free of charge. In our time, literacy can’t play this virtuous

role (though many criminals may stay beyond the reach of law by other

means of undeclared immunities: wealth, higher status, etc.). Moreover,

Literacy alone can’t bring considerable reward to literate people. According

to official statistics, known to almost everyone, even highly skilled

individuals (immigrants everywhere in the world for instance) may lead

miserable lives if they are deprived of the right connections inside ‘corrupt’

systems. Therefore, literacy is not a final objective of education; it is a means

to endow children, the luckiest of them, with specific technical abilities,

which may help them fulfill their unrealistic dreams of being doctors (all of

them, all at once).

III/ Education also aims to teach children manners and self-control.

The relationship between education and children sociability is a tow way

process. First, according to the fundamental philosophy of childhood,

educating includes teaching social skills too. John Locke (1632-1704)

assured that children should be taught manners, shame, and self restraint as

well as literacy (Postman, 1994, p. 57). Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-

1778), however, claimed that a child holds inherent talents to be protected

from educating to manners (Postman, 1994, p. 57). These two theories were

adamantly competing in America in the 19th century. Later, a view combining

the theories of Freud and Dewey prevailed: the individual character and the

curiosity of the child should be nurtured, but self control should be extended

(Postman, 1994, p. 63). Second, Postman (1994) insists on the role of the self

control in knowledge development. Acquiring literacy requires a “self-control

and delayed gratification” (p. 88). He adds: “Manners, one might say, are a

social analogue to literacy. Both require a submission of the body to the

mind. Both require a fairly long developmental learning process” (p. 88).

From another angle, educational institutions in Canada, for example, have

recently been advocating for teaching civility to students. Ontario ministry of

education web site states:

 Character development is embedded in teaching and learning in

all publicly funded Ontario boards and schools – English, French

and Catholic. It addresses the whole student as an individual, as

a learner and as an engaged citizen, as outlined in Finding

Common Ground: Character Development in Ontario Schools, K-

12

Thus, educators agree on the importance of teaching positive behaviors to

children both for their successful learning and their well being in society.

IV/Building environmentally friendly attitudes is another purpose of

today’s education.

In addition, education scope is extending beyond literacy, technical, and

social skills. For example, in the light of the striking environmental

challenges facing mankind, many educational programs aim to teach

appropriate behaviors to preserve a clean nature and earth resources.

According to the website of the ministry of education of Ontario, “if everyone

lived and consumed like an “average Canadian”, we would need four (or

more) planet earths”. A presentation destined to teachers, “enviroed”,

defines education’s purposes in more pragmatic terms:

Education prepares students for "success." But if we consider

that our definition of success means more (more education,

 competition in the workplace, better paying jobs, more ability to

consume and acquire material goods, growing status, a life of

comfort and convenience) – how does this success mesh with

ecological

imperatives?

Educational systems should then respond to ‘ecological imperatives’ as

another goal to achieve. In the same presentation, E.O. Wilson,

Sociobiologist, adds: "A well informed, educated electorate is necessary to

make the right choices for a sustainable world. Education is undeniably

crucial."

In other words, public education should introduce not only technology to

schooling, but the natural dimension too. Children should learn how central is

to wisely consume natural resources and keep our soil and air clean. That’s

because the current educational policies in developed countries (and the rest

of the world), explicitly or implicitly, teach to more growth and more

consumption of materials. This situation can only nurture the environmental

crisis through more pollution in the air and soil, more materials shortage, and

more water scarcity, which may lead to wars over these precious resources.

Thus, educating to a responsible exploitation of natural resources is the key

to a better and peaceful life.

B/ Computers, as technological instruments, have made valuable
contributions to
Children’s education:

I/ Computers help student learn in schools.

Since their introduction to schools, computers have helped students

tremendously. Through Appropriate online documentaries and movies they

watch in class, children can see how abstract concepts work in real life.

That’s because kids grasp symbolic knowledge with ease when they visualize

its real utility in real world. Before a scientific public exposition at a school

where I was teaching, I used some online illustrations (in addition to concrete

material) to explain to students, for the first time, the concepts of atoms and

primary chemical reactions. I remember well how a grade five girl was able

to understand and explain to visitors, in simple but scientific terms, the

process of separating the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen in

electrolysis. What is astonishing about this story is that this little girl was

known to get the lowest marks in the class during years, and even her

mother expressed her worry to me regarding this issue. That progress was

the contribution of on-computer illustrations.

Computers can also play fabulous roles to help mentally challenged kids

learn. Jane M. Healy, an eminent expert in educational psychology, recounts

in her book, Failure to Connect, another touching story where Susan, a six-

year-old child with a mental learning difficulty, used a computer program to

learn sounds:
 On the computer screen. . . an animated clown presents a game

in which Susan must distinguish between simple sounds (in this

case, “Pah” and “bah”). . . .Susan is enjoying her success. . . .

Her parents are especially delighted, because Susan hasn’t been

smiling a lot since she started her first grade. (Healy, J. 1998, p.

155)

Thus, technology, if used properly, may help students progress in learning

and even bring joy and gladness to many innocent hearts.

II/ Computers give student additional skills at home

Nowadays, computers extend learning opportunities to homes. In other

words, “learning would take place where the computer is” (Monteith, M.,

1998, p. 79). As children enjoy using the magical machine, teachers can

assign on-computers tasks, such as research or online exercises in different

subject matters. As example, the school where I taught purchases access to

a private Math networks’ site where students can solve problems and

compete, and the teacher can follow their progress and assess their learning.

In a research about children’s computer use in urban Sydney in Australia,

Tony Downs states:

Many of the children interviewed described their home computer

as a useful tool for doing school work . . . .[that included]

projects, assignments, essays, book reviews, research, making

 notes, answering questions. . .finding the meaning of words,

poetry, writing, spelling lists”. (as cited in Monteith, 1998, p 68)

According to Downes Reddaclif (1997) parents and teachers think that

children need to know how to use computers effectively to access

information, as electronic media are taking lead over print resources (as

cited in Monteith, 1998, p. 75). However, in addition to mastering computer

use, children should develop strong abilities to read books and produce

acceptable handwriting. On other hand, Downes (1997) points out that some

teachers think that children who possess computers may unfairly take lead

over the rest of students. This argument doesn’t stand because teachers

should use a variety of strategies to help children learn what ever resources

they have access to. That is, both print and electronic resources should be

exploited effectively to enhance children’s acquisition of knowledge and

skills. (as cited in Monteith, 1998, p 77).

II/ Computers help teachers accomplish their tasks effectively.

Undoubtedly, computers enable teachers to access rich resources for an

effective teaching process. Dedicated teachers are always in quest of more

reliable strategies to help students advance in their learning. For this

purpose, technology can be of great service; teachers can use computers

and internet to include:

 A broader range of ‘texts’ and media within their literacy

programs, including spoken, written, viewed performed and

interactive texts . . . . Such work includes the use of technology

beyond ‘the book’ and ‘the computer’ to include telephones,

faxes, audiotapes, videotapes, broadcast television , the Internet

and other computer networks. (Monteith, M., 1998, p. 79)

In addition, since students learn better through meaningful contents (whose

existence in real world is frequent and easily perceivable), teachers can

exploit images and other visual aspects, children encounter online, to teach

abstract meanings—the most challenging concepts for students. Besides,

students in our era need to know that pictures carry meanings and are used

to send messages, not only to entertain. Indeed electronic media rely on

images more than on written texts to ‘convey information’. Images of

destroyed cities in war zones are destined to inform but also to stress the

disastrous consequences of wars. Hence, a teacher, to teach and emphasize

the importance of peace (an abstract word), can use a computer to display

an image, which may truly be worth a thousand of words. That is how

computers can help teachers incorporate electronic resources, in addition to

traditional tools, in their teaching activities.

From another angle, however, many drawbacks obscure the abundant

advantages of technology on education. Experts claim that the unsupervised

use of technological tools by children can carry many undesirable and lasting

effects on the youth of today.

C/ Unguided Technology use may carry hazardous effects on

children’s health,

psychology, and education:

I/ Long exposure to computers may affect children’s health.

One consequence technology may have on children is the danger of

overusing computers on their health. First, as Dr Jeffery Anshel, a Corporate

Vision consultant, states in failure to connect “we are increasingly becoming

an information society, and the price we are paying is our eyesight” (as cited

in Healy, J. 1998, p. 112). Hence, spending long times focusing on screens is

harmful to children’s eyes. As a result, more children are wearing corrective

lenses these days. You can make this remark if you compare this situation

with that of a decade or two ago. Healy (1998) reports that many

optometrists and experts in eye development he interviewed affirmed that

“computer use is indeed creating problems in children developing visual

systems” (Healy, J. 1998, p. 113). That is because staring at a computer for

extended periods, without changing the vision direction or blinking, creates a

strain on eye systems, which cause the “visual deterioration” to up to 90

percent of computer users (Healy, J. 1998, p. 113).

In addition to dangers on eyes, staying on a chair for long times may cause

skeletal troubles to children. Specifically, what it might hurt children is the

uncomfortable posture many kids sit in to reach the computer screen. They
may, for instance, stretch their neck, sit on the edge of a big chair or bend

over keyboards on their legs. These inadequate ways of sitting is reported to

cause children the “video wrist” illness that causes pain in wrist and hands.

Although these positions may hurt adults, particularly, causing them back or

neck pain, parents are urged to take into consideration ergonomic tips to

ensure their children a relax posture in front of computers. Furthermore,

some scientists have drawn attention to the low-frequency radiations

generated by computers. These intense emissions, “according to the

Updegroves (of the University of Pennsylvania). . . can effect biological

functions, including changes in hormones levels, alterations in building of

ions to cell membranes, and modification of biochemical processes inside the

cell” (Healy, J. 1998, p. 118), which is simply scary. These are then some

documented effect substantive exposure to computer may cause to children.

II/ Addiction to computers may cause pupils emotional and

behavioral problems.

According to many educators, there is a certain correlation between

spending long times on computers and emotional and social troubles some

children may suffer from. To many parents, a child who sits isolated on a

computer for long times is a genius, which is not true. Dr Healy tells a story

of six-year-old Justin, whose parents supplied all sort of ‘scientific’ CD

programs, thinking that dumping him with high level information would make

his IQ remarkable and his life successful. Unexpectedly, this kid ended up
having severe emotional and social troubles in the classroom, such us

staying away from his peers and pushing them (Healy, J. 1998, p. 172). His

teacher explained: “I really can’t figure him out. . . . it’s like he missed few

steps in his development. The psychologist. . . told me she thought his social

skills were about on the level of a three-year-old” (Healy, J. 1998, p. 172). In

fact, what this kid missed is enough interaction with other children and

adults during his first years, when he was confined to a computer. Indeed,

this lack of interaction during the critical period, when children are

developing their emotional, social, and cognitive abilities, may result in them

having anti-social behaviors and attention deficit, among other mental

complications.

The causal relationship between early long exposure to computers and

children’s behavioral disorders is well established. When the teacher of Justin

was asked by Healy whether spending long times on computers may have

played a role in Justin’s troubles, he added: “of course it does, and we are

starting to see more kids like this. . . .[his parents] have got a very unhappy

little boy, and I’m afraid they are in for big trouble” (Healy, J. 1998, p. 172).

Because Justin’s brain was affected when it was growing, Justin may suffer

from repercussions for a long period of time, according to neurophysiologists

(Healy, J. 1998, p. 175). Thus the extensive use of computer by children

during the early school years may carry a real threat instead of enhancing

the IQ. This IQ, in fact, counts for only the fifth of ‘personal success’; social

and emotional skills count for the rest, as Daniel Goleman (1998) concluded
based on decades of research on intelligence. (as cited in Healy, J. 1998, p.

173). The case of Justin is neither unique nor rare and illustrates, like experts

assure, how using computers for long hours may cause children extreme

emotional and social problems.

III/ Computers’ use may influence children’s attention and

motivation.

As many school psychologists affirm, spending long hours on computers may

cause many children what I prefer to call the ‘hollow’ mind disorder. Healy

reports some cases of children who, instead of having extensive interactions

with family members during their early childhood, were used to stay in front

of their screens playing those ‘horrible’ games by the hour. As a result, they

may become lazy, disorganized, unperceptive of their failures, and uncaring

about them (Healy, J. 1998, p. 182). Specifically, these kids suffer a “lack [of]

—attention [and] motivation . . . .[that] can be influenced by electronic

technology.”(183)

Attention has three features: selective, response organization, and sustained

attention. First, selective attention develops before age seven and enables a

child to recognize selected sounds. Many children living in noisy homes,

where loud media play all the day long, seem distracted all the time. They

don’t react to human voices adequately, which many teachers call “an

epidemic of attention problems (Healy, J. 1998, p. 183). Second, response

organization builds between ages seven and nine. It helps a child’s brain,

which learned where to focus, react in an organized way. Whereas some

software, labeled “educational”, themselves play the focus and the acting

role, children loose the opportunity to learn to focus and respond through

practice. Third, the sustained attention, that is formed after age eleven, can

keep a child focused even on less interesting stuff. Unfortunately, children

who used to focus only on stimulating computer programs lose the ability to

maintain the focus on something that requires a mental effort. (Healy, J.

1998, p. 184).

Then, motivation, the willingness to undertake new challenges, is built on

components that should begin to manifest around the age of nine: autonomy

and embracing learning goals instead of performance goals. Computers

affect both of them in fact. First, autonomy gives children the feeling that

they are capable of working and achieving on their own. Most of software

rather perform many tasks for users and even gives them the possibility to

avoid (through the: “cop out” button) tackling and thriving on hurdles. As

Martin Seligman, a renowned expert on self esteem, affirms, children should

experience the constructive sadness about light errors (Healy, J. 1998, p.

187). Otherwise, they would not be able to autonomously and effectively

face real-world difficulties when they materialize. Second embracing learning

goals instead of performance goals, makes the learning itself, not the reward

— after the performance—a central objective. Children who engage an effort

to learn just to win a prize, a trait to which most of computer games educate
unfortunately, could not invest time and and energy to solve problems just to

foster their skills if no immediate material recompense shines in sight.

D/ Other aspects of technology lead to anxiety, savagery, and

mediocrity among children:

I/ Video games, Internet, and TV surround kids with fear and may

make them monsters.

Television, video games, and Internet are filling children’s mind with horrible

violence and lasting fear these days. Shooting, punching, stabbing, raping,

slapping, car chasing, and explosions are daily and commonly displayed on

different kinds of screens children are hooked to. According to the US Center

for Media and Public Affairs, as reported by the web site turnoffyourtv.com

“serious acts of violence—murder, rape, kidnapping and assault with a

deadly weapon—occurred once every four minutes on the major TV

networks.” This fearful violence shown to children day and night does have a

strong and lasting effect on children’s brain. These horrors continuously

bombarding children may plant seeds of fear and engraved it in their minds.

Dr David Elkind, professor of child development at Tufts University, states in

The Hurried Child: “Shortly after the story of the young mother who had

drowned his two sons by driving the family car into a pond, I began receiving

phone calls from worried mothers all over the country. . . . Their children

were asking them questions like, “Mommy, are you going to drown me?” (p.

79)
Arguably, the fear and violence that invade kids’ minds will last for a long

time, if not for their whole life. That’s because a child’s brain has not yet

reached its ‘immune’ mature state and, therefore, remains vulnerable to

such a ‘dirty’ input.

In addition, as shows exhibiting torture and death incite to aggressiveness,

many kids end up committing abominable crimes, sometimes just to taste a

wrongly depicted pleasure of attacking others. These shows never

demonstrate the dreadful consequences of violence. On the contrary, they

always portray the killer as a hero who at the end reaps the benefits of being

a killer—seizing a treasure or grabbing a terrific women. Truly, we’ve

become a society that gratifies criminals, at least apparently, and idolizes

wildness. That s in the string of a violent environment that many children

committed crimes, which psychologists attribute clearly to the cruelty

portrayed on screens. This cruelty is learned, not innate. As the web site

turnoffyourtv.com affirms "What a child learns about violence, a child learns

for life," states ACT Against Violence” . Hence, in absence of insightful

supervision and guidance, children may grow with scared mentalities or

become monstrous ‘mad Maxes’.

II/ Video games, movies, and TV also invite children to premature

sexuality.
In addition to violence, technology media promote immature sexual

behaviors among youngsters. First, television, and all technological screens,

use advanced inventions to present seductive girls–rarely boys– in the most

suggestive looks possible. This well worked out sexism keeps youngsters,

especially, at a high level of sexual excitement, which, at least distract them

form their learning. As explained in the first section, learning requires

students to have a certain control on their sexual impulses. The media,

however, “encourages sexual expression at just the age children should be

learning some healthy repression” (Elkind, 2001, p.95). Another way media

films nurture children early sexuality is the exhibiting the real-life sexual

conduct of actors and actresses. In fact, youngsters consider these so called

‘stars’, ironically, idols and role models to emulate, especially in regard to

their inferior escapades and eroticism. Such eroticism is even directly

available to kids online and on cell phones these days, in addition to

indecent X-rated films. This is how technology media drag youngsters into

immature sexuality, and this is how many of them become children-parents,

with no parental preparedness, or catch fatal sexual diseases.

III/ Extensive use of electronic devices produces less skillful

children.

With digital gadgets at their disposal, children no more engage in serious

effort to improve their academic performance. Parents, nowadays, can’t

resist the temptation of buying whatever their children ask. If you ask any of
them for raisons of doing so, the main answer would be to spare the pupils

the humiliation of being out of the bandwagon. At least, those who began

this trend of blindly buying their kids whatever exists in the market can’t

give this answer. I’ve explained how children, according to Postman (1994),

have lost control over their impulses—immediate gratification at this level—

under influence of technology media. Hence, they should not be blamed if

they adamantly ask for appealing electronic products, parents should.

However, regardless of who to blame, under the effects of being highly

distracted by all these mind distorting gadgets, children no more invest time

and energy to learn. As Postman states,

“we do know, of course, that the capacity of the young to

achieve “grade level” competence in reading and writing is

declining. And we also know that their ability to reason and to

make valid inferences is declining as well. Such evidence is

usually offered to document the general decline of literacy in the

young.”(p. 132)

The decline Postman talked about in 1994 has become clearly unarguable, at

least in the region I’m living in. Teachers, more than everyone, admit this

undeniable fact, and educational institutions invest considerable resources to

face the mediocrity among children who, even, end up dropping schools at

an alarming rate. This decline in children achievement can, mostly, be

attributed to their focus on these alluring electronic tools more than on their

learning.

E/ Marketers seek profit through education and educate children to

consume.

I/ Often, Profit underpins advertising or selling many educational

hardware or software.

Whenever electronic corporations make decisions to equip schools with the

last technological inventions, be sure they don’t care about the usefulness of

their products, they only want to sell. Larry Cuban (2001) states “Some

promoters within the coalition seek profit from selling equipment and

software in the schools market; others seek a swift solution to horny

problems that historically have crippled education” (p. 12). The ‘others’ who

are concerned about education matters are educators, obviously, but they

don’t have the last word as to which products meet the educational needs,

marketers have. At this level, I let you figure out the outcome of investing

the wolf with watching over the herd. Indeed, some educational experts

recognize the inappropriateness of hardware and soft ware sold to Head

Start: “one expert empathetically said that the software programs available

then for young children were “limited and unimaginative” and unequal to the

“rich and complex experience of children’s play”” (Cuban, 2001, p. 60).

Another example of seeking profit under the cover of educational purposes

would be the educational portals that group academic sites. In fact, these

sites, suggestively, facilitate access to commercial websites, and make

access to educational sites hidden and tedious.

“Although ZapMe! Content editors provided prominent links to

“The BlackMarket.com” (offering products, services, and features

stories for the African American community) and the “kwanzaa

Information center (sponsored by the MelaNet Marketplace), The

NAACP [the most prominent African American organization: the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] was

noticeably absent” (Fabos, 2004, p. 64)

Marketers then, often, target schools and the youth under the cover of

educational goals to do their job, selling.

II/ Technology media orient children to consumption.

Advertising accessible on TV—and other electronic tools—intentionally work

on creating loyal consumers out of children. In other words through images,

children process information easily, get allured to their desires, and engage

in an endless cycle of buying the last marks of electronics. That’s because,

unlike words that should be translated into mental images in order for

children to understand them and process their messages, the images ‘are

already there’. Their understanding doesn’t require high level of cognitive

abilities (like those of adults). With images then children “ have access to
news, drama, and entertainment without having to translate words into

images” (Elkind, 2001, p. 80). Images have special appeal to kids, which is

well understood and exploited by marketers, as Elkind details:

-Children consume forty hours of media a week and 20 000

commercials a year.

-Corporations spend more than $ 12 billion a year marketing to

children—well twenty times the amount spent ten years

ago. . . . .

-The most frequently advertised and best selling toys [including

electronics] are linked to media. . . .

-Children are more vulnerable to advertising than adults [as ads

appeal on emotions, not thinking].

-Advertisers work with psychologists to develop marketing

strategies aimed at children. (Elkind, 2001, p. 86)

Though children are visually oriented, music too has a strong influence on

children orientation. Obviously, loud and frenzied music orients children to

ferocity and rudeness and makes them lose control over the impulses of

aggression (Postman 1994). Moreover, the power of music on conscious or

unconscious (subliminal) level of awareness has long been established.

Technology marketers play on this string too, when they target children. You

may notice very appealing video clips, with irresistible songs, advertising cell

phones and other gadgets and featuring children in extreme pleasure with
these electronic tools. In this way, technology media have succeeded in their

effort to make children blind consumers.

Conclusion:

To conclude, we have seen how technology, being in the grip of mindless

consumption promoters, is slanted against children’s education and well-

being these days. Consequently, many children perform poorly in schools or

drop school at a young age. Many of them smoke, take drug s or, even

worse, end up grabbed by street gangs or prostitution networks–the case of

mainly young girls. This sad reality is not the fruit of my imagination; each

day 7 children disappear in Quebec as enfant-retourquebec.ca published.

Most, if not all, of them, were prepared to disappear–by technology media

that orient to frenzy, drugs, and wildness. Some citizens in Montreal-region,

not even educators, have noticed this danger and began visiting schools,

raising awareness among youth and parents. Believe it or not, powerful as

they are, they were attacked by gang members in different ways. What I

can’t understand is the official indifference displayed by governmental

institutions. Though if they can’t impose ethical norms on technology

marketers, since these marketers promote the economy–apparently, they

should, nevertheless, raise awareness among the population and help

parents protect their offspring. The burden then remains on parents’ and

educators’ shoulders. They should elaborate a strategy to prevent the

negative effects of technology on children. A strategy that, practically,

convince the youth of the dangers– around the technology corners– and

gives them pleasant alternatives, so that they can play, physically explore

the world around them, and progress on the learning path.