THE BRAIN LEARNS BEST FROM REAL LIFE

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the use of electronics with young children. There are many that see value in using electronic devices for learning early. There are also large numbers of people that are very opposed to children being introduced to electronics at young ages. 

Due to all I know about how the brain learns best, electronic devices do not provide optimal learning experiences. Research clearly demonstrates that play and interactive experiences have a direct and very positive impact on healthy brain development.

Brains are born ready to learn. Through opportunities to explore, touch, taste, smell, hear, poke, pound, pour, manipulate, and throw children directly experience and learn about the world. This is real learning and this is what developing brains need most.

Through “hands on” experiences young children find out how things work. Through play children find out they can make things happen and they have an effect on their world. When children interact with family members or friends they have the chance to develop social skills. Outdoor activity has been found to not only help develop physical abilities, but nature and movement greatly enhance healthy brain growth.

A young child will not learn how a ball bounces and rolls if he only experiences balls through a computer game. He also will not know how to throw or kick a ball when watching a video or television show. When children are using electronic toys and games, this is a missed opportunity for real learning and strong connections being made in the brain.

One mother wanted to find out what life would be like if her teens were no longer using electronics. In the article, What happens when mom unplugs teens for 6 months?, the following was shared:

"Susan Maushart lived out every parent's fantasy: She unplugged her teenagers.

For six months, she took away the Internet, TV, iPods, cell phones and video games. The eerie glow of screens stopped lighting up the family room. Electronic devices no longer chirped through the night like "evil crickets." And she stopped carrying her iPhone into the bathroom.

The result of what she grandly calls "The Experiment" was more OMG than LOL — and nothing less than an immersion in RL (real life).

As Maushart explains in a book released in the U.S. this week called "The Winter of Our Disconnect", she and her kids rediscovered small pleasures — like board games, books, lazy Sundays, old photos, family meals and listening to music together instead of everyone plugging into their own iPods."

So if numerous benefits occur as a result of "unplugging" teens, my question is, why would we want to start providing these gadgets in the pre-school years? A majority of physical brain development occurs from birth to age 5, so developing brains will make the best connections when "plugged in" to the real world!!