A Flat Life ...

TV or Not TV ... That is the Question!

Well, the question isn't about whether to ever allow computer, TV, video time for young children.  It is more about how much "non-virtual reality" (that is, "reality") time do our children have to explore the range and depth of and interact with their environment, from their beds to the backyard to different wildlife preserves to star-gazing?  These activities develop their sensory acuity and visual perception, auditory acuity and appreciation, eye-hand coordination, depth perception, sense of smell and touch. This is especially true when our children are very very young - birth to five, say.  So much neural activity, growth, connecting, and integration is happening!  Every minute of free-explorative time develops all kinds of perceptual ability, visual and auditory acuity, spatial orientation, eye-hand coordination, distance estimation, balance, ...  

Do this experiment- really: Go lie down in your backyard, on the grass or flower bed or wood chips. What can you see?  What can you hear?  How many different shades of colors can you perceive?  What is moving and what is still? What are you lying on?  How does it feel?  How far away is the farthest sound coming from?  What is making it?  Can you see it? How many different smells can you smell by moving just a few inches, or rubbing on something?  What is the closest thing you can focus on clearly?  What is the farthest thing you can see? What is the farthest you can reach from where you are?  What is the farthest you can crawl before hitting an obstacle?  What taste do you have in your mouth at the moment?  What would it be like to fly up in the sky like that bird?  How high is that cloud? (Get it? This is endless. Whole cities of ants are probably digging and search within a few feet of you ... )  When our children spend time "playing" in this kind of rich environment, it stretches their developing neural network, preparing it for living a full, vibrant, and appreciative physical life (in the real world), and this in turn develops your child's ability to imagine and create. (It also helps them "center" themselves emotionally and build self-confidence.) 

Neurology: Certain neural cells are inherently waiting for certain specific stimulation to grow and make connections, or they will be lost.  For example, there are certain specific neurons that are used to identify faces, and certain other ones that associate specific faces with the emotional specifics of that person. These cells (or ones similar) are also used to identify, remember, and relate to others: 

"Our 'face cells,' already present at birth, need experience to develop fully.  It is similar with many other capacities, from stereo vision to linguistic power: some predisposition or potential is built in genetically but requires stimulation, practice, environmental richness, and nourishment if it is to develop fully.  Natural selection may bring about the initial predisposition, but experience and experiential selection are needed to bring our cognitive and perceptual capacities to their full realization."        [Sacks, Oliver, The Mind's Eye, Alfred Knopt, 2010, pg 101-102.]

Why not drop your child down into a huge pile of blocks or sticks or paper, or into a playroom set up like a house with dress-up clothing, rather than in front of a computer or TV?  Will he complain he is bored?  That's good! That just means you may have a little "role-playing" to do - like jump into the pile of stuff and use your own imagination: build your dream house, or space station, and let your child help or observe.  This will pay off not just for your child's development, but will give you more time later to do the things you love doing (or just have to do, like cooking or reading or mowing the lawn) while your child engages her own imagination, "playing" happily and satisfying her need to learn and experiment.

 

I'm not saying there shouldn't times for watching videos or playing video games, or exploring things on the computer.  It's not bad or wrong to do that.  Just remember that those times take the place of time that our children could spend enriching her experience and appreciation of both her own physical beauty and ability, and her sense of beauty, depth, and functioning in the world around her.  It is about what you really want for you and your child's future.   Comment?