Thai Expert: Tablet Computers Slow Brain Development In Children

[irwinfc]

what makes me sick is how Thai parents worry so much preparing their kids to enter the so-called good schools (with tea money as backup, of course). kids get sent to tutorial classes, english classes, concentration training, blah blah blah day in day out! it's so common that kids who do not attend such classes seem abnormal. from where i'm from, kids who attend any form of extra classes really need help to catch up with school work. not so in this Amazing country! what's needed here is to overhaul the curriculum and drastically change school admission policies.

[dezeure]

Probably no more than going to most Thai schools.

Id give my kid a tablet any day over a thai school.. Not just the upper brain stops but the whole thing will crash in there...

Where do people come up with this nonsense???? My kid learns alot on my ipad playing teaching games and calculating games, alphabet, etc.. And she's only 3...

Somehow reading Thai and expert in the same sentence gives me a giggle... And it always seems to remind me of their waterway and flood prevention expert, the burberry girl (YL)

[rbrooks]

Dr Wu Wu forgot the fourth part of the brain only known to Thais. The part that believes that everything Thai is superior to rest of the world. It does not take an expert in Child brain and development to realize that PC tablets for very young children will not improve their cognitive abilities except maybe in Thailand.

[bunuel]

Probably no more than going to most Thai schools.

Since Thai education remains bogged down in pre-Enlightenment pedagogics,

all new technologies are inherently dangeous to administrators, since they

might expose students to 20th century ideas.

By the good doctor's Luddite logic, it would be better to further stimulate

the senses of the poor children by abandoning inhibiting books and

classrooms altogether, and instead throwing them into the bush to

learn in the school of hard knocks.

Nothing like terror for heightening the senses!

[brd]

Personally I am doing a lot more work since I have the use of laptops/smartphones, not relying any longer so much on my secretary but my own IQ is in regression and I can not memorize more than say five important telephones numbers when in the past i could do with hundred of them......yes many more change their numbers but still.....Kids need all kind of balls games, reading books and use their brains, memories not to use proxies or delegate to gizmos.

[brd]

Probably no more than going to most Thai schools.

Since Thai education remains bogged down in pre-Enlightenment pedagogics,

all new technologies are inherently dangeous to administrators, since they

might expose students to 20th century ideas.

By the good doctor's Luddite logic, it would be better to further stimulate

the senses of the poor children by abandoning inhibiting books and

classrooms altogether, and instead throwing them into the bush to

learn in the school of hard knocks.

Nothing like terror for heightening the senses!

when raising pets and kids the first two years are similar except in Thailand where boys are carrying on to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY, not listening neither having any discipline other than to eat, eat.......with girls quite similar even though they are not boys allowed to play, play, play.............

[rotary]

Computers are a good think if used in moderation. I can tell you for sure that we are seeing in a majority of cases worldwide folks in the work place do not have the hand skills and common sense that most workers had 30 years ago but they do have great computer skills. Blue collared skilled workers become harder to find every year in almost all countries. In the USA it is much easier to fing a PHD than a good mechanic. I agree on toning down on the computer learning for these children to allow them to read and persure sports which are useful.

[FOODLOVER]

My mommie has a doctorate in Developmental child psychology from Vanderbilt University and she says this is a load of crap. IHOP (In her honest opinion, but now want pancakes)

[whybother]

"so they can use all of their six senses"

I am counting and can only find five...but maybe my brain is not grown.....

Maybe someone can put this Dr. back in the time machine and send her back where she belongs 1800.

Thais have a 6th sense. They see dead people.

Edit: OK ... I came in a bit late ...

Sent from my HTC phone.

Edited September 7, 2012 by whybother

[NanaFoods]

"so they can use all of their six senses"

I am counting and can only find five...but maybe my brain is not grown.....

Maybe someone can put this Dr. back in the time machine and send her back where she belongs 1800.

1. Sight

2. Hearing

3. Touch

4. Taste

5. Smell

6. Balance

some may also add

7. Time

8. Health

Edited September 7, 2012 by NanaFoods

[belg]

so now every have six sences? did they watch that movie sixth sence too much ? every thai person seeing ghosts all the time ?

scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaary

[atyclb]

According to her, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan shows three parts of human brain.

A Nobel gong awaits her for that discovery.

She may be referring to data from fMRI research. Allopathic medicine in Thailand is essentially an import from the west, firstly USA. The medical education standard is not bad, and numerous Thai institutions are published in recognized international journals. They may not be the world leader in cutting edge research but thy are not sloughs either.

I would suggest those making fun of her/ and or nasty comments, contact her and request references for her statements prior to forming conclusions.

After all, its not as if she claimed she discovered the lost city of Atlantis in Thailand!

Edited September 7, 2012 by atyclb

[SICHONSTEVE]

"so they can use all of their six senses"

I am counting and can only find five...but maybe my brain is not grown.....

Maybe someone can put this Dr. back in the time machine and send her back where she belongs 1800.

I was going to bring this up but had an inkling that someone would beat me to it, so we do have 6 senses after all.

[SICHONSTEVE]

"so they can use all of their six senses"

I am counting and can only find five...but maybe my brain is not grown.....

Maybe someone can put this Dr. back in the time machine and send her back where she belongs 1800.

1. Sight

2. Hearing

3. Touch

4. Taste

5. Smell

6. Balance

some may also add

7. Time

8. Health

This implies we have at least 10!!

How many senses do we have?

It's not just the traditional five.

1. sight (visual sense)

2. hearing (auditory sense)

3. smell (olfactory sense)

4. taste (gustatory sense)

5-8. touch: The skin senses

Because touch involves four different sets of nerves, the skin senses are considered four separate senses:

5. heat

6. cold

7. pressure

8. pain

9. motion (kinesthetic sense)

10. balance (vestibular sense)

[lounger]

"so they can use all of their six senses"

I am counting and can only find five...but maybe my brain is not grown.....

Maybe someone can put this Dr. back in the time machine and send her back where she belongs 1800.

er what about the sixth sense? Surely instinct has to be developed like any other. Sadly soon we will be thinking only 4 senses is enough. Im sure my son is down to zero he doesnt see, hear or notice anyone ( puts them on ignore). Not sure if he has overridden smell or taste yet....

[OzMick]

"so they can use all of their six senses"

I am counting and can only find five...but maybe my brain is not grown.....

Maybe someone can put this Dr. back in the time machine and send her back where she belongs 1800.

You don't see dead people?

[Scott]

Off-topic posts deleted.

[Publicus]

This Thai medical doctor has no sense while also managing to have plenty of nonsense. Only a Thai dealing with modern high technology could manage that feat.

Common sense makes me ask myself why I'm reading this doctor's Luddite thinking, which is well noted above, and her Old World sense that ignorance is bliss..

[Skywalker69]

This Thai medical doctor has no sense while also managing to have plenty of nonsense. Only a Thai dealing with modern high technology could manage that feat.

Common sense makes me ask myself why I'm reading this doctor's Luddite thinking, which is well noted above, and her Old World sense that ignorance is bliss..

You nailed it!!!

Common sense is the 6th sense.

[laislica]

There is some research that shows that WiFi devices communicate with electro magnetic waves that are sent in what appear to be random bursts with both amplitude and frequency variation.

This apparently is disruptive to cell regeneration and can damage DNA resulting in various illnesses.

It's similar to random street noises at night, they often disturb your sleep, from hardly perceptible to wide awake. If the disturbance was constant - like the noise from a fan, no problem, you get used to it and ignore it. Aircon varies it's noise output and causes some people quite a bit of disturbance.....

What is the WiFi associated with Tablet Computers doing to very vulnerable children?

When I was a child, TV was at it's beginning and was limited to a few hours per day. I don't think it hurt us but today I think it does damage, it's often used as a "baby sitter".

Moderation in all things?

A little TV, computer, run about outside with other children, some junk food but lots of the good stuff....

Some freedom, some discipline, some dedicated learning time, time to play etc. .

[laislica]

Common sense is the 6th sense.

Sounds good but could it also be Intuition?

A feeling?

Technology is all very well but untested by time.....

Once you understand that your body has something like 3 Trillion cells, each with DNA, you will also realise that the bacteria within and around your body numbers 30 Trillion cells, also with DNA.

Man created antibiotics in the 50's and they were wonderful but do we truly understand the long term effects? Some research is pointing to the huge rise in Autism and other diseases in children and suggesting that it is due to escalating changes in gut bacterial flora over the last 60 years - due to antibiotics - who knows.

I am a techie but I am still learning and questioning my environment.

[sirchai]

Our Prathom one teachers got a tablet "seminar" this weekend. None of them is happy about it. And they do know that it doesn't work.

[vijer]

I predict any Thai school that has tables for every student will see brain development drop. Test scores will remain the same however as students cannot be failed.

I interviewed a 10 year old Thai that has attended an international school all his life. We got on the subject of testing and I asked him if students could fail. This is hia response, almost verbatim. "They can do bad on tests but they will still finish school. They can even miss all the classes and still pass." I asked the question a few more times in different ways to make sure he comprehended the question. He understood.

[FarangTalk]

This just in: Listening to Thai experts slows brain development in everyone.

[S0S]

Looking before leaping (to a hopefully temporary conclusion).

An old Japanese study that talks about the effect of video games on brain growth: The Observer from Aug 2001.

A short further discussion on this study in New Scientist in July 2002 sheds little to no light.

More interesting insight might come from schools one would expect to use computers extensively:

A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute

And a much more detailed look:

Technology in schools faces questions on value

So, then, Computers and slow brain development in children:

It can be said that the idea of giving a tablet computer to each young child in government schools, and having them use it (extensively), has merit for the commercial development of the country's businesses.

If Doc Chanpen's assertion has substance, it may ensure production of an abundance of human resources at intelligence levels that will keep minimum wages low and help industry be competitive and profitable.

Since this should be advantageous for those that control the political process that led to implementation of this policy, it may lead to success as never anticipated.