I T Gadgets Don't Make Good Presents: Thai Professor

[webfact]

IT gadgets 'don't make good presents'

Wannapa Khaopa,

Chuleeporn Aramnet

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Children nowadays appear to be more occupied with computer games or social media, which has become a serious concern because they don't seem to have time to develop other crucial, necessary skills.

As high-tech gadgets become more affordable, more parents are choosing to buy them as gifts for their children. However, two academics who have been keeping an eye on children-related issues warn parents against this.

Assoc Prof Sompong Jitradub from Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Education said parents in urban areas relied on information technology so much that their children are becoming isolated and not learning how to interact with others.

Amornwich Nakhonthap, adviser to the Ramajitti Institute and research chief of the Child Watch Project, warned that research had shown that young people's overuse of social media can affect their physical and mental health.

Children between the ages of eight and 18 spend about eight hours daily watching TV, using cell-phones or playing on the computer, though experts say children, especially those in primary school, should spend no more than two hours a day on any of these activities.

"Less than a third of them lack life skills. This is a serious problem because it could lead to bigger problems when they grow up," he said. "Our families, communities and schools are failing to foster such awareness in our children."

He also called on parents to become good role models for their children so they can be disciplined and spend the correct length of time using gadgets.

Another issue that has come up for discussion this year are two separate surveys conducted by Adecco Thailand and Bangkok Poll, which found that medicine was the most popular career among children. Engineering, police work, business and teaching were among the other top future occupations children chose in the survey.

-- The Nation 2013-01-12

[Pib]

Children nowadays appear to be more occupied with computer games or social media, which has become a serious concern because they don't seem to have time to develop other crucial, necessary skills.

Humans continue to develop throughout their lifetime....replace the the word Children with Adults and above statement still applies.

[caykay]

"a third of them lack life skills" What exactly are life skills?

[Moruya]

What about cheap Chinese tablets in the classroom?

[Kananga]

"a third of them lack life skills" What exactly are life skills?

I would imagine he is referring to social skills, independence and common sense. At least thats what common sense would lead one to ascertain.

[fakename]

I cant even imagine what an 8 year old does with a cell phone, but I see it all the time. At that age, they should be playing, not talking on a phone, or waiting for a text message! Store employees sitting around talking on the phone, driving down the street on the bike, talking on the phone, even the working girls at the beach are talking on the phone! Seems like a lot of important people, that just have to talk, so what will these kiddies be like, when they are adults?

[culicine]

I cant even imagine what an 8 year old does with a cell phone, but I see it all the time. At that age, they should be playing, not talking on a phone, or waiting for a text message! Store employees sitting around talking on the phone, driving down the street on the bike, talking on the phone, even the working girls at the beach are talking on the phone! Seems like a lot of important people, that just have to talk, so what will these kiddies be like, when they are adults?

I've seen kindergarten kids with them....3-4 year olds! parents explain it away as they might need to contact their kid in an emergency. If kids took as much interest in their phones as they did in homework, they would do far better than they are. Better to keep the 'no fail' policy in place, as the number of failing students in schools here is increasing. Social skills development at a young age is very important, as faceless technology, in my opinion, is hindering that.

[culicine]

What about cheap Chinese tablets in the classroom?

No problems, most of them are either broken or sitting locked in a cupboard and brought out when the MoE visits

[Thait Spot]

What about cheap Chinese tablets in the classroom?

No problems, most of them are either broken or sitting locked in a cupboard and brought out when the MoE visits

Marvelous

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

[hellodolly]

Wasn't there another recent thread out that said children wanted their parents to be more honest and stop cheating?

Seems like there is a lot to learn from their tech toys.

[Nickymaster]

What about cheap Chinese tablets in the classroom?

That's ok because they are broken 80% of the time.

[Kananga]

What about cheap Chinese tablets in the classroom?

No problems, most of them are either broken or sitting locked in a cupboard and brought out when the MoE visits

Marvelous

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect App

Oh the irony.

[mcnad]

Reminds me of the movie Wall-E, where everyone is so self-absorbed with technology that they've forgotten how to interact with each other and they all get really fat and can't walk around because they sit around all day in front of a computer screen. I can totally see that happening to humanity in the not too distant future.

[how241]

I cant even imagine what an 8 year old does with a cell phone, but I see it all the time. At that age, they should be playing, not talking on a phone, or waiting for a text message! Store employees sitting around talking on the phone, driving down the street on the bike, talking on the phone, even the working girls at the beach are talking on the phone! Seems like a lot of important people, that just have to talk, so what will these kiddies be like, when they are adults?

+1

[NoshowJones]

I cant even imagine what an 8 year old does with a cell phone, but I see it all the time. At that age, they should be playing, not talking on a phone, or waiting for a text message! Store employees sitting around talking on the phone, driving down the street on the bike, talking on the phone, even the working girls at the beach are talking on the phone! Seems like a lot of important people, that just have to talk, so what will these kiddies be like, when they are adults?

With the average wage of around 8000 Baht per month in this country, how can all these people afford to be on the phone so often? Especially the school children, no problem in Prathom classes, but in 7th grade onwards, I hardly ever had a class where I never confiscated a cell phone, and yes, they always got them back when school finished.

[Bluespunk]

all the kids where i work seem to enjoy playing with 'trash packs' and are socialising while doing so [well sometimes yelling shouting and screaming about someone cheating, but i think that counts]. they also have all the electronic gadgets out there and spend a lot of time talking about them and how they use them. Children will always socialise no matter what they are bought. These rehashed arguments are the same ones I heard about tv when i was a kid. Maybe some don't socialise as much as we like and for some of them gadgets may be to blame, maybe. However they are a minority.

Edited January 12, 2013 by Bluespunk

[UbonOz]

I bought my 90 year old mother an iPad last year when I went to visit her. The reason for the purchase was that I could now see her instead of just talking each week on the telephone. As she lives alone I can see if she has a problem. FaceTime works much better than Skype. She manages extremely well. Have set her up to check her bank account and other accounts.

Current technology is extremely useful if used in the correct manner.

I certainly do not play games and watch movies. I could not imagine surviving without Internet banking, emails etc.

How many people now communicate by email who previously would never sit down, write and post a letter. So much easier keeping in contact with family and friends, especially when you do not live in your home country.

[FarangTalk]

The vast majority of Thais don't even know how to use these 'gadgets' properly.

They are only aware of how to use Facebook and a few other social media applications.

[RKASA]

An online forum of people complaining about kids using IT? The number and type of toys is not the issue - it is still parenting that counts - lets stop blaming objects for people failures.

[Locationthailand]

Would the use of a 'gadget' not be better determined by the user with adult supervision? Kids will play with most anything - but many adults provide a gadget as a baby sitter. I know from my kids, whilst the school thinks they marvellous at computer skills, I have noticed their academic work is sliding. If there was a way to have academic and life skill sets on a single channel without all the other rubbish, I am sure 'gadget's (if these are the only ones referred to) would be helpful. My sister (a teacher) refers to the kids as box heads as their vision and peripheral space is limited to the width of the screen they are concentrating on.

[JurgenG]

Keyhole surgery is the future of surgery. For that surgeon use controls that are not without similarity with those used in video games. Young surgeons who grew up playing video games are better at this kind of surgery than their elders. And it is just one example.

Hunting with spears and making fire were once basic skills that young people needed to master to survive. Not anymore.

Edited January 12, 2013 by JurgenG

[Bagwan]

I'm not sure whether this is relevant but I remember that when I was at school ball point pens were banned as it was thought that they would not assist in the ability to write legibly. We were stuck with scratchy nibs and ink wells.

[bkk_mike]

I got my kids first-gen iPads for Christmas the year they came out.

They are undoubtedly the best Christmas presents I ever gave anyone as they're all still in daily use (which says something about Apple's build quality and batteries),

They use them to chat to their friends on facebook and Line (and if it had been the iPad2 with the front-facing camera, I'm sure they'd be using it for Skype), sometimes to do their homework (biggest issue there is that mymaths.co.uk doesn't work on them as it's all flash), and sometimes to watch Kids TV programmes off the home server. (Air video is so much better than anything I've come across for Android, even if I do end up re-encoding stuff to H.264 with AAC audio so that my server doesn't have to convert them on the fly...).

Obviously, there was also things like the Temple Run phase, and the Minecraft phase, where they were playing games almost the entire time on it, but that's only a small fraction of the time they spend on their iPads most of the time.

Even their 70 year old Thai grandmother has used them as a way of watching Thai TV (dootv) while in the UK, so it's not just the kids.

Edited January 12, 2013 by bkk_mike

[longtom]

Keyhole surgery is the future of surgery. For that surgeon use controls that are not without similarity with those used in video games. Young surgeons who grew up playing video games are better at this kind of surgery than their elders. And it is just one example.

Hunting with spears and making fire were once basic skills that young people needed to master to survive. Not anymore.

Yeah I'm sure the ability to post a picture on FB will predistine them to be great surgeons in future.

[Keigeman77]

Nature Defecit Disorder, google it.

[khunken]

Another case of 'experts' not seeing the wood from the trees. There's nothing wrong with giving children modern gadgets as long as their usage is monitored. That's the problem - parents are just not guiding their kids (not only with gadgets).

Children need to be au fait with modern technology or they'll be left behind, especially if their peers have it. Even without proper guidance they'll learn eventually how to make use of them effectively & they'll certainly need to be up to speed when they grow up.

[GentlemanJim]

Keyhole surgery is the future of surgery. For that surgeon use controls that are not without similarity with those used in video games. Young surgeons who grew up playing video games are better at this kind of surgery than their elders. And it is just one example.

Hunting with spears and making fire were once basic skills that young people needed to master to survive. Not anymore.

Yeah I'm sure the ability to post a picture on FB will predistine them to be great surgeons in future.

JurgenG

What happens when the time comes for several exo atmospheric electromagnetic pulses in an inevitable future conflict, or the predicted massive solar storm that WILL arrive, it's just when. You will feel a bit helpless laying there with your ruptured appendix with a surgeon sitting next to you saying, 'sorry my ipad won't work any more' or 'sorry I can't carry out the emergency operation because the computers not working any more'!

Technology should be used to enhance all the skills we possess and in no way should be substituted to replace them. Learn the basics first, when you have mastered them, use technology to make you better.