Touch Screen Babies

In her article, "The Touch Screen Generation", Hanna Rosin writes about the effect of digital technology, such as TV and iPads, on toddlers and young children. Different methods of handling technology worked well for different cases. For example, many people limited their child's use of technology to special occasions or small increments of time daily. However, Marc Prensky, mentioned specifically in her article, allowed his children unlimited access to technology on the basis that, "who says that books are better than screens?" Following this logic, Rosin tried this experiment, and eventually her child got bored with her iPad and left it alone. Achieving this desired outcome through a sort of reverse psychology, Rosin is curious on whether this "books are better than screens" is a worthy reason for withholding technology from young children.

"If they treat screen time like junk food, or 'like a magazine at the hair salon'—good for passing the time in a frivolous way but nothing more—then the child will fully absorb that attitude, and the neurosis will be passed to the next generation" (Rosin). ---This quote is particularly interesting because it compares screen time to fast food: addictive, fun at first but unsatisfying later on.

"And all my kids, including Gideon, play Cut the Rope a lot, which is not exclusively marketed as a kids’ game. I could convince myself that the game is teaching them certain principles of physics—it’s not easy to know the exact right place to slice the rope. But do I really need that extra convincing? I like playing the game; why shouldn’t they?" (Rosin) 
--- Games can be fun without needing to be educational. What exactly is worth learning in educational games, in comparison to non-educational games?

"Some educational apps, I wouldn’t wish on the naughtiest toddler. Take, for example, Counting With the Very Hungry Caterpillar, which turns a perfectly cute book into a tedious app that asks you to “please eat 1 piece of chocolate cake” so you can count to one" (Rosin).
--- Like we had discussed in class earlier, why market something specifically as an "kids' educational" game? This can be ineffective and sends the wrong message to the child playing the game.

In terms of confusion, this article was relatively straightforward. I don't have any major or pressing questions.