Fernando García Fernández and Xavier Bringué Sala. Educar hij@s interactiv@s
Educating interactive children. A practical reflection on screens. Institute of Family Sciences. University of Navarra, 2007
Magnificent guide to guide parents and educators on the ‘good governance’ of screens (Internet, video games and mobile phones) on their children and students. The authors of the short essay, full of good pedagogical sense, have extensive educational experience with children and adolescents, are lecturers and researchers at the Faculty of Communication at the University of Navara, and have carried out internationally recognised studies on the use of digital media by children and young people, in Spain and Latin America.
(www.educared.net/generacionesinteractivas).
The first chapter of the book provides a realist description of the psychological and character reasons of the interactive generation, which presumably remains tied to a ‘cultural technological system’ of learning other than oral culture or even a passive visual culture (TV). The advantages and disadvantages of the digital generation versus the literary generation are summarily identified, without scientific pretension: the ‘digital’ youth or adults are faster in searching and processing relevant information, they show themselves capable of developing several activities simultaneously (multitasking), they access texts in a non-linear and consequential way, they are more active and ‘connective’ (not necessarily more communicative) and have more imagination. In contrast, they have more difficulty with abstract thinking and humanistic knowledge, have more difficulty persevering or not giving up when faced with the lack of immediate results for their research or work, are less inclined to reflection and contemplation, and tend to be less generous.
Each of the following chapters deals with one of the ‘screens’: the internet, video games and mobile phones. Their uses are investigated starting with a study of 10,000 Spanish schoolchildren – how much, how they are used and what they offer – and the chapter closes with ‘practical conclusions applicable to family education’ At the end of the book, a useful, albeit selective and mainly Spanish-language list is provided of websites to delve into some of the aspects discussed, along with other bibliographical references.
Far from alarmist attitudes or naive idolatrous veneration of the new technologies, the book starts from an elementary educational principle, which it then translates into common-sense application criteria for real situations, with the data at hand of what is offered by these new means: ‘Children can surpass – and indeed do surpass – their parents in information technology, but they still need parents to educate them and help them make sense of the world around them’.
This leads, among others, to the following recommendations:
– parents are role models, guides and referrers can improve their children’s critical thinking and maintain the status of people to whom they can turn in case of doubt.
