Home computers harming children?
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JUNE 19
Around the world, politicians and education activists have sought to eliminate the “digital divide” by guaranteeing universal access to home computers, and in some cases to high-speed Internet service, while a new study says it harms children spending lot of time surfing and playing games or even doing home work on computers.
The study at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy says home computers rather widen the achievement gap in math and reading scores. Students in grades five through eight, particularly those from disadvantaged families, tend to post lower scores once these technologies arrive in their home. “Scaling the Digital Divide: Home Computer Technology and Student Achievement” is published online by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Home computers are put to more productive use in households where parental monitoring is more effective. In disadvantaged households, parents are less likely to monitor children’s computer use and guide children in using computers for educational purposes, the study said.
Prof Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd analysed responses to computer-use questions included on North Carolina’s mandated End-of-Grade tests (EOGs). Students reported how frequently they use a home computer for school work, watch TV or read for pleasure. The study was conducted between 2000 and 2005, a period when home computers and high-speed Internet access expanded dramatically. By 2005, broadband access was available in almost every zip code in North Carolina, Vigdor said.
The study had several advantages over previous research that suggested similar results, Vigdor said. The sample size was large — numbering more than 150,000 individual students. The data allowed researchers to compare the same children’s reading and math scores before and after they acquired a home computer, and to compare those scores to those of peers who had a home computer by fifth grade and to test scores of students who
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