Computers play a central role in modern life.  Consequently, parents are advised to teach computer skills to their young children.  Exposing our preschoolers to computers, we are told, will make them “native speakers” in the digital world, which is supposedly crucial as we thrust them into the techno-centric future.

But here I am:  a middle-aged adult, a virtual poster child for CSL (computer as a second language), fluently writing, researching and blogging on my netbook.  Which brings me to my question of the day, how much do we actually need to teach computer literacy to our children?

All of us are exposed to computers every day.  At my HMO I access appointments, pharmaceutical and health records from a computer system.  My adult children, some of whom had barely any computer training in school, manage their money and pay bills on line.  The Google search has replaced the traditional encyclopedia, and Google Maps has replaced the family atlas.  And, of course, email, texting, Facebook and Twitter long ago replaced letter-writing.  Society essentially forces us to become computer-literate by emersion and necessity.  Like an expatriate in France, eventually you will learn French just because you are around it all the time.

Now I know that there are people like my grandmother, Aggie, who lived in the US for 26 years and never spoke English.  She understood it very well, she watched TV, and she raised my three cousins, who all spoke English to her, even as she chose to answer them in Russian. When my friends called, she would pick up the phone, listen to their query and respond, “Judy no home.”  She had a couple of other phrases: “Smokegun,” her favorite television program, “Old Gold Feelter,” her cigarette brand, and “Half na Half” for her coffee.  But even the Aggies of the world, who accept a new culture only on their own terms, are learning something about computers.  In fact, everyone over the age of twenty-five and some over the age of seventy, are doing just that — learning to navigate the computer world with little or no formal training.

So what computer skills should our children learn in at home?  How much contact with computers is needed to advance children as future computer users?  If the kids are destined to learn by mere exposure to computers in their daily lives, then facilitating more “screen time” is perhaps unnecessary, and maybe even detrimental.

Of course, computers are exciting.  I love my computer. I spend hours on it each day.  But it is just a tool in my life, like the kitchen range or my sewing machine. I learned to use those devices on my own, when I needed to. So maybe our children, who clearly learn more quickly than us, can figure out the computer without us manufacturing opportunities for them to use it.  I believe their time is better spent running outside, playing with their friends or reading a book.  Society will eventually force them to spend hours before a screen when they are older. Let’s protect the unique elements of childhood by limiting the screen time we permit at home.

Kids love being on the computer.  It’s fun.  But, in a society where computer usage is forced upon us daily, let’s expose our children to books, board games, verbal conversation, sports and physical activities instead. By managing our children’s screen-time, we can enhance their creativity, verbal skills, social interactions and physical well-being.

As always I look forward to reading your comments. Also feel free to add or email any questions or ideas for future topics of discussion to Family Talk.

Thanks for joining in the conversation, Judy

judy@afamilymag.com