Week 2 – EDUC 342: Child Development & New Technologies

Parasocial Relationship

juang7 — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:26:00 +0000

There are two characters that I remember having a parasocial relationship when I was 5 years old. One was Oliver from a soccer themed cartoon and the other one was the blue power ranger (I have a scar on my chin thanks to this).

Parasocial Activity: Aditi + Lizzie McGuire

apoduval — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:25:16 +0000

In first grade, I experienced my first heartbreak: my favorite show, Lizzie McGuire was cancelled! The show’s protagonist, Lizzie, a quirky relatable middle school student, taught me about the trials and triumphs of growing up. She guided me through a new world of social norms and cues (those not as applicable to a 6 year old), especially re: friendship, family, and “love.” Even though Lizzie McGuire was a fictional character on Disney Channel, to this day, she influenced my own childhood development in a very real way. #youngandimpressionable #childhoodheroes

Lisa’s Parasocial Relationship

heylisa — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:21:55 +0000

I was obsessed with watching Saved by the Bell after school every day. And my favorite character was Lisa Turtle because she was so fun, social and had the best clothes. Plus, the geek liked her too! In fact, when my parents and I decided I should have an ‘American” name, I chose Lisa because of Lisa Turtle

Parasocial Activity: Shelley

mwill5 — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:21:20 +0000

Parasocial Activity

barronbj — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:15:53 +0000

Week 2 Discussion

mfaulk — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 05:19:41 +0000

Alper mentions the unproductive generalization of today’s children as “iKids” or “digital natives”. She claims these assumptions ignore a few core problems in the way today’s children must navigate new media literacy. First, the “transparency problem” or “the challenges young people face in learning to see clearly the ways that media shape perceptions of the world.” Second, the “ethics challenge” or “the breakdown of traditional forms of professional training and socialization that might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as media makers.”

I found these two concepts extremely fascinating. As part of the “digital natives” generation, I am eager to become more self-reflective about these challenges and how I am actively working to remedy them. I would love to further explore these ideas: What are concrete ways in which these challenges manifest themselves in our daily technology use?

Week 1 Discussion – Juan G

juang7 — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 03:24:11 +0000

After completing the readings for this week, I have the following questions:

What are some of the best, efficient, and fast methods to evaluate the impact of specific media technology tools on children given that the pace of technology innovation is very fast? Is the one we used last week during class good enough?

Why is screen media exposure for children under 2 years of age discouraged? Does this apply when the screen media content is positive?

Week 1 Comments

marcc — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 02:42:41 +0000

The Richert reading and the AAP reading both note that children under 2-2.5 years have difficulty learning from screen media. The AAP even specifically recommends that children under 2 not spend time with screen media. I know that Baby Einstein ran into trouble because of its claims that it helped young children, but there are other shows targeted to very young viewers, like Teletubbies and Boohbah. Maybe these shows don’t make claims about their influence, but does the evidence suggest that these shows have no positive impact at all, or at least not any of the sort they might imply? Richert only mentions Teletubbies as something that had a negative impact on older (30mo+) viewers (p. 88). Does the show have any significant educational value?

Week 1 Discussion

hajhasan — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 15:33:50 +0000

It was very interesting to me that children who are exposed to a lot of screen time have trouble with 3D representations of problems and have trouble transferring what they learned from a 2D screen. My question is what is the impact of Virtual Reality on this? Would it be a better (more immersive) learning tool or would it make it more difficult to see the symbolism in the screen?