The Rise of Digital Dementia

This is a letter to southeast Alabama newspapers detailing rising problems with digital technology.

Dear Editor:

Our kids deserve a break from digital technology, not more of it! 

Why?   Won’t an iPad for every student from 4^th grade up make them smarter and better prepared for college and work?   

According to many Silicon Valley innovators, not so.  These innovators are sending their children to schools without computers, saying that computers inhibit creative thinking, movement, human interaction and attention spans.  “There’s no reason why kids can’t figure it out when they get older,” reported Pierre Laurent, previously with Intel and Microsoft.   

The dangers of allowing children to spend too much time on a laptop, mobile phone or other electronic devices have been well documented in a 2012 book, “Digital Dementia” by German neuroscientist, Dr Manfred Spitzer.  He warns that children are more at risk because their brains are still developing.  The deficits in brain development are irreversible and he calls for digital media to be banned from classrooms before children become addicted.

Dr. Byen Gi-won at the Balance Brain Center in Seoul, Korea agrees.  “Overuse of digital devices hampers the balanced development of the brain.  Heavy users are likely to develop the left side of their brains, leaving the right side untapped.  The right side is linked with concentration and its failure to develop will affect attention and memory span.  Sufferers are also reported to suffer emotional underdevelopment, with children more at risk than adults because their brains are still growing. ”

Digital Dementia is defined as the deterioration of brain function as a result of the overuse of digital technology.  A recent UCLA study found that about 14% of young people between the ages of 18-39 complained of memory problems.     

I urge the Dothan City School Board members to vote against the proposal to provide iPads for children from 4^th through 12^th grades until further examination of the high risks to our children can be evaluated.  This sweeping change to our educational system requires responsible research not quick approval to this controversial transformation.  

Read it for yourself: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/26/new-digital-dementia-plaguing-young-tech-users/