The authors of this book have approached the topic of effects of technology on brain maturation and social, emotional, moral, and cognitive development from varied perspectives, but they are in agreement that stakeholders, including parents, educators, psychologists, technology designers and implementers, as well as the greater community, should be collaborating to ensure that the technology-augmented play experiences of today’s children and adolescents are well designed in order to facilitate growth and development that will give them the versatility and the resilience that they will need to meet future events. Presently, opinions on effects of intensive technology-rich environments on child and adolescent development and learning are varied and not always supported by research evidence.
The first author, Bergen, has discussed issues related to the potential effects of technology-augmented toys on young children’s play for over a decade and conducted research on young children’s play with such toys. With colleagues, she also has initiated a study of brain wave responses to video game play and written theoretical pieces speculating on effects of varied types of technology play on brain development. With co-author Davis, she also has explored the role child and adolescent play with real and virtual playthings may have on moral development. Davis has further explored the types of video and online play that college students report. Abbitt has studied effects of technology-enhanced learning materials in various educational contexts and, with Davis, has presented work on the effects of instructor texting to improve student learning. Thus, the impetus for this book has come from the authors’ belief that it is important to address the interface between technology-augmented play and brain maturation, as well as other developmental areas, and to examine factors that might influence this interface both positively and negatively.
Research into the effects of technology-augmented play is controversial, with a number of writers pointing with alarm to the possibilities of harm from early and consistent exposure to technology-augmented toys and media, while other writers have described how these media can enhance human learning if designed and used appropriately. There has been scholarly work that has addressed both particular concerns and possibilities, but there has been no book that has comprehensively discussed the play/brain/technology interface issues addressed in this book. It is likely that technology-augmented play will have both positive and negative effects on brain maturation processes, especially if children and adolescents have extensive and long-term exposure to such play materials. Perhaps such exposure may differentially affect not only brain development but also the social, emotional, moral, and cognitive aspects of many other human behaviors. These changes may be useful and relevant at a future time and assist humans to adapt to future conditions or they may cause humans to lose abilities and skills that continue to remain relevant and essential for human life. Thus, the authors believe that a book that brings together current research knowledge on such developmental factors and explains how they may interface with the representation modes and affordances of various technology-based play materials has been needed to provide scholars and students with a perspective for further systematic research.
Chapter 1 discusses how both play and brain development have nonlinear dynamic systems qualities, and describes the processes by which play development occurs and interfaces with brain maturation. It presents the theoretical view that cognitive understanding proceeds through enactive (motoric action with objects), iconic (linking perceptual images of objects), and symbolic (using language and other symbols to represent objects) levels (Bruner, 1964); discusses potential social, emotional, moral, and cognitive issues that play supports; defines technology; describes the nonlinear dynamic qualities of technology; and suggests how such qualities may interface with play and brain development. Chapter 2 describes the historical role of technology in the design of play materials and the changes in play environments that have occurred with the advent of technology-augmented play materials. It also reviews both a number of writers’ perspectives on the potential positive and negative effects of this change in the play environment and evidence of such changes in play experiences drawn from research on adults’ memories of their own play. The authors also describe the theoretical lens of “affordance” theory (Gibson, 1969, Carr, 2000) and “modes of representation” (Bruner, 1964). Further, the concepts of physical and virtual “contexts” (Milgram & Kishino, 1994) are used to analyze potential effects. Chapter 3 describes the various types of technology-augmented play materials presently being used by young persons from infancy to adolescence. It describes these affordances and contexts and suggests ways that physical and virtual technology contexts may have different affordances and contexts, which may result in varied effects on child and adolescent development. Chapter 4 describes the authors’ research on young children’s initial interactions with technology- augmented toys and video game play. It also presents the opinions of a group of parents, children, and adolescents about past play experiences and present day technology-augmented play. Their views of advantages and disadvantages of such play and its possible effect on various developmental areas are shared. Chapter 5 addresses speculations from futurists regarding the types of skills that humans will need in future life periods and examines those possibilities in relation to the skills that may be promoted by various types of technology-augmented play. The potential changes in human brain development and behavior that may occur due to the changes in play behaviors are described and evaluated. In Chapter 6 the authors provide suggestions for parents, educators and psychologists, technology toy manufacturers, digital game makers, online play designers, and community stakeholders that may promote healthy and future-enhancing brain development as children and adolescents engage in play with technology-augmented as well as traditional play materials.
The authors believe, as Emily Dickinson reminds us, that the brain is an amazing organ that defines us and our world. Thus, its fate in the future must be considered in a technology-augmented world.
The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and You—beside—
The Brain is deeper than the sea—
For—hold them—Blue to Blue—
The one the other will absorb—
As Sponges—Buckets—do—
The Brain is just the weight of God—
For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
And they will differ—if they do—
As Syllable from Sound—
Reprinted by permission from Johnson, T. H. The complete poems of Emily Dickinson (1955), New York: Little Brown & Co.
Bruner, J. S. (1964). The course of cognitive growth. American Psychologist, 19(1), 1–15.
Carr, M. (2000). Technological affordances, social practice and learning narratives in an early childhood setting. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 10, 61–79.
Gibson, E. J. (1969). Principles of perceptual learning and development. New York: Appleton- Century-Crofts.
Milgram, P., & Kishino, F. (1994). A taxonomy of mixed reality visual displays. IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information and Systems, 77(12), 1321–1329.