Child psychologist stirs up controversy at e-learning conference
By Martin Kornacki reporting from Online Educa Berlin 2009 (04-12-2009)
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Controversial psychologist Aric Sigman (pictured), who says the overuse of technology by children is damaging their brains, was criticised for “scientific cherry picking” yesterday.
During a debate at the Online Educa Berlin conference, Donald Clark, of e-learning company Line communications, said the advantages of technology far outweighed its disadvantages.
He accused Sigman of using outdated scientific data during the debate, which was not relevant to children as it primarily focused on elderly age groups.
And referring to an article published in the Daily Mail earlier this year, entitled How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer, in which Sigman’s research from the scientific journal the Biologist was used to support the story, Clark said: “This is what happens when people get carried away with hyperbole and rhetoric based on cherry-picking science.”
He said that actually what scientific papers tended to suggest if looked at broadly were that social networking was a useful thing.
“My sister has a chronic disease, she is in a wheelchair, the internet is her life – it supports her; it is a positive thing not a negative thing. This is why it’s important not to frighten people into avoiding technology when it is so much use to us as a society,” he concluded.
But Sigman, who is also a Fellow of the Society of Biology, remained adamant that it was not technology itself but its increasing use that was damaging students’ minds.
“Not the technology but the amount of time it is being used in the developmental period of our children is the problem and that has little to do with the educational software you are developing,” he said to the room full of digital learning professionals.
“Sadly the news is that most children do not spend their time with your products in the same way that people who make wholesome foods sadly discovered that most children don’t like to eat wholesome food, they spend more of their time eating chocolates and fast food.”
He insisted he was not anti-technology or social software but that a balance needed to be found between online and face-to-face experience.
The debate also featured submissions for the motion that the increasing use of technology and social software is damaging students minds and undermining the benefits of traditional methods of learning’ from journalist Bruce Anderson and opposing from technophile Jerry Michalski.
The motion was lost following a surprisingly close vote by delegates.
Photo copyright 2009 David Ausserhofer
During a debate at the Online Educa Berlin conference, Donald Clark, of e-learning company Line communications, said the advantages of technology far outweighed its disadvantages.
He accused Sigman of using outdated scientific data during the debate, which was not relevant to children as it primarily focused on elderly age groups.
And referring to an article published in the Daily Mail earlier this year, entitled How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer, in which Sigman’s research from the scientific journal the Biologist was used to support the story, Clark said: “This is what happens when people get carried away with hyperbole and rhetoric based on cherry-picking science.”
He said that actually what scientific papers tended to suggest if looked at broadly were that social networking was a useful thing.
“My sister has a chronic disease, she is in a wheelchair, the internet is her life – it supports her; it is a positive thing not a negative thing. This is why it’s important not to frighten people into avoiding technology when it is so much use to us as a society,” he concluded.
But Sigman, who is also a Fellow of the Society of Biology, remained adamant that it was not technology itself but its increasing use that was damaging students’ minds.
“Not the technology but the amount of time it is being used in the developmental period of our children is the problem and that has little to do with the educational software you are developing,” he said to the room full of digital learning professionals.
“Sadly the news is that most children do not spend their time with your products in the same way that people who make wholesome foods sadly discovered that most children don’t like to eat wholesome food, they spend more of their time eating chocolates and fast food.”
He insisted he was not anti-technology or social software but that a balance needed to be found between online and face-to-face experience.
The debate also featured submissions for the motion that the increasing use of technology and social software is damaging students minds and undermining the benefits of traditional methods of learning’ from journalist Bruce Anderson and opposing from technophile Jerry Michalski.
The motion was lost following a surprisingly close vote by delegates.
Photo copyright 2009 David Ausserhofer
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