ver the last decade, computers have become a fixture
in many children's lives, says a report to be issued today by
the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Seventy percent of
American households with children ages 2 to 17 have computers,
and 52 percent are connected to the Internet.
The technology has spread with tremendous speed. Just five
years ago, only 15 percent of households with children ages 2 to
17 had Internet access, and slightly less than half had a
computer. The report says that 20 percent of children ages 8 to
16 have computers in their bedrooms and that 11 percent have
access to the Internet there.
But children's access to computers varies with family income.
Only about 22 percent of children in families with annual
incomes of less than $20,000 had access to a home computer,
compared with 91 percent of those in families with incomes of
more than $75,000. Even where they do have access to a computer,
children in low-income families used it less that those in
high-income families, perhaps in part because the low-income
families were less likely to have an Internet connection.
One national survey described in the report found that
children ages 2 to 5 averaged 27 minutes a day at the computer,
while children 6 to 11 spent 49 minutes a day, and those 12 to
17 averaged 63 minutes a day. The more technology available, the
more time children spend in front of screens. Over all, a 1999
survey found, children ages 2 to 17 who had computers, video
games and a television, spent on average 4 hours 48 minutes a
day in front of some type of screen, compared with 3 hours 40
minutes for children who did not have computers or video
games.
Though almost every school in the nation is now wired to the
Internet, great disparities are evident in how they use
computers, says the report, which includes studies by several
experts. Henry Jay Becker, a professor at the University of
California at Irvine, said schools serving poor children were
more likely to emphasize word processing and other simple tasks
while those serving more affluent students taught computer
skills to promote problem-solving and a deeper understanding of
an area of study.
"Efforts to ensure equal access to computer-related learning
opportunities at school must move beyond a concern with the
numbers of computers in different schools toward an emphasis on
how well those computers are being used to help children develop
intellectual competencies and technical skills," Professor
Becker wrote.
The new report makes it clear that very little is known yet
about the effects of home computer use on children's physical,
cognitive and social development.
The report does say computers can be an especially effective
learning tool for children with disabilities, and it describes
studies that show that some computer games can improve
children's spatial skills and visual attention.
Especially for young boys, games are the dominant form of
computer use. And the report says there is little evidence that
moderate game playing affects children's social skills or
relationships. But there are concerns about the 7 percent to 9
percent of children who play computer games for 30 hours or more
a week.
The report makes clear the degree to which some Internet uses
have become the special domain of children, with teenagers using
instant messaging, chat rooms and e-mail to stay in touch with
friends.
In the HomeNet Project, a field trial on home Internet use,
researchers at Carnegie Mellon University provided computers and
Internet connections to 93 Pittsburgh-area families, made up of
208 adults and 110 children ages 10 to 19. The children were
much heavier users of the Internet and all its services than
were their parents. Ten percent of the children spent more than
16 hours a week on the Internet. Teenagers said they would hurry
home from school to have e-mail conversations with the friends
they had just left.
"I really want to move to Antarctica," a 16-year-old HomeNet
participant said. "I'd want my cat and Internet access and I'd
be happy."
