LEARNING
Human-computer interaction
LEARNING
Forum examines the impact of technology on children
Today’s children are coming
of age immersed in video
gaming, Web browsing and
instant messaging.
Many have cell phones,
laptops and hand-held video
games. Others have created
avatars of themselves, and
some are raising robot pets in
virtual worlds.
What impact does this
technology have on children?
In a new issue, the
journal Children, Youth and
Environments (CYE) explores
the promises and perils ahead
for children in technological
environments.
Co-edited by a human-
computer interaction (HCI)
professor from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute and a
developmental psychology
professor from the University
of Washington, the issue
examines the increasing
prevalence of technology
from various perspectives,
including knowledge and
education, social and moral
development, culture and
community, access and
equity, relationship to nature,
therapy and health, art
and expression, and future
scenarios.
“Today, technology is
part of everyday life, and
it can easily mediate or
even replace other types of
experiences,” said Nathan
G. Freier, assistant professor
of HCI in the Department of
Language, Literature, and
Communication, with a joint
appointment in Information
Technology, at Rensselaer.
18 SMART PEOPLE
“This journal issue provides
us with a forum to address
this ongoing dialogue
regarding the impact of
technology on children, and
find ways to strike a balance
in terms of interaction,
development, and design.”
With readers in more
than 160 countries, CYE
offers access to authoritative
research articles, in-depth
analyses, cutting-edge field
reports and critical book
reviews.
“Through past centuries,
technologies have offered
enormous benefits to
children,” Freier said.
“Written language, for
example, can be incredibly
beautiful and, compared
to spoken language, the
written word – from clay
tablets, to pen and paper,
to digital computers – has
allowed for new depths and
forms of communication and
expression, an unfolding of
human awareness.”
Freier’s research
interests fit within the broad
area of human-computer
interaction with emphasis
on technologies for children,
social robotics and value
sensitive design.
His work explores how
children develop socially
and morally in the context
of increased interactions
with apparently intelligent,
autonomous systems such as
graphical avatars and social
robots.
His co-author, Peter
H. Kahn Jr., is an associate
professor in the Department
of Psychology and adjunct
professor in the Information
School at the University of
Washington. He also serves
as director of the university’s
Human Interaction with
Nature and Technological
Systems (HINTS) Lab.
According to their
research, today’s technology
is more sophisticated and
invasive.
Children play
multiplayer online role-
playing games (MMORPGs),
which allows for large
numbers of players to
interact by controlling and
developing their fictional
characters in adventurous
game settings.
In 2006, MMORPG
revenues exceeded $1
billion. Also, video games
dominate children’s media
entertainment. In more
recent years, inexpensive
robot pets and online
virtual pets have become
increasingly popular.
“Technology is good and
it can help our lives, but let’s
not be fooled into thinking
we can live without nature,”
said Kahn.
“We are losing direct
experiences with nature.
Instead, more and more
we’re experiencing nature
represented technologically
through television and other
media. Children grow up
watching Discovery Channel
and Animal Planet, playing
with robotic pets, and taking
virtual tours of the Grand

Canyon on their computers.
That’s probably better than
nothing. But as a species we
need interaction with actual
nature for our physical and
psychological well-being.”
Freier also noted that
the interactions and amount
of time that children are
spending with technologies,
particularly the Internet,
communication technologies
and video games, are forcing
educators to redefine what
they mean by learning
processes and outcomes.
“As we worked to
develop ideas for the
special issue of the journal,
important considerations
when assessing the benefits of
new technologies, especially
those of a digital and virtual
form that act as a go-between
with the physical world, are
the benchmarks to rely upon
when establishing the benefits
and harms,” Freier added.
“Such benchmarks
may include psychological
and physiological effects
experienced while using a
form of technology.”
The future impact of
yesterday’s technology
The journal also
highlights the fact that visions
of the future as portrayed
through media and literature
(such as science fiction) are
one of the powerful drivers of
technological environments.
In the mid-1960s, for
example, Gene Roddenberry,
creator of the original Star
Trek television series, saw
the value of small, handheld
mobile communication
devices; thus the “flip” design
of the crew’s Communicators
seemingly influenced the
design of the common cell
phone we see in use today.
Also, the android
character Data in Star Trek:
The Next Generation shows
us how fragile our own
self-identity is when we
look into the eyes of a man-
machine and see our own
reflection. And perhaps, the
woman-machine in the classic
Metropolis reflects our deep-
seated nightmares of a future
gone wrong.
Freier noted that we also
see this tension play out in
Asimov’s iRobot series of
short stories in which robots
are intentionally designed to
benefit humanity, but all too
often the robots (and humans,
ironically) fall victim to their
own immense complexity.
“It is obvious that today’s
children are coming of age
in yesterday’s science fiction
future,” Freier said. “Children
today know no other way
of being, no other way of
existing in the world. Our
faith in the benefits of those
who play a significant role
in shaping our technological
force is often balanced with
the fears of the unknown and
uncontrollable sinister force
embedded within
the technologies,
often
unbeknownst
to the designers
themselves.
“This process
of balance – which
leads to children’s
intellectual,
social, and moral
development – will
be, and already is,
strongly shaped by the
technological environments
children inhabit,” he added.
LEARNING
“Thus we need to design our
technological environments
wisely.”
According to the authors,
the most important lesson to
remember is that “we are not
a technological species, but
one that came of age through
deep and intimate daily
contact with other humans
and with an embodied,
physical natural and often
wild world – and we still
need that world to flourish as
a species.”
“In the years ahead,
technological nature will
get more sophisticated and
compelling,” Kahn said.
“But if it continues to replace
our interaction with actual
nature, it will come at a cost.
To thrive as a species, we still
need to interact with nature
by encountering an animal
in the wild, walking along
the ocean’s edge or sleeping
under the enormity of the
night sky.”
To view the publication,
visit www.colorado.
edu/journals/cye/19_1/
SMART PEOPLE 19