By Stephen Smoot
A bill passed out of committee that is designed to enhance kindergarten-readiness, but through “providing preloaded early-learning touchpads to eligible pre-school aged children.” The proposal has bipartisan support, but is advancing through the West Virginia State Legislature at a time in which studies are raising alarms about stunted cognitive development in children who use interactive screens in excess.
The lead sponsor is Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle (D-Cabell) but sponsorship also includes Speaker of the House of Delegates Roger Hanshaw, so the measure will likely encounter little opposition to passage.
The “Kindergarten Readiness Touchpad Pilot Program” would provide devices to eligible and qualified children with educational programming to assist in intellectually preparing for kindergarten and elementary education. The bill states that “a simple family-friendly learning tool that works without internet may help reduce opportunity gaps and support parents and caregivers as first teachers.”
A 2021 study from the journal Brain Science, published and available online in the federal government’s National Library of Medicine, shares the cost of using such tablets at such a young age.
This study tracked 38 preschoolers in China prior to the COVID lockdowns. In the group breakdown “eight children never used tablets, while 16 children were diagnosed as the ‘heavy user.”
When asked to perform academic tasks, in each instance “the ‘non-user’ outperformed the ‘heavy-user.” It concluded that “the ‘heavy-user’ pattern is not normal and needs further exploration.” This confirmed an earlier 2020 study from Pub Med Central, also found in the National Library of Medicine, that concluded “the damages resulting from the use of touchscreen devices for the development and behavior of children under five years of age outweigh the benefits that may result.
Damages include not only stunted cognitive development, but also the encouragement of a “sedentary lifestyle.” It cites World Health Organization recommendations to “restrict the use of screams.”
More recently, CNN highlighted a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics. It noted that children given tablets at three and a half years of age would have higher levels of anger and frustration that compound by age four and a half and then deteriorate by Kindergarten age.
“These results suggest that early-childhood tablet use may contribute to a cycle that is deleterious for emotional regulation,” said the study. The results were the same in both boys and girls.
Screens cost children opportunities to learn on their own and also to regulate their behavior. JAMA Pediatrics explains that “children who spend more hours using screens may forfeit opportunities to engage in activities, such as interactions with caregivers for free play with other children that are essential for rehearsing and eventually mastering self-regulation.
An issue of serious concern in recent years among educators and also West Virginia State Legislators has been the rise out of-control expressions of anger, frustration, and, at times, violence, among younger children. These behaviors were much more rare prior to the era of “the digital child.”
The children who would receive the intended benefit, unfortunately, are the most environmentally vulnerable already to anger, frustration, and other issues that can crop up in struggling households. Too often, regardless of household economic conditions, screens don’t enhance the parental role so much as replace it.
At the same time as the West Virginia State Legislature weighs whether or not to hand these devices to families, local libraries have stepped up their efforts to provide exactly what sponsors of the bill intend. Statewide, they have vastly expanded their offerings to youth and, with help, could do much more to help young and struggling parents.
Instead of free tablets, more support for both public libraries and public transportation offerings to get families to them would likely cost less, but actually provide the kind of value that sponsors of the Kindergarten Readiness bill intend.
