Abstract
Children under seven spend most of their free time using digital technology. Educational contexts, such as school and family, would sometimes seem disinterested in the actual understanding and management of the phenomenon. They are unprepared to provide effective educational indications in this regard. Pedagogical reflection also appaears to be late about the relationship between digital media and early childhood. The paper tries to fill this research gap by trying to answer these questions: How to interpret the wide diffusion of digital media and the net among very young children? What does the screen convey to them? What development gains and educational needs can be covered instead? Under what conditions is the virtual an educational environment?
Highlights
Socio-educational policies ignore this specific age group
The paper tries to fill this research gap by trying to answer these questions: How to interpret the wide diffusion of digital media and the net among very young children? What does the screen convey to them? What development gains and educational needs can be covered instead? Under what conditions is the virtual an educational environment? Keywords: digital media, Internet, children, gaming, learning, virtuality
Interest in digital media and internet is growing for children under the age of seven
Summary
Interest in digital media and internet is growing for children under the age of seven. The little ones are active users of digital technologies They have the ability to connect to the internet through a variety of devices (ipod, tablet, smartphone, computer, touchscreen device, etc.) which represent, for children, important access keys to the virtual world. It is very important to remind that, in the sensorimotor phase and in the pre-operational one, a crucial role for child development is played by fine motor skills: performing refined, repeated and precise gestures (handling various types of material, tracing the outlines of a drawing, fastening and unfastening, threading, etc.) which involve eye-manual coordination These important skills go beyond tinkering on a keyboard or tablet, and cannot be reduced to pressing buttons as they require, among other things, constant interaction with others and with the external environment. Investigating the media use of children, who sometimes still do not speak and who are often not yet included in educational services, raises various methodological and scientific problems (Livingstone, Haddon 2008), as well as ethics
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