From the WebMD Archives
April 17, 2001 — Gone from many children’s wish lists are wooden building blocks, crayons, and coloring books. Instead, kids are clamoring for such high-tech toys as Furby, a robotic pet who can carry on conversations using about 800 phrases.
Instead of begging their parents for a puppy or kitten, kids are pleading with them for robotic pets like Poo-chi and Tekno. In fact, three-quarters of the best-selling toys have some sort of electronics attached to them, according to the latest statistics.
Thanks to microprocessors, memory chips, sensors, and other advanced software products, robots are poised to take over the toy world, from fish and turtle robots that swim around a fishbowl, to robotic babies that coo when touched and stuffed animals that can hear and see.
Lining toy store shelves in the next few years will be dolls that can learn how to dance from a child — then teach that dance to other dolls — and stuffed animals that remember stories children tell them.
But at what price?
These toys can be expensive, creating what one expert calls a “digital divide” between the haves and have nots, and they may also take a toll on a child’s imagination and social skills by dumbing down play time, stifling creativity, and replacing peers.
When asked about the emotional, social, and academic effects of high-tech, computerized toys, most experts agree that there are some downsides to these toys, but they can also have their advantages, and as with most things in life, moderation is key.
“I’m really excited about some of the prospects of interactive toys, ” says JoAnn Oravec, PhD, an associate professor of computer and user technologies at University of Wisconsin at Whitewater.
Beware the pitfalls, though. “Children can see some of these toys as a substitute for a real-life companion, and they may lead to needless pressure by parents to instill computer literacy in a child at too young of an age,” Oravec tells WebMD.
There’s no rush, Oravec says. “Children will learn how to use computers eventually and I think parents are putting undue pressure on kids to use a computer when fostering imagination is so important. The essence of play is using a toy as a springboard for imagination and sharing,” she tells WebMD. “Play is more than having a child be a machine operator.”
When choosing a computerized toy for your child, “Make sure it’s more than a machine that they turn on, play with, and then turn off,” she suggests. From a bouncing ball to a robotic puppy, “every play object should offer the opportunity for growth and imagination.”
A child’s imagination, not a computer chip, is what makes a toy really live, Oravec says. “If a child is allowed to dream, any toy can come alive.”
Kudos, for instance, to the Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling, she says. These books allow children to use their imagination to picture Harry and friends in their trials and tribulations at the Hogwarts School, and kids love them.
That’s not to say computers and computerized toys are bad at all, she says. “Computer-controlled and interactive toys can expand the imagination if they are allowed to do so,” Oravec tells WebMD. “With a little help, a child can be directed to use the toy in a way that facilitates imagination and sharing.
“If the child can be guided to use the toy as part of a game with playmates, it can be extremely valuable,” she says. As an example, Oravec cites the ActiMates — cuddly robots in the form of popular children icons such as Arthur, Barney, and the Teletubbies — that can help children play games, learn patterns, colors, letters, and shapes and songs. And parents can encourage children to guess what the doll is going to do next.
“The toys that tell time can be used as a springboard for marvelous interaction between adult and child and certainly can be used in classrooms as well,” she says.
But be prepared to pay … and pay, and pay. “The commercialism involved with toys is at a very high level,” says Oravec. “You don’t just get a toy, you get a TV pack, CD-ROMs, etc.” For example, parents can buy an ActiMates TV Pack with the ActiMates. When the TV Pack’s radio transmitter is connected to a VCR, ActiMates characters can interact with certain video and TV shows.
The result? Ka-ching.
Calling the resulting schism “a digital divide”, she says that children who don’t have access to these expensive toys and their accessories may start feeling set apart.
“When the toys are springboards to intelligence and opportunity, then being shut out will seem particularly heinous,” Oravec says.
“There is certainly a place for high-tech toys, if used appropriately and in moderation,” says Dara Feldman, president of the Technology and Young Children Caucus for the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Washington, D.C.
Feldman says her 7-year-old son loves to play with Legos and he also loves race cars. “It’s obviously not safe for him to drive race cars, but with a special Lego computer software program, he can design a car and choose a driver and then run it in a computerized race,” she says.
Also “there is some science that is wonderful and great for kids and developmentally appropriate, but other things may involve chemicals and other potentially dangerous activities. So software companies have created great programs for young children where they can ‘work’ in a science lab via the computer, but if they make a mistake, they won’t get hurt or burn the house down,” Feldman tells WebMD.
Other toys can allow children to create their own music and even save it, she says.
What’s not OK, Feldman says, is sticking your child in front of the TV or computer and having it become the babysitter.
According to Leon Hoffman, MD, a New York City-based child psychoanalyst, a child’s age is a key factor with these toys.
“The major problem with high-tech toys is that they may in actuality inhibit creativity since they force the kids to play in a pre-defined way,” he says.
“This is more so for kids who are preschool — where their main way of learning about their emotions and their social relationships is to create stories and scenes according to their imaginations,” Hoffman tells WebMD.
“With kids who are school aged — high tech toys are the modern equivalent of games such as Monopoly, and such children are into learning how to master skills, how to try to solve puzzles, how to play games by the rules. For these children, learning to master the high-tech toys can be a great boon,” he says.
