Sucker-Me Elmo: What Children Learn from Their Robo-Toys

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Sucker-Me Elmo What Children Learn from Their Robo-Toys 119 The Electoral Politics of Stem Cells 2006 Myths, 2008 Realities 122 Cloning Down Under An Australian Reversal on Embryo Research 125 Dead Body Porn The Grotesqueries of the “Body World” Exhibit 128 Back to the Moon, To Stay? NASA’s Plans for a Lunar Base 131 Bioethics and The Public Interest A Journal’s Lasting Legacy 135

Sucker-Me Elmo What Children Learn from Their Robo-Toys

dults of a certain age remem- ages 18 months to 7 years. Even old- ber with fondness their first fashioned toys have been updated to Aelectronic toys: the halting suit our technological age: owners of digital commands of the learning the first Baby Alive doll, introduced in game “Speak & Spell,” introduced in 1973, worked a lever on the doll’s back 1978, or the plastic flashing lights of to make her swallow mushy concoc- the memory game “Simon.” Compared tions with names like “Cheery Cherry” to contemporary toys, such retro elec- and “Yummy Banana” that you shov- tronica appears quaint. The recently eled into Baby’s mute, puckered mouth. released Robosapien V2 biomorphic Today’s Baby Alive is a robotic little robot, a “fusion of technology and per- marvel who blinks, grimaces, sleeps, sonality,” includes 67 preprogrammed and precociously informs you when functions such as “throw, kick, dance, she “has a stinky.” kung-fu, fart, belch, rap, and more” and According to the NPD Group, the Hasbro’s three-foot-tall Butterscotch average American planned to spend FurReal Friends pony shakes her head $153 on toys during the 2006 holiday and emits contented whinnies when season. Much of this money was spent you brush her mane. The most popular on electronic toys, and industry ana- toy in the 2006 holiday season was the lysts expected toy manufacturers to T.M.X. Tickle Me Elmo, a 15-inch-tall enjoy considerable sales gains, much electronic terror that performs histri- of it fueled by consumers’ purchase onic giggling fits to entertain children of pricey electronic playthings like

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Robosapien and Butterscotch. Six of makes the rather perverse recommen- the top ten toys in FamilyFun maga- dation that parents give children their zine’s Toy of the Year Award list for old cell phones so that they can learn 2006 are electronic. to “model” adult behavior), Plowman In addition, parents continue to buy believes parents are wasting their “educational” electronic toys from money on expensive educational elec- companies like LeapFrog, hoping to tronics. give their infants and toddlers an aca- At a conference on language devel- demic head start. Toy companies mar- opment in November 2006, research- ket “learning laptops” with Batman, ers from Temple University’s Infant Barbie, or “Disney Princess” themes Laboratory and the Erikson Institute to toddlers. VTech promotes its game in Chicago described the results of console, V.Smile, to children ages 3 their research on electronic books, to 8, and claims the device, which results that likely did not please the uses a wireless connection to project Fisher-Price toy company, which con- content directly onto your television, tributed funding for the study. “Parents “goes beyond passive developmental who are talking about the content videos with a breakthrough, interac- [of stories] with their child while tive approach to learning.” reading traditional books are encour- But two recent studies suggest that aging early literacy,” says researcher the oft-touted educational benefits of Julia Parish-Morris, “whereas parents such toys are illusory, and child devel- and children reading electronic books opment experts caution that kiddie together are having a severely trun- electronics, even those bought purely cated experience.” Electronic books for entertainment, can have negative encourage a “slightly coercive parent- side effects such as inhibiting cre- child interaction,” the study found, and ativity and promoting short attention are not as effective in promoting early spans. literacy skills as traditional books. A two-year study by researchers at Such warnings apply to other elec- the University of Stir ling in Scotland tronic toys as well, which experts found that electronic toys marketed worry discourage unstructured play for their supposed educational ben- and the development of basic motor efits, such as the LeapFrog LeapPad skills. “A lot of these toys direct the and the V.Smile Infant Development play activity of our children by talk- System, provided no obvious benefits ing to them, singing to them, asking to children. “In terms of basic literacy them to press buttons and levers,” and number skills I don’t think they notes Kathy Hirsch-Pasek, co-director are more efficient than the more tra- of the Temple University Infant Lab. ditional approaches,” researcher Lydia “I look for a toy that doesn’t command Plowman told the Guardian newspa- the child, but lets the child command per. Although no Luddite (Plowman it.” The American Speech-Language-

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Hearing Association also cautions par- tronic toys? “I think electronic toys are ents about potential hearing damage appealing to adults,” says Linda Crowe, caused by electronic toys. Even at an associate professor in the School of half-volume, Bratz Liptunes, a lipstick- Family Studies and Human Services at shaped MP3 player marketed to young Kansas State University. “They think, girls, is over the maximum decibel ‘Wow! These are really exciting toys; level considered safe for listening. The look at all of the wonderful things they only respite from the rambunctious can do!’ But electronic toys remove noise of the Robosapien V2, accord- social interaction and in many respects ing to the manufacturer’s website, is may inhibit creativity. The toy provides to “cover the speaker grill on his back the fantasy and removes the opportu- with tape.” nity for a child to mentally produce In a 2001 study published in something hypothetical or imagined.” Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Crowe is also concerned about the researchers Diane Levin and Barbara effect of such toys on children’s brain Rosenquest noted that the children development. “What’s happening neu- they observed interacting with elec- rologically with these kids when they tronic toys engaged in “limited and are watching flashing lights and elec- repetitive” activity. The children also tronic toys versus an old-fashioned became accustomed to electronic toys play toy? Which areas of the brain are and expected all of their playthings to activated and what kinds of neurologi- offer electronic amusement. As Levin cal connections are being established? and Rosenquest note, however, “When I’m seeing outcomes in the form of children become used to toys that shorter attention spans, but we don’t channel them into acting in a certain know exactly what is happening in the way, they begin to expect all toys to brain.” tell them what to do and toys that Susan Swanson, who works for the are open-ended can seem boring and Excelligence Learning Corporation uninteresting. This can have a long- and has been an arts educator in term effect on how children play and Monterey County, California schools, the kind of learners they become.” has similar concerns. “Electronic toys Their study of children’s interactions don’t encourage dramatic play,” she with electronic toys “has left us wor- says. “And what is going to happen ried, worried enough to conclude that to these kids who are used to having all those involved with promoting the a quick electronic fix and who think healthy play and development of very things happen at the push of a but- young children need to take heed and ton?” she asks. Parents can go to the develop strategies for counteracting other extreme too, of course. “I live the problems that may arise.” near Berkeley,” Swanson says with a Despite the potential hazards, why chuckle, “and you can find stores there are so many children playing with elec- where the only toys are those made

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. See www.TheNewAtlantis.com for more information. STATE OF THE ART entirely out of recycled tires or natural play. Children also make their play fibers.” preferences known, and they are often Tech toys are here to stay, of course, refreshingly low-tech. When asked in large part because anxious parents by University of Stirling researchers fear denying their children any novel what they most wanted to do during advantage. “Parents believe that this playtime, young children did not beg is a way for their child to be ready for quality time with T.M.X. Elmo. for the academic setting,” says Crowe, They wanted their parents to take “and you can’t fault parents for that.” them to the park. Sometimes, toddlers But she encourages parents to limit know best. their children’s use of such toys and to offer more traditional toys (such —Christine Rosen is a senior editor of as building blocks, trains, and dolls) The New Atlantis and resident fellow at that encourage open-ended, creative the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

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