酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 英语新闻
  4. 双语新闻
  5. 正文

超过半数的幼童会接触iPad、iPhone或类似的触摸屏设备

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞


More than half of the young children in the U.S. now have access to an iPad, iPhone or similar touch-screen device. For parents, their children's love of these devices raises a lot of questions.


美国，目前有超过半数的幼童会接触iPad、iPhone或类似的触摸屏设备。对家长来说，孩子若是迷上这些设备，会产生许多令人担忧的问题。



Kids for years have sat too close to the television for too long or played hours of Madden on family room game players. But pediatric neuroscientists and researchers who have studied the effects of screen-time on children suggest the iPad is a different beast.


孩子们会坐得离电视太近，看电视时间太长，或者用起居室的游戏机玩"疯狂橄榄球"(Madden)，一玩就是好几个小时，这些问题已经困扰家长们很多年了。但研究过屏幕时间对儿童影响的儿童神经学家和研究人员表示，iPad是一种与电视机和游戏机不同的怪兽。



A young child will look away from a TV screen 150 times an hour, says Daniel Anderson, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Massachusetts. His studies over the past 30 years also showed children have trouble knowing where on a TV screen to look.


马萨诸塞大学(University of Massachusetts)心理学荣誉退休教授安德森(Daniel Anderson)称，幼童一小时会把视线从电视屏幕移开150次。他在过去30年里进行的研究还显示，幼童不清楚应该看电视屏幕的什么地方。



A well-designed iPad app is likely more engaging because often the place on the screen that a child touches is the same as where the action happens.


而一个精心设计的iPad应用程序则会比电视更易吸引儿童的注意力，因为儿童在屏幕上触碰的位置通常就是活动发生的地方。



Many researchers hope this will help children learn. One study using an iPod Touch and sponsored by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop found children 4- to 7-years-old improved on a vocabulary test after using an educational app called 'Martha Speaks.' The 13 5-year-olds tested averaged a 27% gain. A study using a different educational app had a similar result, with 3-year-olds exhibiting a 17% gain.


许多研究人员希望这有助于促进儿童的学习。非营利教育机构芝麻街工作室(Sesame Workshop)的琼甘兹库尼中心(Joan Ganz Cooney Center)赞助了一项使用iPod Touch进行的研究。研究发现，四至七岁的儿童在使用一种名为"玛莎说话"(Martha Speaks)的教育程序后词汇测试成绩有所提高。接受测试的13名五岁儿童成绩平均提高了27%。另一项使用不同教育程序的研究得到了类似结果，在研究中三岁儿童的成绩提高了17%。



In many ways, the average toddler using an iPad is a guinea pig. While the iPad went on sale two years ago, rigorous, scientific studies of how such a device affects the development of young children typically take three to five years.


从很多方面来看，使用iPad的儿童一般都是"小白鼠"。虽然iPad从两年前就开始卖了，但要对这类设备对幼童生长产生的影响进行严格的科学研究一般需要三到五年时间。



There is 'little research on the impact of technology like this on kids,' says Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Hospital.


西雅图儿童医院(Seattle Children's Hospital)儿童健康、行为和发展中心(Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development)主任克里斯塔基斯(Dimitri Christakis)称，"有关这类技术对儿童影响的研究几乎是空白。"



The iPad and similar devices allow children to interact with technology at a younger age than ever before. Tiny fingers not yet old enough to manipulate a mouse or operate a videogame console can navigate a tablet touch screen.


iPad和类似的设备使儿童能够在更小的年纪与科技亲密接触。在还无法操纵鼠标或视频游戏机的年纪，儿童小小的手指就可以驾驭平板电脑的触摸屏了。



'Unfortunately a lot of the real-life experimentation is going to be done by parents who now have young kids,' says Glenda Revelle, associate professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Arkansas.


阿肯色大学(University of Arkansas)人类发展和家庭科学副教授雷维尔(Glenda Revelle)称，"遗憾的是，许多实际生活中的实验都将由现在家里有幼童的家长来做。"



Some parents readily share a tablet with their children, citing the many apps marketed as educational tools. Some do not. Still other families turn to it as a tool of last resort to entertain and appease children on plane and car trips.


一些家长很乐意与孩子共享平板电脑，因为许多应用程序都标榜自己是教育工具。有些家长则不愿意让孩子使用平板电脑。还有一些家庭把平板电脑当作一种在万不得已时使用的娱乐手段，他们在搭乘飞机和乘车旅行时用平板电脑来安抚孩子。



In the list of parental worries about tablet use: that it will make kids more sedentary and less sociable. There's also the mystery of just what is happening in a child's brain while using the device.


家长们担心使用平板电脑可能会带来一些问题，比如导致孩子久坐不动，不爱与人交往。此外，使用平板电脑时儿童的大脑中究竟会发生什么也是一个谜。



The brain develops quickest during the first few years of a child's life. At birth, the human brain has formed about 2,500 synapses -- the connections that allow the brain to pass along signals -- per brain cell. That number grows to about 15,000 per brain cell by age 3. In later years, the number decreases.


孩子出生后的头几年是大脑发育最快的阶段。在出生时，人脑每个细胞中已经形成约2,500个突触（使大脑得以传递信号的连接）。到了三岁，每个脑细胞中突触数量会增加到15,000个左右。到了晚年突触数量会减少。



The more television children watch during these formative years, Dr. Christakis says, the more likely they are to develop attention problems later on. The study was based on observation, not lab research, he says. Other studies haven't found a correlation. While he hasn't studied tablets and young children, he suspects the effect could be similar -- or perhaps more significant. 'One of the strengths of the iPad' -- it is interactive -- 'may be the weakness,' Dr. Christakis says.


克里斯塔基斯博士称，在突触形成的这些年中，儿童看电视越多，他们以后出现注意力问题的可能性就越大。他说，该研究是基于观察，而非实验室研究。其他一些研究未发现有相关性存在。克里斯塔基斯博士未研究平板电脑对幼童的影响，但他猜测会有类似乃至更显著的影响。他说，"iPad的一大优势"──互动性──"也许正是其弱点"。



Thirty-nine percent of children ages 2- to 4-years-old and 52% of kids ages 5 to 8 have used an iPad, iPhone or similar touch-screen device to play games, watch videos or use other apps, according to a survey last year by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group. Apple has sold more than 65 million iPads, and analysts predict that consumers will buy about 120 million tablets from Apple and other manufacturers this year.


总部位于旧金山的非营利组织Common Sense Media去年进行的一项调查显示，39%的二至四岁儿童和52%的五至八岁儿童使用iPad、iPhone或类似的触摸屏设备来玩游戏、看视频或使用其他应用程序。苹果公司(Apple)的iPad销量已经超过6,500万台，分析人士预计，消费者今年将从苹果和其他生产商处购买1.2亿台平板电脑。



Julia Campins's 2-year-old son received an iPad in December from his grandfather. Mostly he uses it for Dr. Seuss books in which the app reads the story, and games about animals.


31岁的坎平斯(Julia Campins)住在旧金山，是一位律师。她两岁的儿子去年12月份从爷爷那里得到一台iPad。他主要用iPad阅读苏斯博士(Dr. Seuss)的故事，应用程序能把故事念出来，他还用iPad玩动物游戏。



Ms. Campins, who lives in San Francisco, says it keeps her son calm and entertained on flights. At home, Ms. Campins, a 31-year-old lawyer, and her husband, Nick Campins, only give him the iPad when they need to get things done around the house.


坎平斯说，坐飞机的时候iPad可以让她儿子安静下来，给他带来一些乐趣。在家的话，坎平斯和她丈夫尼克•坎平斯(Nick Campins)只在有事情要做的时候才会让儿子玩iPad。



The family rule: If her son whines, the iPad goes away. 'When we feel ourselves using it too much, or whenever he starts whining for it, we take that as a sign and cut back.'


家里的规矩是：如果儿子哭闹着要玩iPad，她就会拿走iPad。她说，"当我们觉得iPad用得太多，或者他开始闹着要iPad的时候，我们就会把这当成一个信号，停止使用iPad。"



I first let my son use a borrowed iPad on a cross-country flight when he was 2 1/2 years old. He had cried for four straight hours on a previous trip, and I hoped the iPad would keep him entertained. He understood how to use it instantly and for five hours played kids' games, used a drawing app and watched episodes of 'Curious George.' About a year later, my wife and I bought an iPad, loaded it with word and puzzle games and let our son use it on a more regular basis. His knowledge of words seemed to pick up immediately. We also noticed things that worried us. He would go into a trance-like state when he used the iPad. He wouldn't respond when we called his name.


我最早是在儿子两岁半的时候让他玩iPad的，当时他在乘坐跨国航班时使用一台借来的iPad。在之前一次旅行中，他整整哭了四个小时，所以我希望iPad能给他带来一点乐趣。他拿到iPad之后马上就知道该怎么用了，在五个小时的时间里，他玩了儿童游戏，用了一个绘画程序，并看了几集《好奇猴乔治》(Curious George)。大约一年之后，我和妻子买了一台iPad，在里面安装了词汇和猜谜游戏，让儿子更经常地使用iPad。他的词汇知识似乎立马就有了进步。但我们也注意到一些令人担忧的事情：他在使用iPad时会进入类似出神的状态，我们叫他名字的时候，他不会有任何反应。



'He's concentrating,' says Sandra Calvert, a professor at Georgetown University. It's physiologically the same thing he does while deeply immersed in, say, Legos. Psychologists call it 'flow experience.'


乔治城大学(Georgetown University)教授卡尔弗特(Sandra Calvert)说，"他在聚精会神地做一件事。"从生理学角度来看，这与玩乐高(Legos)玩具时全身心沉浸其中的状态是一样的。心理学家将这种状态称为"心流体验"。



There is a subtle difference: The child decides when a building is finished; an app determines when the task is completed correctly. Researchers say it's unclear whether this difference has any impact on a child.


但两者之间有一个微妙的区别：孩子用积木搭房子时是自己决定什么时候结束的；而一个电子游戏任务何时能正确完成是由应用程序决定的。研究人员称，这一区别对儿童是否有影响现在还不确定。



Soon, getting our son to put down the iPad became a nightly battle. 'It gives him a dopamine squirt,' says Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital in Boston, referring to the brain chemical often associated with pleasure.


很快，我们晚上总要费很大周折才能让儿子放下iPad。波士顿儿童医院(Children's Hospital in Boston)的媒体和儿童健康中心(Center on Media and Child Health)主任里奇(Michael Rich)称，"用iPad玩游戏就像给孩子注射多巴胺一样。"多巴胺是大脑的一种化学物质，通常与愉悦感有关。



Many apps for kids are designed to stimulate dopamine releases -- hence encouraging a child to keep playing -- by offering rewards or exciting visuals at unpredictable times.


许多儿童应用程序都是为刺激多巴胺分泌而设计的，这样可以鼓励儿童不停地玩下去，它们会在无法预料的时刻提供奖励或者精彩刺激的视觉效果。



My wife and I stopped letting our son use the iPad. Now he rarely asks for it. He is 4 and his friends aren't talking about cool iPad games, so he doesn't feel he's missing out.


如今我和妻子不让儿子用iPad了。现在他也很少主动要求玩iPad。他今年四岁，他的小伙伴们不会聊什么iPad游戏酷的问题，所以他也没有什么失落感。



The experts interviewed were mixed on whether we did the right thing. About half say they would have taken away the iPad if their kid exhibited similar behavior -- asking for it constantly, whining. The rest say we overreacted.


至于我们这样做是否正确，接受访问的专家意见不一。大约一半的专家称，如果孩子表现出类似行为──不停索要iPad，哭闹，他们就会把iPad收走。而其余的人则说我们反应过度了。



Ben Worthen


Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号