Subrahmanyam K, Kraut R E, Greenfield P M, Gross E F
California State University, Los Angeles, USA.
Future Child. 2000 Fall-Winter;10(2):123-44.
The increasing amount of time children are spending on computers at home and school has raised questions about how the use of computer technology may make a difference in their lives--from helping with homework to causing depression to encouraging violent behavior. This article provides an overview of the limited research on the effects of home computer use on children's physical, cognitive, and social development. Initial research suggests, for example, that access to computers increases the total amount of time children spend in front of a television or computer screen at the expense of other activities, thereby putting them at risk for obesity. At the same time, cognitive research suggests that playing computer games can be an important building block to computer literacy because it enhances children's ability to read and visualize images in three-dimensional space and track multiple images simultaneously. The limited evidence available also indicates that home computer use is linked to slightly better academic performance. The research findings are more mixed, however, regarding the effects on children's social development. Although little evidence indicates that the moderate use of computers to play games has a negative impact on children's friendships and family relationships, recent survey data show that increased use of the Internet may be linked to increases in loneliness and depression. Of most concern are the findings that playing violent computer games may increase aggressiveness and desensitize a child to suffering, and that the use of computers may blur a child's ability to distinguish real life from simulation. The authors conclude that more systematic research is needed in these areas to help parents and policymakers maximize the positive effects and to minimize the negative effects of home computers in children's lives.
孩子在家和学校花在电脑上的时间越来越多，这引发了一些问题，即计算机技术的使用会如何影响他们的生活——从帮助完成家庭作业到导致抑郁，再到助长暴力行为。本文概述了关于在家使用电脑对孩子身体、认知和社交发展影响的有限研究。例如，初步研究表明，使用电脑会增加孩子花在电视或电脑屏幕前的总时间，而减少其他活动的时间，从而使他们面临肥胖风险。与此同时，认知研究表明，玩电脑游戏可能是提高计算机素养的重要基石，因为它能增强孩子在三维空间中阅读和想象图像以及同时追踪多个图像的能力。现有有限证据还表明，在家使用电脑与学业成绩略有提高有关。然而，关于对孩子社交发展的影响，研究结果则更为复杂。虽然几乎没有证据表明适度使用电脑玩游戏会对孩子的友谊和家庭关系产生负面影响，但最近的调查数据显示，上网时间增加可能与孤独感和抑郁情绪的增加有关。最令人担忧的是，玩暴力电脑游戏可能会增加孩子的攻击性，使他们对痛苦变得麻木不仁，而且使用电脑可能会模糊孩子区分现实生活和虚拟模拟的能力。作者得出结论，在这些领域需要进行更系统的研究，以帮助家长和政策制定者最大限度地发挥家用电脑在孩子生活中的积极影响，并将负面影响降至最低。
