Overthinking

Do I overthink things?  I’m not sure.  I guess I’ll have to think about it.

Yesterday, the family and I went to Barnes & Noble which is something we do a couple of times a week now that Borders has met its untimely demise.  While we were there, we started looking at the toy section, and I came across the e-readers for kids.  And this led to a few hours of internal debate.  Do we or don’t we?

When Goober was about eighteen months old, I did a Mommy and Me class with her at a local Montessori school, and as a requirement for the class, the moms would meet every other week to discuss (be indoctrinated into) the Montessori philosophy.  They were adamantly against electronic and plastic gadgets for kids.  I didn’t agree with some of their philosophy, but this part really made sense.  If we want kids to be able to think well, we need to give them or let them come up with activities that require creativity and thought.  Gadgets might give them information and stuff to know, but they can’t teach them how to think.  And surely it’s more important to raise talented thinkers than it is to raise kids who just know a lot of stuff.

And so we spent the next two years blissfully e-reader free.  And then I read an article, and as usual, the article led to thinking which led to more thinking which led to rethinking and… you get where this is going.

The article discussed the digital divide and how lower income children are suffering academically because they don’t have the access to computers and apps (of all things!) that more affluent children have.  And the worrying began — am I actually doing my children a disservice by making them read paper books that aren’t animated! And so I’m torn.

But what I’m even more torn about is whether or not this stuff really requires this much thought.  My natural inclination in life is to research and think and analyze and repeat.  I’m not a slave to parenting books or philosophies, but I do believe it’s important to be well informed.  But my guess is that most people out there aren’t agonizing over the long term implications of V Tech.

What do you think?  Are these issues important?  Is it better to look at things from all angles or just trust your instincts when it comes to parenting?