Technology `limits children's creativity'

Too much information technology could be damaging children's creativity, according to a report just released in the US. Findings from the report, produced by The Alliance for Childhood, included the suggestion that children find it harder and less interesting to learn from a screen than from paper and that young readers found it harder to absorb words on the computer than in books. The study was particularly damning of software packages produced for very young children, which parents buy believing that the earlier a child is introduced to computer skills the better. The report will be discussed in detail next month in Brussels at the Alliance for childhood annual conference.