Internet, Videos and Children: Relationships with Academic Performance and Morality
Speaker
Linda Jackson
Professor of Psychology and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University
When
-
Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)
Video
Video link
Description
I will discuss two studies from our Children and Technology Project. The first study tackled a topic that has long concerned policy makers—the role of new technology in academic performance. We conducted a a survey of a diverse sample of 12-year olds and their use of the Internet, video games, and cell phones. We found that the more Internet use was associated with better reading skills, but only for youth initially low in reading skills. Video game playing was associated with better visual-spatial skills, but also with lower GPAs and standardized tests scores in mathematics. Cell phone use had no effects on academic performance. The second study tackles a subject that had not been addressed systematically—how the Internet may be affecting children’s moral attitudes and behavior. The study looked at children’s moral attitudes and behavior in the real and virtual worlds. We compared these relationships for Chinese and U.S. 12-year olds. We found cultural differences in moral behavior in both worlds, but in opposite directions. Chinese youth considered good moral character in the real world to be more important than did U.S. youth, but Chinese youth considered morally questionable online behaviors to be more acceptable than did U.S. youth (exception, videogame violence). The expectation of peer approval predicted the acceptability of morally questionable online behaviors. Cultural differences may be explained by differences in perceptions of cyberspace as a venue for expressing individual autonomy.
Speaker's Bio
Linda A. Jackson is a Professor of Psychology and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the cognitive, affective and moral developmental consequences of Internet, video game and cell phone use. Also of interest are cultural differences in these consequences. Her two major research projects, HomeNetToo and the Children and Technology Project are supported by grants from the National Science Foundation. Her research also addresses the digital divide which now separates African American males from all other cultural-gender groups. Plans for future research include informal science learning with handheld technology, using the field of nanotechnology to develop lessons in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM areas).
Speaker's Website
https://www.msu.edu/user/jackso67/
Host
Sara Kiesler