Screen Time. The Good Kind.

The look of rigorous learning.

     During the Hour of Code, one common sight among students and adults engaged in programming was the prolonged, unblinking gaze into a screen. And a head prop. It was as if the brain activity was so consuming and heavy that it was necessary to support the head with one or sometimes two hands.
     More to the point, not all screen time is bad. There is passive engagement, such as watching videos, that can be considered a "lean back" screen activity. And then there's "lean forward," in which children are actively engaged-- creating, problem solving, communicating.
     The American Academy of Pediatrics recently reworked their restrictions on screen time for children under the age of two. Now pediatricians are encouraging the use of positive media. Recognition that today's children are intellectually engaged with technology, pivoting the focus of our culture from consumption to creation. - Paul Tomizawa