How young is too young for technology?
Toronto Star, December 27th, 2004A new educational product called Comfy is looking to put the computer experience directly in the tiny developing hands of toddlers, starting as young as 12 months.
Comfy, named after a fictional cartoon character the product uses, comes with a keyboard that plugs into a regular PC and interacts with software that responds with both pictures and sound when a child hits, smacks, pushes or tugs at the large, simple buttons.
It's a huge hit in Israel where the toy originates, and where it has become a fixture in most households. And it's been named one of the top 10 educational toys of 2004 by Dr. Toy, a prominent toy-rating service that offers advice on what toys are hot or not.
Now it's hitting North America. In Toronto, Mastermind, Science City, Top Banana, Toy Town and Kids Can Do all stock Comfy, which starts at $79.99 for the basic set. In the U.S. Toy giant FAO Schwartz carries Comfy. Additional add-on software is available and the company is planning to introduce extra online content next year.
The Comfy only works with a Windows-based PC. It does not work with a Mac.
Technology and progress aren't things parents necessarily want to keep away from their kids. High chairs, strollers, disposable diapers, sippy cups and a million other basic advancements have made child-raising a little easier than it used to be.
Imagine life without the safety pin or Velcro.
So too have high-tech inventions like the microchip made a positive educational mark. There are now hundreds of toys that intertwine reading with sound, touch and visual stimulants that the experts say are great at helping kids develop.
But even the biggest pro-techy has to admit that the concept of sitting a child who can't walk or talk in front of a computer and encouraging them to use it is slightly off-putting. Shouldn't they be playing with building blocks or Play-doh?
The television was greeted with skepticism too. Concerns ranging from the effect of the picture on eyesight to the content of the one-way message boring into impressionable brains were alleged.
Even so, TV has become instrumental in children's education. Programming geared for kids is now a staple of cable television, and interactive videos such as the wildly popular Baby Einstein series are considered a must-see for any young infant.
The computer is arguably a few steps ahead of TV. It responds to messages and input from the individual using it, making it an interactive rather than reactive experience.
That's why using a computer as an educational tool for young children is a natural. It is, say Comfy's advocates, a medium that responds, provides stimulus and develops analytical, motor, cognitive and memory skills.
"I want my child to play with a ball, a bat, pots and pans," says Gali Bar-Ziv, head of marketing for Toronto-based Imaginative Minds, which has the license to sell Comfy in North America.
"But I also want to have the ability for him to interact with things that are a bit more high tech."
Bar-Ziv and his wife had a tough time getting their two-year-old son Ben to share the Comfy with other children during a demo of the product at the Mastermind Toy Store on Yonge Street north of Lawrence last week.
In a busy store crammed with toys, games, last-minute holiday shoppers and even a local TV crew, Ben was perfectly happy pressing the buttons and staring at the laptop computer the Comfy demo was hooked up to, oblivious to the chaos around him.
Lots of modern-day educational toys rely on microchips and voice synthesizers to produce an interactive experience — books that play music, toys that help with phonics and on and on. And the experts encourage parents to use these toys to allow children to develop the basics of speaking and reading at an early age.
The difference with Comfy is that it uses the power of the PC rather than a computer chip and batteries. The Fisher Price-like keyboard doesn't change but interchangeable plastic covers enable the buttons to respond in different ways depending on the child's age, learning level and interests. You plug the keyboard in using a USB cable.
Other kids including three-and-a-half-year old Austen Maras also liked Comfy, especially the phone attached to the keyboard that the characters answer when it rings, and the little dog that encouraged him to clap his hands in time to the music.
The company that makes Comfy went to a lot of trouble to determine what works with young children and computers.
They figured out that a child isn't able to control a mouse until the age of four; that large, easy-to-use keys are most suitable for developing motor capabilities but are also still attractive to older children; that icons with correct symbolic representations work best; and that a telephone receiver helps for acquiring communications competence.
The real question is whether such high-tech wizardry is truly necessary to a child's development.
History obviously suggests it is not. Ask your Mother or Grandmother what they did to teach you to speak or read and you can rest assured it had nothing to do with computers.
But progress, not to mention the responses from the kids who tried out Comfy, suggests technology and computers can be part of young children's developmental processes, even at a very early age.
Judging by the kids' reactions at Mastermind last week, if anything it keeps their attention.
