In April 2010 Steve Jobs created the first Ipad. It meant the possibility of having the Internet at your fingertips. Immediately that type of technology was in private school classrooms. With only one tablet these students could record videos, paint, take photos, read, browse the internet, watch videos, play educative games, calculate… Later, tablets became available in public and state-subsidized academic centres because the digital divide was a problem that needed to be eliminated.

Nowadays, this tendency of using technology for learning is changing. While the newest mobile phone is the main gift for a Spanish 12-year-old child, in Silicon Valley the children of engineers who work in companies such as Google, Apple, eBay, Yahoo… are attending schools whose lure is the absence of screens. At least, until secondary education.

Some parents are restricting the time their offspring id exposed to technologies in the house and banning the use of mobile phones in cars. Chris Anderson, ex-manager of the Wired technological magazine, put screens on the same level as cocaine. They are conscious of the addictions created by games apps. These are designed in such a way that the user generates dopamine, the hormone which feeds the reward circuit in the brain.

Some years ago kids were punished with no dessert, but now if children don’t behave well, they don’t have WI-FI.

There are several reasons why the parents of the digital revolution protect their children from that. Every day there is more information about problems caused by screens. For instance, the addiction results in low frustration tolerance, low self-esteem and problems with concentration, sight, sleep deficit… In addition to these health reasons, there are some social differentiation reasons.

The Silicon Valley private schools guarantee zero technology, blackboards, chalk, crafts and outdoor games. While the poor children are hooked on the screens, the elite kids are rediscovering the treasure of childhood: the game.

Gemma Alari i Mar Valle.

Vocabulary list:

Posh: Pijo/a

State-subsidised school:  Escola concertada

 Digital divide: Bretxa digital

Silicon Valley: És el nom de la regió sud de l’àrea de la Badia de San    Francisco, al nord de l’Estat de Califòrnia.

Lure: Temptació

Reward circuit: Recompensa

Self-esteem: Autoestima

Offspring: Fills

Chalk: Gu