"Digital media are future opportunities for children"
How do we prepare children for a digital future? An interview with developmental psychologist Malte Mienert.
Prof. Mienert, there are two poles in science when it comes to digital media and children: some say "as late as possible", others "as early as possible". Where do you see yourself?
Malte Mienert: I am a representative of the "as early as possible" group.
We are supposed to prepare children for a digital future that we do not yet know what it will look like. How do we approach this seemingly impossible task?
This educational challenge applies to all developmental issues. With every educational support, every offer, every prepared educational situation, we do not know today whether it will actually benefit the children in their lives.
Pedagogy is always future-oriented. As we cannot look into the future with a crystal ball, we need courage. We need to actively engage with new developments in society at an early stage and accompany them pedagogically instead of keeping them out of childcare centers and educational institutions, as is often still the case with digital media.
What media skills do you think today's children will need in the future?
Using digital media and actively shaping it are important developmental tasks for adolescents in the modern world. My particular focus is on the active shaping of media opportunities. So far, two approaches have prevailed in dealing with new digital media: at home, often "leaving the children to themselves and their passive consumption in front of the media" and in the institutions "leaving digital media outside". Neither strategy does justice to the future-oriented possibilities of media design and active use.
How can parents and educators guide their children well with regard to digital media?
These modern challenges require well-trained, specific specialists who enjoy and are committed to exploring the possibilities of digital media. The aim here is to enable, support and develop a relaxed approach to these media. Parents and professionals need to reflect on themselves as role models. Are cell phones, computers or television something that is constantly with us "grown-ups", but that we criticize in our little ones? How actively or passively do we use digital media ourselves?
And finally, it helps to look back: what was it like when we were growing up? Weren't "new media" always viewed very critically at first? "You read too much", "You watch too much TV", "You only play on the computer", "You're a cell phone addict". I see a historical continuity here of rejection, habituation and appropriation by the grown-ups.
About Prof. Malte Mienert
"For young people, the internet and new technologies are as much a part of cultural techniques as reading, arithmetic and writing," says Malte Mienert. He is a developmental psychologist, lecturer and author of specialist books on early childhood education.
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