Intrigued by our schools approach to technology, news anchor Karen Hepp from Fox 29 visited yesterday. She interviewed teachers, students and parents and visited many of our classrooms. A representative at Fox News tells us to expect to see the story sometime in December or January. More details to follow.

Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ longstanding recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens, according to a study scheduled for release Tuesday.

The report also documents for the first time an emerging “app gap” in which affluent children are likely to use mobile educational games while those in low-income families are the most likely to have televisions in their bedrooms.

The study, by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco nonprofit group, is the first of its kind since apps became widespread, and the first to look at screen time from birth. It found that almost half the families with incomes above $75,000 had downloaded apps specifically for their young children, compared with one in eight of the families earning less than $30,000. More than a third of those low-income parents said they did not know what an “app” — short for application — was.

“The app gap is a big deal and a harbinger of the future,” said James Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, which had 1,384 parents surveyed this spring for the study. “It’s the beginning of an important shift, ….”

This article appeared in The New York Times on 25th October 2011

For the full article go to - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/us/screen-time-higher-than-ever-for-children-study-finds.html