Recently web 2 point O has made a big impact in the www. But as things become so drastically advanced, I get further confused.
My biggest confusion is Twitter. Somehow, one way or another, I cannot seem to get the idea of how tweeter is able to communicate properly with my peers.
I have an account in Twitter for Glenn Doman and till this date ,I have received a lot of messages from friends like "I am taking a shower!" "It smells funky in here" and commercial messages like "earn big bucks with Business Today"
It seems that people are posting almost everything and anything on twitter? and the purpose of it is to reconnect with busy friends? share whatever you do with everyone? shouldn't picking noses be a little more personal and private?
What happened to giving our dearest friends a call to ask how they are? Or even better, calling friends out for coffee.
Has twitting become an excuse for being a lazy way of reconnecting with close friends during busy times? Imagine this, you happen to walk along Orchard road, suddenly you notice a familiar face. He calls out to you, "Hey Joe! How have you been!? It's been a while? Called you a few times and couldn't get you" Being the twitter abuser that you usually are, you replied "Hey! I'm good! didn't you see my Tweet the other day?!" If i am Joe's friend, I'd smack Joe.
While the Internet has become a little more convenient for everyone, let us not forget that bonding and fellowship is important in these times of celebration. Christmas is around the corner and there are many friends and family members waiting to pass this harmonious time with us.
My take on this is to get out and reconnect with friends and family. Rather than to grow fat sitting behind a monitor, telling people how much I love them with Mr Querty, the keyboard.
Getting up in peoples faces IMO is more sincere. What's do you think?
The claim always seemed too good to be true: park your infant in front of a video and, in no time, he or she will be talking and getting smarter than the neighbor's kid. In the latest study on the effects of popular videos such as the "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" series, researchers find that these products may be doing more harm than good. And they may actually delay language development in toddlers.
Led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos." (See the top 10 children's books of 2008.)
It's not the first blow to baby videos, and likely won't be the last. Mounting evidence suggests that passive screen sucking not only doesn't help children learn, but could also set back their development. Last spring, Christakis and his colleagues found that by three months, 40% of babies are regular viewers of DVDs, videos or television; by the time they are two years old, almost 90% are spending two to three hours each day in front of a screen. Three studies have shown that watching television, even if it includes educational programming such as Sesame Street, delays language development. "Babies require face-to-face interaction to learn," says Dr. Vic Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "They don't get that interaction from watching TV or videos. In fact, the watching probably interferes with the crucial wiring being laid down in their brains during early development." Previous studies have shown, for example, that babies learn faster and better from a native speaker of a language when they are interacting with that speaker instead of watching the same speaker talk on a video screen. "Even watching a live person speak to you via television is not the same thing as having that person in front of you," says Christakis.
This growing evidence led the Academy to issue its recommendation in 1999 that no child under two years old watch any television. The authors of the new study might suggest reading instead: children who got daily reading or storytelling time with their parents showed a slight increase in language skills.
Though the popular baby videos and DVDs in the Washington study were designed to stimulate infants' brains, not necessarily to promote language development, parents generally assume that the products' promises to make their babies smarter include improvement of speaking skills. But, says Christakis, "the majority of the videos don't try to promote language; they have rapid scene changes and quick edits, and no appearance of the 'parent-ese' type of speaking that parents use when talking to their babies." Read "Parenting Advice: What Moms Should Learn From Dads.")
As far as Christakis and his colleagues can determine, the only thing that baby videos are doing is producing a generation of overstimulated kids. "There is an assumption that stimulation is good, so more is better," he says. "But that's not true; there is such a thing as overstimulation." His group has found that the more television children watch, the shorter their attention spans later in life. "Their minds come to expect a high level of stimulation, and view that as normal," says Christakis, "and by comparison, reality is boring."
He and other experts worry that the proliferation of these products will continue to displace the one thing that babies need in the first months of life — face time with human beings. "Every interaction with your child is meaningful," says Christakis. "Time is precious in those early years, and the newborn is watching you, and learning from everything you do." So just talk to them; they're listening.
Parents who read childrens stories aloud to their kids provide a strong, positive influence and build a foundation for a lifetime of significant benefits. But what really are these reading aloud benefits? What kind of difference are we talking about?
Below is a summary of the significant ways in which reading stories aloud to kids will change their lives . . . and yours. It won't happen overnight, as change is gradual, but continued and dedicated reading will most definitely bring noticeable, long-term changes.
Did you know . . .
In this day and age of hectic lives and busy schedules, reading together is a simple and enjoyable way for parents to take time out and focus on the family. Young children need lots of special, dedicated time with their loved ones.
Reading childrens stories aloud to our kids is just plain FUN!!
Reading childrens stories is a wonderful bonding experience that fosters meaninful one-on-one communication with our kids.
It shows our children in no uncertain terms that they are important to us.
It molds our kids into becoming readers, and raising a reader significantly increases our child's potential for academic success as well as lifelong success in general.
It is a vital and integral part of teaching our kids how to read as children learn how to read by being read to.
It helps our children master language development.
It builds listening skills, increases a child's attention span, and develops the ability to concentrate at length of which all are learned skills.
It develops children's ability to express themselves more confidently, easily, and clearly in spoken AND written terms.
It develops and fosters a child's natural curiosity.
It develops creativity and a child's ability to use their own imagination!
It expands our children's horizons, quells fears, exposes them to new situations, and teaches them appropriate behavior.
Reading childrens stories to our children provides the best opportunities for true " teaching moments ."
Reading picture books develops a young child's appreciation for the arts through exposure to many different styles of art and illustrations.
Kenny began our program about a month back. He still can't believe that the math program is this effective. What would your opinion be? Leave us a comment.
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/matthiasleow/GDMathsCardIStillDonTBelieve#5391387738505388978 <-- cut and paste in your browser
Click on the link to see Kenny's little boy play with math dots!
