Technology's Child by Katie Davis

TECHNOLOGY'S CHILD is a newly released text by Katie Davis who is the Director of the University of Washington (UW) Digital Youth Lab. As an Associate Professor at UW, she teaches courses on child development and technology design; her interest in young children is readily apparent as she begins with a chapter on early childhood and early literacy. Subsequent sections detail the relationship between technology and learning for older children and tweens as well as questions of identity and agency for adolescents and young adults. A decade ago, Davis and her mentor, Howard Gardner collaborated on The App Generation. Davis describes her new book as “a set of readily accessible and actionable ideas” for a varied audience, including parents, teachers, policymakers, design teams, and students themselves, particularly those interested in researching this topic. And there is plenty of detail to assist researchers – the extensive notes comprise roughly a third of the book. Davis probes inequities in the educational system while exploring two key questions: What is the impact of different kinds of technology? and How can technology be designed to support children’s development? Her take on “Digital Media’s Role in the Ages and Stages of Growing Up” is worth a look, as is Behind Their Screens which deals more with teens and is also published by MIT Press.