Kathryn more thoughts on ICT

Hattie's list of effects places games and visual aids at .34 and .16 respectively, which makes me question the emphasis on ICT in teaching. (Teacher Make a Difference. 2003)
If, as Vygotsky claims, the social learning environment is so central to learning, I do not see that the computer can be beneficial to learning as computers severely reduce social interaction.
I know from my experience as a parent that children are negatively affected by computer use and video games as they enter a very different space while playing and it is hard for them to move out of this later.
Cultural mediation (Lev Vygotsky in Wikipedia) is the process whereby children learn the rules of their culture through interaction with significant people in their lives and time spent on computers detracts from this. I believe that this is the case at home and at school.
According to Vygotsky inner speech develops from external speech via a gradual process of internalization, with younger children only able to "think out loud" and I wonder whether with all the external stimulation experienced at the present time (through television and computers etc) children, young people and adults are finding it more difficult to develop inner speech from external speech. This, it seems to me, is becoming evident in the fact that it is becoming more acceptable to chat while other things are going on (lessons, lectures, concerts, weddings etc). As Benson ( 1995) explains "vocalisation, as found egocentric speech, usually ceases when the person can think the words rather than vocalising them" (The Mozart of Psychology. n.d) but many people seem unable to control their speech, even when it is actually not benefitting others they are interacting with.
We hear that Digital Natives are more able to multitask than Digital Immigrants but given that, in order for learning to take place, an active engagement is necessary I would quesion the depth of learning that actual happens while, for example, a student watches television or listens to music while doing homework.
I am also concerned at the lack of imaginative forces needed whilst being exposed to video clips or playing on-line games. As Vygotsky says humans have the "possibility of imagining something and then creating something from what they have imagined" (Vygotsky in a nutshell. Florida Gulf Course University) but with the images being so ready-made and pre-packaged I feel that the ability to create their own inner pictures is not being fostered.
References:

Learning Principles, Vygotsky in a Nutshell
Retrieved from http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/80337/6215m8a.htm on 21 March 2007

Hattie, J. Teachers Make a Difference. 2003
Retrieved from Notre Dame Student Portal March 2007.

Unknown Author The Mozart of Psychology
Retrieved from http://vygotsky.afraid.org/ on 3 April 2007