Niemann: Despite the technology onslaught, there are life lessons to be learned from kindergarten

One of my favorite authors is Robert Fulgham. I often think of him when I see my patients, especially when they describe to me what it’s like to spend time in kindergarten. Even now, as I write this, as we adults in the doctor’s office listen to the kindergarten students talk about kindergarten, I can see the smiles of many parents.

In his book, Fulgham I learned what I really need to know in kindergarten. He explains that it is really just a matter of remembering. What do you remember?

Let us not forget: share everything. play fair. don’t hit people Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Do not take what is not yours. Say sorry if you hurt someone. Please wash your hands before eating. flush; warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life – learn, think, draw, sing, dance, play and work every day. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, pay attention to traffic, hold hands and unite. Notice the wonder.

Fulgham continued, “Wisdom wasn’t on the top of the graduate school pile, it was in the sand dunes of Sunday school.” The concept of Sunday school may not resonate with more and more families, but we should stop and teach children to respect themselves, respect others, and share common commonalities with the basics of life. I think it can represent a symbolic moment that teaches us to enjoy the joy of life. unite.

I keep Fulgham’s book nearby and occasionally review his lesson list or share it with some of the family members who come to me for therapy. But at the end of the day, I can’t help but wonder what the future holds for these innocent young patients.

Our community will change very dramatically and rapidly in the future. I am reminded of an excellent column recently written by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. He says we are entering an era of acceleration. It is a time of “amazing progress and terrible confusion.”

Friedman writes of “a time of fundamental uncertainty, a time when predictions are likely to go wrong and medium-term plans are likely to become obsolete.” He sees our future as “a relentless technological race that accelerates the development of biotechnology, energy, chip manufacturing, trade flows and political alliances.”

We are already seeing how artificial intelligence (AI) is drawing our attention, both in terms of threats and opportunities. Not long ago, when testifying at a congressional hearing on AI, his CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, said: So do we. “

So should we worry about the impact of AI on our children’s future?

In a recent academic study of the impact of AI on young children, researchers found that young children see robots as toys that are smarter than themselves, while older children see robots as humans who are not as smart as they are. I am concluding. These researchers called for early AI education to empower children and improve their AI literacy. Researchers also worried that AI would widen the divide between society’s haves and have-nots.

One thing is certain: AI will not reduce future screen time for today’s kindergarteners.

We still have a lot to learn about how AI will affect our children. As Yogi Berra said, “The future will be different.” And “it’s hard to predict, especially about the future.”

But we already know that the Canadian Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for optimal screen time will not be the same after AI becomes the new norm. How it alters neural pathways in the developing brain remains a big question mark.

Fulgham’s warnings are never questioned. The basics will never change and will be useful to remember for years to come. Technology changes and affects us all in some way, but what is universally true never changes.

About 2,600 years ago, the Buddha taught that the root of all suffering always traces back to hatred, greed and delusion. Simple, timeless, and universal wisdom. There is no need for AI to check the basics.