The Case for Kids and PDAs
Computerbits Magazine-Dec 2003

Over the last 20 years, computers have made our lives easier - or maybe more complicated, depending on your perspective.

No matter your view, computers are here to stay, and to be prepared for the future, our kids need to be computer literate. From the U.S. Department of Labor:

"Computer occupations are expected to grow the fastest over the projection period (2001-2010). In fact, these jobs account for 8 out of the 20 fastest growing occupations in the economy. In addition to high growth rates, these eight occupations combined will add more than 1.9 million new jobs to the economy. Health occupations comprise most of the remaining fastest growing occupations. High growth rates among computer and health occupations reflect projected faster-than-average growth in the computer and data processing and health services industries"

Don't count on your child's school to give the computer training needed for the future programmer in your family! As school budgets shrink, some schools are forced to budget only for the more traditional methods of teaching, which don't always include computers. We're also seeing a cutback on the funding to train teachers to use technology in the classroom. The program "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology," also referred to as PT3, was started in 1999 as a federal program to help teachers learn to use and teach technology in the classroom. As it stands now, the budget for PT3 (62.5 Million Dollars) will be eliminated in 2004. Studies are finding that kids are starting to become more tech savvy than their teachers and without funding to educate teachers in technology, the bulk of computer education is going to come from the home environment.

Even if you're not comfortable with computers, make sure your kids have at least some supervised access on your home computer, or even a computer at the public library.

Okay, I'm done with my rant. Now let's talk about my favorite subject, PDAs. Prepare yourselves, I'm going to make an outrageous statement: kids need PDAs. You have an objection? All right, hit me with it. Is that the best you've got? Trust me, I've been called worse! Here are some of the general arguments against kids having PDAs:

1. They're too doggone expensive, especially for kids. I'm not spending $500 for Bobby to drop it in the toilet.
2. Too fragile.
3. Let's just buy him another Gameboy. You know he ain't gonna get no work done with that PDA thing.
4. They have no educational value.
5. The other parents are going to think were awfully pretentious (not that we worry about that).

(Okay, you have to read in black and white now, because I'm going to do my best Perry Mason impression.)

Ladies and gentleman of the jury, my esteemed colleague wants you to believe that PDAs are just too expensive, fragile, and impractical to put in the hands of babes. I'd like to show you why his arguments don't hold water.

First, I will give rebuttal to issue 1: "They're too doggone expensive, especially for kids. I'm not spending $500 for Bobby to drop it in the toilet."

Your Honor, I'd like to present Exhibit A (I know you can't offer exhibits during the closing arguments, but I got my law degree from litigationfordummies.com):

Johnny's Expenses (No PDA) - Age 14
Scientific Calculator - $35.00
Spanish English Dictionary - $10.00
Thesaurus/Dictionary - $15.00
Assignment Planner - $15.00
Gameboy (monochrome) - $50.00
Gameboy Games x $35 each - $280.00
Total = $405.00

Johnny's Expenses (With PDA) - Age 14
Palm Zire 21 - $99.00
Scientific Calculator Software - Easy Calc - FREE
Spanish English Dictionary - Polliglot Translation Dictionary - Several Languages - FREE
Assignment Planner - School Work - $8.00
Gameboy Replacement (monochrome) - The Palm makes a great Gaming Platform replacement - FREE
Games - Over 600 games at freewarepalm.com - FREE
Total = $107.00

Now, members of the jury, I didn't take none of that new-fangled math, but I believe that the PDA is almost $300 less than the traditional expenses. We also did an apples to-apples-comparison. It's possible to go with a top-of-the-line color PDA with either a Palm or Pocket PC Operating System and still spend less than $400. PDAs are currently at their lowest prices ever and come in a wide range of prices for most any budget. Let's look at the rest of the arguments:

• Too fragile - Yes, PDAs, like most electronics, can be fragile. The secret is to keep the PDA in a good case - preferably a hard case. New PDAs come with warranties and can last many years under normal and even extreme use.
• Let's just buy him another Gameboy. You know he ain't gonna get no work done with that PDA thing - A PDA is just like a home computer: there need to be boundaries. With proper balance, the PDA can be a great learning tool while also having a lot of entertainment value.
• They have no educational value - One of the great things about PDAs is that they are a great platform for young programmers to learn on. You will find hundreds of useful programs that were developed by kids. There are also plenty of study aids and educational games available. Whether for fun or schoolwork, there is plenty of opportunity for educational development.
• The other parents and teachers are going to think we are awfully pretentious (not that we worry about that) - So what? This is about educational development and expanding your child's mind. As long as you don't staple it to your child's forehead with a big "Look What I Got" sticker, you'll be fine. I would make sure to advise the teacher that your child is bringing a PDA to school for educational purposes so that it isn't confiscated as a toy. You also need to make sure the child understands that the PDA can't be used as a distraction to himself or other classmates. In school, the PDA needs to be used strictly as an educational tool. There will be plenty of time to play games at home.

I'm going to share a little tip with you. Buy your child a PDA with a memory slot and a memory card. Make sure that games and non-educational programs get installed on the memory card. Make a rule that the memory card does not go to school (you can keep it if you want). You'll need to do random spot checks on the PDA to make sure there aren't any hidden games. Always remember the awesome threat value of "If you don't start behaving, I'm going to take your memory card away!"

Going back to the financial part of a PDA for kids, you can see that the biggest savings are in software. There are thousands of programs available, with a tremendous amount of free software. Our exhibit shows 1 year's worth of expenses. Imagine over several years what the savings will be. The exhibit was based on my oldest son's 8th grade year. We were used to getting nickel and dimed to death for school expenses in elementary school, but had no idea how much more expensive school supplies got in junior high and high school. The nice thing about PDAs is you can find software relative to almost any grade, whether it's flash cards, dictionaries, study guides, etc.

What age is appropriate to buy a child a PDA? It really depends on the child, but I think around 10 years old is probably appropriate. The thing to remember is that it can start as a Gameboy replacement that can be used for educational purposes when needed. When you give little Johnny his PDA for Christmas, he doesn't need to know your grand scheme. That's the beauty of it: they can learn, even if they don't want to. For children under 10, I wouldn't recommend giving them unsupervised control of a PDA, mainly because of the klutziness factor. My 9-year-old daughter has access to my PDA in a supervised setting. Typically she's not into computer games but enjoys PDA games, and I've seen a big improvement in her coordination and concentration level since she started playing games. I think computer games are an important part of educational development for children and obviously balance is the key to whether games are educational or distractive.

The neat aspect of a PDA is its dual role as a learning and entertainment tool. Next time you're on a long road trip and little Johnny is getting rambunctious, you have the choice of having him play a game or study his Spanish flash cards. Try doing that with a Gameboy.

Even if we disregarded all the educational aspects of a PDA, they're still a great value in entertainment! Let's look at the PDA from an entertainment standpoint as a gift for a teenager:

Johnny's Electronics Expenses
Gameboy (color) - $85.00
Gameboy Games x $35 each - $280.00
mp3 Player - $100.00
Portable CD player - $50.00
Music CDs x $16.00 each - $240.00
40x480 Digital Camera - $50.00
Total = $805.00

Johnny's PDA Expenses
Palm Zire 71 (color) - $299.00
The Zire 71 also has a built in mp3 player with stereo headphone connection. Software to turn current CDs into mp3s with CD to WAV/mp3 Ripper v1.71 - FREE
1-year subscription to Emusic.com (legal mp3 downloads for your PDA) - $120.00
40x480 built-in Digital Camera - FREE
Games - Over 600 games at freewarepalm.com - FREE
Total = $419.00

As you can see, strictly as an entertainment platform, you're still going to save money over the electronics you were going to buy as a gift for your child. As a bonus, they have the ability to do educational stuff, if so desired.

The most important factor is your child's level of maturity. Is every kid capable of using a PDA for learning? Unfortunately not. But there are a lot of kids that can expand their knowledge and self educate at the same time. You have to make the decision of what's best for your family. My goal is to at least put the discussion on the table.