Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books on the subject I've ever read.
Review: Failure to Connect is an excellent and extremely well written account of the potential dangers (and benefits) of using computers for teaching and for entertainment. Dr. Healy points out that there are a number of physical and developmental factors that we don't know enough about to entrust children to "cyber-development" -- and there's a lot of evidence showing the necessity for the presence of caring adults and physical learning environments in order for children to develop good thinking, motor, and social skills. The book's tone is never "anti-computer", but it is always "pro-human."
Rating:
Summary: educational
Review: Great book. Very counter-culteral. Computers are attractive because they mean children need less one-on-one, and because companies can make money off of them. Healy tackles the important question, are they good for children?Yes, it would be good if there were more research. As Healy points out, there is not much profit motivation in showing computers do not help children.
Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent book.
Review: I highly recommend this title to any parent, teacher or librarian that is concerned with the education of young children. It is a thoughtful and well-written examination of the issues surrounding the use of computers in education. All too often books of this type are nothing but sales pitches and "techno-babbble" from someone in the computer industry. This book is a wonderful exception.
Rating:
Summary: Parents, Pick up and read this one!
Review: I was fortunate to have sat in on a lecture by Jane M. Healy, PH.D. Having an extensive background in childrens education, and also her PHD (maybe "A reader from USA" who seems to know so much about this subject and Dr. Healy's background, should open a book or two before blasting out a book review. This is one of the most important subjects we are facing regarding the growing minds of our children. Woking with scientist who study the human brain, she has found information that will scare you into restructuring the toys your children play with and the amount of time spent on computers.
Rating: 
Summary: The book ¿Failure to Connect¿ failures to connect¿
Review: It is hard to tell how Ms. Healy's book contributes to the field of educational knowledge regarding kids and computers' use. The first problem with the book is the lack of a clear focus in a specific audience. Is she writing for parents? Is it a book written to help teachers ("How do we teach kids this skill"p.252)? Or is it addressed to scholars in the field? That does not seem to be clear and the book "failures to connect" with its audience. That happens because in some parts the author tries to make the narrative more light and pleasant, but she misses important and deep content that would back up her ideas about how computers have not been appropriately used in schools or at home to teach kids. In some parts, for example, she come up with a list of topics in how to use computers to lead to learning that seems to be more appropriated for a teachers' manual (even though most of this step by step manuals lack research background and seems to be based most in the author's experience that is not really related to computers use in kids education). The way her book is market-driven is itself an irony of her own criticism about how schools are market-driven when dealing with computers. Also because of that market-approach, the author tries to incorporate other sources of information in her narrative beyond traditional/formal research. This seems to be both good and bad. It is good because not all the knowledge necessarily comes from formal research and academic studies. But it can be bad when the audience is not convinced that the information presented is a valid one. When she talks about how to choose good software programs, for example, she quotes "Josh Barbanel of the New York Times." She does not tell us who is he and why the readers should give him some credit except by the fact that he is related to the biggest newspaper in this country. Because of that, the book seems to lack the scientific rigor necessary to criticize such a polemic subject. The author points some problems in the field such as the lack of validation for research related to computer use in schools ("some computerized instruction raised achievement scores, but some significantly lowered them" p.63.) But she does not go deep in those topics. In a certain point she quotes a "suburban mother" to try to show how computers can be harmful to kids. The author says that kids that use computers a lot can suffer visual strain "due to the screen flat and it is viewed on the horizontal plan" (p.112). But the American Academy of Ophthalmology found no convincing experimental or epidemiological evidence of any organic damage to the eye. The lack of a research method is another problem. I am not convinced that the author's "impressionist" observation of an informal sample of kids in an informal sample of schools is really representative of the subjects that she is talking about. (Buy the way, the book not even tells us where the author got her PhD!) The author's skeptical view of computers use among kids sometimes get close to an apocalyptical view ("the few studies showing positive results for educational technology have been largely founded by computer corporations" p.22). That does not help teachers, schools and policy makers to solve a very basic problem: what to do with the computers already bought by schools? Just ignore them? She also seems to emphasize a dichotomy of computers being good or bad instead of exploring more the idea that even though computers can have generate bad problems, they are already part of society's life (such as cars that pollutes and can kill people) and there is no evidence that this is going to change. She prefers to emphasize, "what computers can't do" instead of telling the readers what they can do to improve their kids learning process. Even though I am not a parent, I tried to put myself in that position and at the end of the book I became very concerned about the use of computer by kids. That's because the author indeed come up to some important questions about the subject (such as health implications related to computer use in early age, brain development, etc) but the answers that she offers are not conclusive simply because the science does not know enough about such themes. Ms. Healy has a hard task trying to explore computers' effects on children's minds. She has a problem right in the beginning because she has to deal with areas of knowledge that lack answers for many of her questions. What Science knows about computer effects on people? Almost nothing until this point. When her question focuses in children the answers are even fewer. I once had an opportunity to interview scientists who study the brain for many decades and all the best ones were always very clear in stressing how little Science knows about the human vital organ, not to talk about mind, the ethereal concept that over pass the physical brain. In this case her lack of answers should not be a surprise at all. Because Ms. Healy never acknowledges the weaknesses in her reasoning her discourse seems to be on the limit of propaganda (in this case, contra-propaganda, since she heavily criticizes computers use among kids). Because of Ms. Healy's lack of proofs to reasonable advocate against computers use by kids in early age and also the lack of scientific research to show how computer affects a kids mind, one can wonder about what remains from the book. When she criticizes computer use in schools I think about Larry Cuban and I believe that he did a better job than her (at least because he had a more formal method of research and he presented enough evidence about what he was talking about). He convinced me. When the author talks about philosophical implications of computer use I think about Brown and Duguid in The Social Life of Information and so on... What I found interesting in the book is, first, her alert to the fact that computers in early age can be harmful to children (even though she does not prove this or even explain how exactly this can happen). Also, she shows some differences between poor and rich schools dealing with computers and how that can impact poor kids' future. I also considered interesting her interview with a school administrator that emphasized the need to use computers to lead to meaningful learning and improvement of social skills (again, she fails to show research that tell us how to do that). The author posts an important questions regarding software to promote motivation among kids. She asks, "how much intellectual rigor must we sacrifice in order to get kids motivated?" ...
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: Part 1: Digital Dreams Meet Reality
Part 2: Digital Childhood
Part 3: Doing It Right When The Time is Tight What is inside this book:
Gives tips for choosing software
Josh Barbanel of the New York Times sets 4 criteria for good educational software Gives guidelines for using software
Discusses effective integration of technology in schools
Tells you what computers can't do
Talks about setting limits
Discusses health risks of using computers frequently
Discusses brain basics Discusses the differences of screen vs. books: The Research
Gives guidelines for video game use
Discusses computer influences on habits of mind for lifeling success Practical tips for improving a child's attention
Helping children deal with the computer personally
Physical development and the importance of play
General principles for meaninful technology use
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: Part 1: Digital Dreams Meet Reality
Part 2: Digital Childhood
Part 3: Doing It Right When The Time is Tight What is inside this book:
Gives tips for choosing software
Josh Barbanel of the New York Times sets 4 criteria for good educational software Gives guidelines for using software
Discusses effective integration of technology in schools
Tells you what computers can't do
Talks about setting limits
Discusses health risks of using computers frequently
Discusses brain basics Discusses the differences of screen vs. books: The Research
Gives guidelines for video game use
Discusses computer influences on habits of mind for lifeling success Practical tips for improving a child's attention
Helping children deal with the computer personally
Physical development and the importance of play
General principles for meaninful technology use
Rating:
Summary: Detractors need to look at their own assumptions
Review: The comments here so far from the people who didn't like this book say that Healy is biased because she starts out with too many negative assumptions about computers. But what about the assumptions that technology advocates are making? There are incredible assumptions being made about the potential of educational technology, but there's not much evidence to support those assumptions. In fact, there's a lot of evidence that suggests educational technology is just a craze and a boondoggle. I found Healy's argument--supported by studies, expert comments, and her own extensive school visits--to be both balanced and convincing.
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Summary: Why You Should Read This Breakthrough book
Review: This book was badly needed...Our parents, and schools, have been stumbling for years through this "digital jungle," trying to figure out what they're doing--lost that is. Healy cuts through this fog and points out how badly misused PCs are in most homes and schools--while offering helpful tips on getting them under control. She talks about the value of letting kids develop their imagination outside the computer and tv vs having them glued to a screen all the time...Yet she does find some useful uses for the computer in education, particularly for older kids who are more developed emotionally and educationally. Thisis a must read for any parent struggling with kids and computers. If you like this book be sure to check out Growing up Digital (Tapscot) and The PC Dads Guide to Becoming a Computer Smart Parent (Ivey/Bond), both providing revealing looks at the challenges of raising kids inthe Computer Age.
Rating: 
Summary: Blame it on the computer?
Review: This is a very disappointing book for anyone that wants to know more about how computers affect children (which the book claims to do - and the reason why I bought it). There is no such reliable information to be found in it. There are very interesting questions to be asked on this subject, but Jane M. Healy gets it all mixed up. Especially she is unable to make up her mind on when to attack the way computers are being used, their potential as a learning aid or their role as a life skill. She also believes that time not spent with computers is spent in a rich and colorful learning environment at school and at home. All teachers would provide wonderful challenging lessons that spellbind the students - if not for that ghastly computer-thing in the corner with ball-chained students playing mindless tic-tac-toe as their intellectual capacity dwindles. Parents would swamp their kids with activities, word games, kitchen math and-who-knows-what. Unfortunately, the kids want to play "Doom" instead? Serious social studies on the use of computers in my native country (Denmark) show amongst others: that computer time at home impairs most of all on TV-viewing hours (now falling for the first time). That families spend more child/adult time together after they get a home computer. And that kids computer skills can effectively break down ethnic/racial barriers. Not too bad for a hate-machine. The obvious truth is that computers can be used or misused at school, at home, at the office etc. Jane M. Healy does not have to tell us a hundred times that some teachers do not no how to use computers in class. They have colleagues; English teachers who cannot spell, math teachers that do not know their fractions, boring science teachers, teachers that think violence is a learning tool But there are many others; Teachers that do wonders with words, riddle math into everything around us, stir the inventor and scientist in young minds and create rich learning environments. Some of them use computers, some do it without computers. Her mindless ranting reminds me of the kind of books seen decades ago arguing that comic books and TV-viewing would be the doom of modern civilisation. Let me try to quote (from heart) the paramount thinker Ghandi when in London asked about his impression of modern western civilisation: "I think it would be a wonderful idea!" Alas, our world is far from perfect - but do not blame it on the computers. In stead save your money and buy "Lego Mindstorms". Then see how computers can affect your children's minds in the most wonderful ways
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