Storytime with tele-grandma misses the mark

Nokia has teamed up with Sesame Street to create an interactive reading experience that can involve grandparents and grandchildren no matter how far apart they may find themselves. The Storybook research project melds the tactile and visual pleasures of reading a real book with video conferencing technology which allows distant relatives to take an active part in a child’s literacy development.

via Storyplay: Nokia and Sesame Street create video conferencing in a book.

Elmo sure is cute, but this latest attempt to ease the complexities of long-distance family life raises a very interesting question; who in their right mind would do this to a kid?

Take a look,

Sure, it supported “longer and richer family interactions over a distance,” but at what cost? Might the first child and her Mom have done even better had they been left alone to, well, read a book together without any electronics? Of course grandma or grandpa on the other side gets to feel more connected, but that poor kid mostly gets another lesson that the only life worth having is replete with simulated connections, electronics, and multiple channels. At least to my ear, this is not about literacy development; it is about raising the next generation of gadget consumers.

Remember when a book, a lap, and some free time were enough?