Why 'Computer In Every Home' Won't Work

Because computer use is highly dependent on the individual.

This from the Wall Street Journal, (bold highlights mine)

``Giving laptop computers to students in fifth through eight grades to take home seems like an appealing idea. But economists Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy says it seems to reduce their scores on math and reading tests.

``The researchers looked at the questionnaires filled out by public school students in North Carolina — nearly 1 million of them between 2000 and 2005 — in which students report time spent on homework, time spent watching TV, time spent using home computers for homework as well as other data to gauge broadband access to their homes, which expanded substantially in those years.

“Students who gain access to a home computer between fifth and eighth grades tend to witness a persistent decline in reading and math tests,” they conclude. The effect is modest, they say, but statistically significant. Other studies, they say, are finding similarly discouraging results.

``One hypothesis: Broadband access crowds out time spent on homework. (You don’t need a Ph.D. to come up with this one.) “Internet service, and technology more broadly, is put to more productive use in households with more effective parental monitoring of child behavior.”

Bottom line: Individual incentives matter. Therefore, legal mandates to have computer in 'every home' risks a backfire: educational levels and productivity advancement could be jeopardized based on the dominant non-productive use of computers, and secondly, it's a waste of taxpayer money.