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There could be some (emphasize 'some') validity to these studies, if one takes into account the time in a child's lifespan spent in front of a computer. One may equate that with time spent in front of a tv.
My children were not exposed to computers very much before they were 8 years old. Now that we have one and they are on it more than they are in front of the tv, their skills in the classroom have not suffered-they are both honor students in honors math and english.
On the other hand, having worked in the middle school in basic skills english and math, many of the kids I worked with did NOT have access to technology at home. They could not put a simple paragraph together without constant guidance. Are the two related? Maybe not, but neither are they exclusive of each other.
As in many other areas of child development, environment is everything. We can expose our kids to a vast world of technology, but we also need to guide them through the choices of how to use it to their own advantage.
I do agree with the point that, in especially math, there is too much dependency on calculators and other technologies to solve equations. While math is a definitive science, it should stimulate the creativeness to arrive at the conclusion instead of depending on some box. This dependency is leading to lazy thinking.
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