It’s a debate we’ll probably never settle: How much, and what kind of, technology do we want our children to use? With parents, friends and relatives buying Christmas gifts, and the enforced downtime that comes with school vacations and family togetherness, many kids will be on cellphones and tablets and everything else for eyeball-crossing stretches of time over the next few weeks.

Wouldn’t it be easy to just forget about the issue, and settle into the eggnog and holiday cheer? To let the kids collect the digital loot and sink down into the digital cocoon as long as they want?

A new piece that just went up on Slate will surely lead some readers to think something like that. The article itself is smart and informed, but its headline – “Down With Gadget Guilt: You shouldn’t feel bad about buying tech toys for your kids” is not likely to lead to a thoughtful consideration of the issue. And while the piece is written by a credible technology journalist, Lisa Guernsey, it goes a little easy on the effects of digital technology on children.

It would be easier to just kick back about digital devices, but we still don’t know what they do to kids