Children And Their Use Of Technology

Technology has changed children over the past ten years. Before technology children were playing outside, building forts, making up games, playing with real toys and not virtual. However, there was cable and internet, it worked very slow and there was no such thing as Google, Facebook, Youtube or Instagram. Today technology has changed children by having them become anti-social and disconnected from the world outside of them. Children today have learned to adapt to the technology around them, thus making it easier for them to be less active outdoors than before.

Technology’s impact in the 21’st century is very evident as it continues to advance rapidly and we have become accustomed to it; causing considerable changes to the overall family structure. It is believed that the use of technology can alter the wiring of the brain (Taylor 2012). When children are exposed to technology, it may condition the brain to pay attention to multiple stimuli; as a result become more distracted and cause decreased memory. Technology also hinders a child’s ability to empathise. They are less likely to pick up on non verbal cues, emotions, and awareness of expressions. Therefore, children with less physical contact tend to have trouble developing social skills. Needless to say, there are also various benefits of the use of technology if integrated appropriately into the early childhood curriculum design. However, the benefits usually tend to get easily overlooked by the negatives. This paper will examine the effects of technology on young children and how it supports their development in all domains including physical, cognitive, and social. I will discuss the results of my research from different articles and explore how the findings could be applied to the work of an early childhood educator respectively.

Technology has only been around for 20 years and has already inflicted pain on many. Especially those that are students and did not become used to the new style of teaching compared to the new style of teaching. The old style of teaching is the classical version where students are able to learn what they love to do instead of taking all the classes children hate and end up failing. Classical style of teaching benefits the students because they actually want to learn. The integration of technology has negatively impacted children of this generation because it causes health problems, technology leads to terrible work ethics and performance in

Many parents nowadays don’t even second guess handing their kid an tablet or phone to occupy them while they are running errands or eating. This is likely because the most convenient way to get a kid’s undivided attention for a prolonged period of time- no matter how young or old they are- is to put a screen in front of them. It has been said by the older generations that we are too consumed with technology, but in a world that is fast becoming technology dependent, the question ‘how early is too early to introduce technology to kids?’ arises. Some say that it is never too early- to start right off the bat and incorporate it in their everyday lives. Others disagree and say that technology should not be used until after the age of two due to

Remember that scary, grotesque, evil monster we were all scared of when we were younger? Well, it's alive, we just can't see it, and it's called technology. As we all know, technology is changing and evolving every day; but it's almost as if the technology is taking over the minds of our future generation. Schools are incorporating technology into learning more and more all the time. Every month there is a new phone, tablet, television, laptop and even thousands of websites. These devices can come in handy and can be helpful, but they almost are consuming everyone's mind and minimizing critical thinking. Many of technology users are children or young adults. Although the use of technology in education can have some positive results, it has more negative effects that are affecting students.

Included below is a summary about the article titled “How Young is Too Young for Technology,” by Josie Gurney-Read, and published by Telegraph. This article talks about the positive and negative impacts when exposing young children to technology. First, Read opens up the article explaining that by the time children start school, 70% are already confident in using a laptop, tablet or smart phone. Read also notes, that 17% of children under the age of three have their own device. The article then discusses that the American Academy of Pediatrics says that children under the age of two should be discouraged from using technology and that preschool kids shouldn’t be using devices for more than two hours per day (Read). Professor Manfred Spitzer

Every day, the Generation Z/Boomlets, those born after 2001, are starting to interact more and more with technological devices. This can cause very serious consequences and it can affect their development, such as irregular sleeping pattern, lack empathy, social and language skills and health issues. The Common Sense organization did some research and discovered that 10 percent of one year olds have used a technology device. They also found out that 38 percent of children between two and four years old have used mobile devices like iPhone, tablets or Kindles and more than fifty percent between ages five to eight years old also use mobile devices. How can kids have this much access to technological devices at such a young age? I remember I didn’t have my first phone until the ninth grade and it was a flip phone; I received my first iPhone in my senior year of high school. Kids these days are growing up too fast and interacting more and more early with technology and besides affecting their development, this will come back to affect our future.

With a flip of a switch or press of a button, Parents can have their child entertained for hours on end. Televisions and Tablets are the twenty-first century babysitters. The average child spends an astounding 7.5 hours per day on some form of technology (Rowan 2), when the recommend allotted amount of time should be no more than two hours (Kaneshiro 1). Technology is rapidly evolving, making limitless possibilities available for entertainment. This virtual “babysitter” enables the parents to devote all their time and effort into their work or engross in technology with limited amounts of distraction from the children. Although, the parents are able to have free time, excessive amounts of screen time is proven to be detrimental to their child’s health and overall well-being. The technology that is drastically making life easier is a big blessing, but at the same time is a big curse.

It is said technology these days is pervasive, it floods our lives and for most of us we couldn’t imagine living without it. It is being used more as an entertainment tool and an educational resource for our children. But have we stopped for a minute to think about whether this technology exposure is good or bad? Although some New Zealand organisations provide guidance, it may now be time to create and communicate a country wide view that takes into account both positive, and negative effects that technology can have.

Technology has become a part of our daily lives, our entertainment and our main source of information. Every day we use some sort of device, even kids as young as one or two. But giving young children electronic devices, such as phones and tablets, can negatively affect their development as they grow.

In a world of twenty-four hour hour news, iPhones, touch screens, and laptops, it is not surprising that each year there are more and more children being exposed to, and welcomed into this technologically advanced society. It is not uncommon to see seven year olds using the newest gadgets with surprising efficiency, however, one must ask themselves what effects this new technology driven world is going to have on the younger generations? Are these kids going to become the most efficient multi-taskers to be seen, or is this boom in technological advance, and the societal pressure to be adept at even the newest technologies going to create a generation of youth who do not know how to get through the day without constant internet feeds and the connectedness to the entirety of the technological world? The effects of this increase in technological use by the younger generations of today’s society must be evaluated, and a few main areas where this change seems to have an influence include the youth’s changing sense of morality, children’s social skill development, and the use of these technological advances to provide more efficient and effective means of learning to children. These areas have all been studied rigorously in the past few years as technology has continued to advance, and work to provide insight into the effects of technology on early childhood development and learning.

The negative effects of the overuse of technology on children can seem overwhelming, considering how widespread it is used today and its future role in American society. What can be done to try to compress these possible effects on children? The answer may not be found too far from the surface, but it is a simple and effective solution; technology should be used in moderation with developing children. Parents and guardians play a huge part in this, like explained from before with the factor of parenting styles. They are the caretakers of the children, and they spend the most time with them allowing them to monitor their children’s activities. Parents and guardians can regulate how much time their children spend using technology at home. Parents do not have to be overly strict about these limits, but to just keep in mind how often their children use technology. William Bowden explains this as how parents should monitor the use of technology for their children when they are young, and when they are older, the children will be more responsible and can use it by themselves. The accessibility of electronics ties into this. Parents should also be aware of the appropriate age that their children

According to Bronfenbrenner child development occurs through multiple interactive activities between the child, the people in the surrounding, objects and other symbols within the environment. For the development process to work efficiently, these interactions should occur periodically and in a sequential manner. The primary setting for a child’s development is his/her family, where they spend the most time, and their emotions are influenced. The current technology is affecting children’s development in a negative way because both the children and family members spend much time on screen and the internet hindering regular interactions which may improve their development. Also, according to Richard Lou’s phrase “nature deficit disorder,” children

How many people could take a whole day out of their week to not look at their phone? “Tech Free Tuesday” could be the new hit of the times. Children in today’s world grow up with their iPad’s, iPhone’s, tablets and computers that basically does everything for them What about dinner time conversations, playing in the neighborhood, and exploring at their own leisure. We are constantly consumed by our technological devises and the newer generations are continuing to grow worse with the amount of technology they use on a daily basis. The age at which children begin using technology continues to grow younger and younger. In this day and age people would rather spend their free time alone consumed with electronic devises rather than engaging in conversation. Therefore, reducing the amount of technology use in homes across the United States could have serious positive

The use of technology has skyrocketed over the past few years, with a whopping ninetyfive percent of people utilizing the internet, constantly checking smartphones, and relying on other forms of media for entertainment, socializing, or work related instances. Compared with the digital satellites, MP3 players, and Palm Pilots of the 1990s, the technology today has truly advanced, causing many people to become dependent on media-related devices. More than fifty percent of today’s youth contribute to this dependency. What is not taken seriously enough is that this eagerness for technology is destroying the minds of young children by distracting them from important family values, causing various bullying issues, exposing them to violence, and