Playing With Technology Is It All Bad Summary

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.

This technology revolution sparked a debate on children’s use of technology. Children are constantly using iPads, iPhones, tablets, and other computerized devices. By over exposing children to technology, they are being robbed of the mental stimulation that comes from doing real, non computerized, activities. It has gotten to the point where one can see a two-year-old navigate an iPhone with ease but struggle to speak. Sixty-nine percent of children aged two to five can use a computer mouse, but only eleven percent can tie their own shoelaces (Generation Tech More Kids Can Play Computer Games than Ride a Bike). Also, children are at an all time low in the creativity department

The organization Alliance For childhood (2012) is concerned with the rise of and overuse of screen technology especially on very young children. According to the Alliance For childhood (2012), technology is interfering with “young children’s active and hands-on creative play, time with nature, and their face-to-face interactions with caring adults and other children” (p. 5). The Alliance For childhood (2012) believe that because technology is moving at a rapid rate educators do not have enough time to fully understand the ramification it has on education, developmental, ethical, and social aspect of their design and use. Additionally, the Alliance For childhood (2012) are concerned with the decline of creative play that technology has on

Anyone who has children, or who is often interacting with children, will recognize that childhood is not the same or how they remembered. The popularity of technology and especially social media has changed what it means to be a child. The largest problem told by care givers of children is that they participate less in imaginative play. Modern technology means that their devotion is being demanded by more and more things, so they don’t have the inclination to play.

Technology is becoming increasingly prevalent in the world today. In the article Beware the quick tech fix when… by Nancy Carlsson-Paige, the there is a shocking statistic that stuck out to me: “72 percent of iTunes’ top-selling ‘education’ apps are designed for preschoolers and elementary school children.” In the same article, Carlsson states that kids learn through direct play and hands-on experiences with people, materials and nature. Through research we know that kids need first-hand engagement. Children are spending more and more time engaged in passive play, using a keyboard or electronic device. There are significant benefits and drawbacks of technology on the fine arts and play.

Learners can now gain knowledge online on crucial business skills that can apply digital knowledge to make money. As an illustration, learners can gain programming skills and develop computer programs that resolve various work challenges. Presentation of classroom lessons in a child-friendly form enables the digital age to change the delivery of education to children. However, teachers must balance between play addiction and intellectual enhancement through computer usage. The application of technology in creating interesting lesson time can enable teachers to provide successful classroom experiences for children. The best way to increase the value of digital technology must involve the reduction of play and the improvement of quality life outside the school. Turning games into learning experiences could also offer a solution to the loss of learning attention experienced in uncontrolled usage of digital

Today everyone is using technology no matter how old they are. Ever since technology came out, it has been stapled to our lives forever. Today, a toddler of 12 months of age is spending hours using technology. There are lots of controversies whether technology is good or bad for our children. Many say technology can affect our children social skills, while others state that technology benefits our children because technology can be a resourceful way of helping children learn a variety of skills. It is hard to decide whether is good or bad to exposed our children to technology. What many people should realize, is that our children can use technology but to a certain extent.

Instead of completely keeping children from technology, parents should allow them to use it in the right way. Interactive games and applications can be a beneficial learning tool for children. Dan D. Young, the founder of VINCI and the creator of VINCI Blended Learning, explains how technology is beneficial for children in his article, “Technology can Stimulate the Infant Brain”, by pointing out that “when properly selected, these games get infants to slow down and think, thus making decisions and exercising the gears in their brains.” Technology will improve the way children think and process things if parents find the right applications instead of just letting the children play fun games that will not teach the child anything. Parents with

We live in a society where technology is constantly changing the rules to the “game” and Millennials have no problem implementing it into all aspects of life. Children can easily use technology, and expect to use it in most life situations. Gee uses Good Video Games + Good Learning to examine well-designed games and the ways in which they can become a context for learning, not necessarily using game technologies in school and at work. Are video games a form of digital literacy? If so, what does that mean regarding the future of educational instruction? Prior to reading the text, I was still questioning video games positive potential; whether educational or recreational, have the potential to advance one’s cognitive development. In this collection of essays, Gee examines the many platforms in which video games are good for learning. He claims that video games are good for learning because parent and teachers can use commercial games to stimulate discussions of important social, intellectual, and academic subjects. Also, that games can create virtual worlds where players solve simulations of real-world problems and in the process learn real-world skills, knowledge, and values. (p. 69)

In Phuoc Tran and Kaveri Subrahmanyam (2013) journal article it explains and gives us evidence on how digital tools are and have become an important tool when it comes to children’s learning and development. They mention Vygotsky’s theory, on how cognitive development happens with the use of computers because it is a tool that is part of our culture. These tools are important because it helps the children develop many different skills (Tran and Subrahmanyam, 2013). They mention different pathways that help toward cognitive development. The first pathway is the amount of time that they spend using the computers. Children shouldn’t spend a long time using the computers they should limit their use of computers for a certain amount of time per day. They mention how kids that come from a low-income family and struggle with reading get many beneficial in learning from using the computers. It enhances their school readiness. The second pathway is the way kids interpret the language of the computer. For example, how to navigate a computer. Tran and Subrahmanyam mention, “Research has suggested that playing an electronic game can have positive effects on cognitive

It is no surprise that with the whole new world of technology young children nowadays are becoming more and more obsessive in this realm, both at school and at home. Due to the massive influence of technology, children are learning more, forcing them to grow up quickly and take on a lot more than past generations did. Research taken by Internet security company AVG shows that “more small children can play a computer game than ride a bike. 58% of children aged 2-5 know how to play a ‘basic’ computer game. For the UK and France that jumps to 70%. Even 44% of 2-3 year olds have the ability to play a computer game. By comparison, 43% of kids 2-3 can ride a bike”. These

It’s never been easy to be a parent. Today, it’s becoming increasingly more complex as the field of digital technology rapidly expands, leaving parents in a tailspin. A Google search of “kids and technology use” returns over five million results, all of which offer their own two cents about the ideal way to raise children in the digital world. How could anyone possibly navigate his or her way through that? What is one supposed to make of constantly changing information regarding healthy media habits? I’m here to offer three simple steps parents can take to solve the problem of how to use media with your young children. Be educated. Be smart. And don’t be afraid.

There have been many changes in the technological scene in the last few years. This has prompted the argument on what people stand to benefit from these advancements. This is why there have been many studies and researches that are all intended to show how the electronic media assists in learning amongst children. However, there has been little attention as to what the electronic media does to the same children. The electronic media has become a favorite amongst the learners and in particular children. It is imperative to note that the learning process is not passive. This is because the children do not just heed to the instructions and assume that anything is learnt. The process of learning is active and cognitive. Therefore, the environment under which a child is in has a significant influence on the learning process. It is vivid from this argument that the media has a significant role in the shaping of the children. Electronic media is very beneficial in the learning process but it is imperative that there are regulations because it has a dominant role in cognitive development of children.

Prensky, writer of “From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom: Hopeful essays for 21st century learning” argues that exposure to games that provide open-ended problems has crafted a generation of children growing up as ‘digital natives’. He suggests that instead of learning in a traditional way of linear instruction (like reading a manual for example), many young children will problem-solve through strictly through trial and error. They collect evidence that’s tested through experimentation.

Omer Faruk Sozcu, Smail Ipek, Erkan Taskin all agreed that "The establishment of preschool children's classroom environmental setting needs to be able to guide children in to participating in active play, silent reading, music, drawing, blocks ...ECT. for motivating children's interests." Which brings up the impact of technology on teaching and learning; in my classroom we use an app on the ipad called speakazoo which is an interactive zoo experience; the friendly speakazoo animals will ask you questions and respond appropriately. Although I personally feel that, since we downloaded the app our children have increased the amount of talking they do, not only with the app animals but with their friends and teachers; There are others that feel using these electronic learning devices takes away from important human interaction that children need at that age.