Screentime Research Paper

Various studies have been conducted worldwide to discover whether the ever-pressing technological revolution is negatively effecting younger children and how they grow up. With the majority of Australia’s population using technology on a daily basis, children are being encouraged more and more to rely on technology as a source of entertainment and education with “One third of preschool children have a tablet or smartphone” (Rhodes, 2017). Contemporary trends have revealed that children who use technology from a young age, are more likely to develop behavioural problems, experience mental illness and have trouble establishing a healthy sleeping pattern. In terms of technology, throughout the investigation television, tablet use and excessive gaming are the established focal point, as they are wide spread and play a major role in the modern home for children aged 0 to 8 years of age. As the technological revolution progresses, more and more children are being diagnosed with depressive disorders and displaying symptoms of anxiety starting from just 4 years of age .

Lately, the issue of excessive screen time is becoming increasingly important in pediatrics, and it has become a major risk factor for many chronic conditions such as vision impairment, obesity, and altercations to social behavior. While many parents realize that excessive screen time is harmful, children are still spending eight to ten hours on their electronic devices. Not many parents realize that proper regulation is also needed to keep their child safe from health risks. According to the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute, 28 percent of parents set TV-watching rules, 30 percent set rules about video game use, and 36 percent of parents set rules about computer use (“Reduce Screen Time”, 2013). This is a problem because 60 percent of children are constantly stumbling upon explicit content every year, and their behavior shifts more negatively and aggressively (Lunsford, 510). I believe that too much screen time can pose much harm to a child’s health and well-being. If we don’t find ways to limit excessive screen time than children will face many consequences that will ultimately harm them as they grow older.

First of all, there has been a drastic rise of technology use in children over the past decade. Screens are easily accessible, easily addicting, and television companies know how to catch a child’s eye, and have them staring at their show for hours. Children have access to technology all the time, making it easy to become hooked on screen time. Today, “68% of U.S. adults have a smartphone” (Anderson). Many adults are around children. More often than not, when children get bored, adults simply hand the phone over. Consequently, technology use is on the rise. “In 2013, almost fifty-seven percent of children, ages three to seventeen used the Internet at home, nearly six times as many as in 1997, which was eleven percent” (“Home Computer Access and Internet Use”). Children have easy access to screens.

When it comes to how much personal screen time I use throughout the day, the time varies between 8 to 10 hours per day. Doing some research, if I don't make a change I can develop dry eye syndrome. Being that I'm taking a six classes total, three of them online, it's merely impossible to veer away from the computer screen. Moreover, my physicality has deterred and I'm starting to have concise aces towards my lower body. Also I feel that my creativity has been slightly demolished, and I'm subconsciously turning into this robotic figure. With this noticeably haggard look on my face, I totally understand that this amount of screen time is healthy for me physically and mentally.

Instead of using a videogame system or tablet to keep them entertained, they were exercising not only their bodies, but also their imaginations. Cris Rowan, author for The Huffington Post, stated in her article “The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child” that “A 2010 Kaiser Foundation study showed that elementary aged children use on average 7.5 hours per day of entertainment technology, 75 percent of these children have TV’s in their bedrooms, and 50 percent of North American homes have the TV on all day.” Today’s generation of kids are glued to these devices and heavily rely on them to keep them entertained. Unfortunately, parents have not helped this issue become any better: instead, they are quick to hand their toddler a phone or tablet in order to keep them “occupied” and out of their ways. It’s no surprise either that children are this way considering the recent boom in technological developments and further societal integrations. But is the introduction of technology of any kind at a young age as beneficial as it is put out to be? Today’s generation of kids, referred to as “glow kids”, is suffering from the overuse of technology in their daily lives. Children's emotional, social, and physical developments are being majorly hindered due to the increased integration of technology within their daily lives that is distributed by parents and

Technology has proven to cause health issues in children. For example, in the article, “Obesity in children and technology,” by Elle Paula, it is stated that, “According to a review in obesity in 2012, a lot of screen time may increase obesity risk.” This

With the advancement in technology it has become common for infants, toddlers, and young children to be exposed to electronics such as televisions, computers, and videogames for hours at a time. Environmental factors affect children in significant ways. The effects the media and screen time children are revealed to influence their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Television and media can both hinder and encouraging their growth. It is important for guardians, caregivers, teachers, whomever has a child they look after or care for, to make accommodations to construct the best possible environment for children to flourish in. At such a young age, these young humans are like sponges, they absorb much of what surrounds them. Because of this, the importance of trying to make it possible that they are mainly witnessing things helpful to the development of the child and thereby, benefiting them later in life.

Nemours said “benefits of screen time are educational value, school-related homework, research, playing video games can improve motor skills and coordination and different internet tools are easy fun ways to socialize and communicate” (Nemours). For younger children, motor skills will improve using scissors, using pencils and being able to use keyboards. With our everyday technology, children improve their language skills everyday. “By reading eBooks or accessing stories online, they learn new words and proper ways to pronounce them” (DigiMom). Another benefit is the more children use screens for games, their motivation will increase to complete tasks and help solve problems. Children who are eager to unlock the next level will help overcome challenges. Those children who are visual learners tend to enjoy screen time the most. Reading music notes and following along helps develop skills and

Over the past fifty years society has seen the evolution of technology. Society has gone from having just one TV in the home to being immersed where technology is surrounding people everywhere they turn. People are now living in the “Digital Age” where most families own TVs, computers, video games, Ipads and Iphones. There has been such a rapid growth of the use of all these devices, which has led to the growing concern of how it affects young children. While technology is constantly changing throughout history and from day to day the question of limiting the usage of any digital device still remains the same. The problem and ways society has responded to it is recorded throughout history. As it has been said, history is recorded and studied for people in societies to learn from the mistakes in the past. As people are beginning to question how to deal with the issue of screen time limitations they need to look back and see the way people handled the first time kids began watching TV programs. When new things are introduced into our society, especially technology, parents and teachers need to be quick to evaluate the positive, negative, and educational ways that it can affect one’s child and see if limitations are necessary.

According to CNN.com tweets spend at least 6 hours a day on technology. Teens spend at lest 9 hours a day on technology. There are so many different social media websites that you can go on. Do you know which one gets used the most? I looked at a survey on statista.com and 72% of people use Facebook, 66% of people said they use Instagram 36% said they use Twitter, 27% said that they are on Pinterest, 26% of people said they use vine and filly 24% of people use tumblr. The last thing is from ikeepsafe.org and it says kids ages 8 to 18 spending on average 44.5 hours per week in front of screens, and parents are increasingly concerned that screen time is robbing them of real world experiences.

In this new world of technology, children are exposed and entertained by watching television and playing video games. “One study showed that children spend up to 25 hours a week watching television and 9 hours a

A crucial part of a child’s development occurs when they are young, unfortunately an overuse of technology’s screen time is impacting the developmental process. Technology is described as, “A manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge” (Webster), and serves as a learning tool for children. The overuse of screen time is having a negative impact on motor and sensory skills, which is affecting children mentally and physically within their environment. As an example, if sensory stimulation isn’t prominent, “this results in delays to attaining developmental milestones” (Rowan, 2015, pg. 1). It is important to be aware of technology’s impact to allow parents and educators to make smart decisions for a child.

Sometimes it can be difficult for a parent or babysitter to watch a child, so they give the toddler a tablet or send him or her into a room to watch cartoons. Many factors come into play that causes the caregiver to let the child wander into the world of technology. Many individuals do so because it is the fastest and simplest way to remove the child out of their hair. The effects of technology do not only take a tole on toddlers but teenagers as well. Most of the effects take place during the ages of zero to eighteen because of the lack of brain development. However, they can also affect anyone beyond eighteen. Although it may be less time consuming to give a child a device to play with instead of reading or drawing with them, the effects of too much screen time may sway the public to reconsider the way their child’s extra time is being used.

Many kids were born in the ‘Digital Era’ therefore, they are surrounded by technology and screens most of the time, mostly at home, but too much exposure to this can affect their abilities. According to a Research made by the University of California, Los Angeles, kids who spent time away from looking at screens were better at recognizing human emotions than kids who kept living their lives with technology around them (Wolpert). This show us, how replacing real-life interactions for screen-time not only isolates children but also makes them unable to develop this kind of skill, skills that are important in the real life and are likely to be needed in the future. Besides that, kids who invest most of their time on staring at screens can be faced by health problems in the long run. As reported by some researchers, this health problems range “from childhood obesity and irregular sleep patterns to social and/or behavioral issues.” (Summers).Therefore, considering all these negative effects on children, parents should be more cautious regarding how much time their kids use technology and expose themselves to screens and digital media.

Today children are practically born with an electronic device. From a very young age, children are taught how to use technology for entertaining and educational purposes. Some kids seem to understand technology better than some adults. According to a 2010 newsroom from the America Academy of Pediatrics, “children and adolescent spend more time with the media than they do in other activity except for sleeping. The vast majority of young people have access to a bedroom television, computer, the Internet, a video game console, and cellphone”. Although, this can be a great advantage for children it can also be a great disadvantage.