What Impact Does Entertainment Technology Have on Child Behavior?

“Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object.” (Peter). There was a time when all children wanted to do was to run, play, explore, and be adventurous. As time evolved, children have found more interest in television. Statistics show that a child spends 900 hours per year in school,and they spend 1,200 hours per year watching television. When asked to choose between watching T.V. and spending time with their families fifty-four percent of four to six year olds voted they would prefer to watch television. Television has changed the mindset of children over the years it has been proven that the more programs they watch, the more harmful it is to their brain development. T.V.

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.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability do not develop as well when they have a television in the background while they are playing and interacting. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teenage pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to large amounts of television and video games become socially awkward and have issues interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly, which is leading to shows that should be restricted by a V-chip being watched by children, rendering the restricting system null and void.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability does not develop as well when they have television in the background while they are playing. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teen pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to too much Television and video games become socially awkward and have trouble interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly which is leading to shows that should be blocked

Technology has so quickly taken over our lives without questioning the affects, especially in Early Years as children begin to learn about the social world, away from the home environment. As the modern world develops an ever increasing reliance on technology, the affects on children and their learning are unknown. Technology has made our lives easier and enabled us to do things generations before us would have never even dreamt of, despite this, questions as to whether technology could have adverse affects on young children's learning need to be asked. Many people would suggest that allowing children to spend

Parents have neglected to use it as a privilege or a reward for doing well, which leads to children having the world at their fingertips at all times; a world that is uncensored, unkind, and impressionable on a young child who has yet to truly experience it. Given the rate at which technology is progressing, and how big of a part it plays in our everyday lives, I can’t help but notice the eye-soaring differences in character between children being born in the generation of technology vs. the older crowd who were raised solely on human contact. Children are most likely to spend the majority of their time watching television or playing video games when they are left un-attended but while the television is providing as a daycare, who is monitoring, and censoring what these perceptive susceptible minds are absorbing? This bad habit of constant television and unsupervised programs has long term negative effects in a child’s reasoning skills, and they’re ability to process and digest information without acting with brute force. The parent should be more aware and introduce these young viewers to something different. Together, the guardian and the child can create a reasonably collective environment of mental capacity just by limiting the amount of hours spent watching television and using fun alternatives besides the

Screen media has been an acquisition of knowledge and an orientation of cognition of children. Through the visual power of screen platforms, such as television screens, cinema or any form of same kind, screen media was able to give various enjoyment and peak of entertainment to its viewers. However, the extensive and aggregate media exposure of children , according to Hamilton (1998), as cited by Comstock & Scharrer (2011) in the Chapter 1: The Use of Television and Other Screen Media of the book , "Handbook of Children and the Media", is associated with externalities or unintended consequences to the children and inconvenience to the parents. The screen media, being cluttered with various programs of different genres, may attract children

As time progresses technology is more prevalent in todays society. It is not uncommon for children to be knowledgeable about television or the use of media unlike 50 years ago when we were not aware of the effects it would have on our children. "Until the 1980s, social science researchers

In a controlled atmosphere, technology could aid this imaginative play, encourage learning, and promote empathy. But we have brought technology so far to the extreme that a child’s life mainly consists of screen games, and hardly ever play, the reverse of how it should be. A world where our children have access to technology but do not have an addiction could certainly be a very positive aspect! We should be encouraging an atmosphere of managed tech and limited screen time to allow children the ability to play and grow and to explore ideas and

The evolution of technology has reached a point where pretty much anything is available at the touch of a button. Shopping, learning, working and entertainment can all be accessed from the comfort of our own homes, on a train or sat in a cafe. But it's coming at a price; and a relatively crucial one at that. Health. And as technology changes the way we live, those who will suffer most will be our children. It's during childhood when habits are ingrained and the freedom exists for active play and movement. The worry is, participation in physical activity usually declines as young people get older. If inactivity figures are currently as high as these in children, what hope do they have as adults?

Television plays a large role in the education of the children of today. In an article published in November of 2013 by Lily Rothman she references a study done by Nickelodeon that shows that children 9 and under spend an estimated 35 hours a week watching TV. (This does not include computer and other media devices) (www.entertainmenttime.com) with this much time being spent in front of the Television the influence it has on children must be extensive.

Technological advances have placed technology into the hands of our children at an unexpectedly young age. For some reasons, such as education, technology can be a good thing. those children who use technology for this purpose can have incredible advantages over their peers. These toys, games and television shows are meant to have adult supervision and age restrictions. However, there are two sides to every coin, and by allowing children unlimited time with technology is where it can cause issues.

As a child wakes up every morning, their first action of the day, is to usually walk downstairs and click on the television and the parent usually wakes up to the sound of their child’s favorite television show blasting throughout their house. And as the parent walks down the stairs, the child is sitting in front of the television both eyes glued to the screen and the parents begin to think about how much time they have to themselves in the morning. But in that time that the parent is using for themselves; the child is being entertained by the television; that television maybe entertaining the child but it could be possibly hurting their development. This has lead researchers, and health practitioners to invesigate how these changes may be influencing children’s development. The television could be more harmful than anyone could ever realize for a number of reasons The important thing to recognize the relationships between the television and children’s development, is influential. These developmental problems can include giving false hopes, making kids less intelligent, hiding adult humor in the dialogue. The level of influence however, varies on the age of the child because of the way they are developing. And because they are still developing, they can give kids things like false hope, making them less intelligent, and hiding adult humor in dialogue.

When I was a child I spent the majority of my day outdoors with friends, riding my bike and playing games; only coming home when the street lights came on. Today, however, kids are enamoured with technology. The rapid changes in technology have impacted greatly on the families of the 21st century and it is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Entertainment technologies such as games consoles, television and tablets are taking centre stage in our children’s lives with 1 in 3 children using a tablet before they can talk. At present, children are part of a digital generation, having grown up surrounded by technology and the internet. Is the increase in technology devices harming our children?

Like many things in our modern day the advancement of technology has evolved over several decades; items such as cell phones have nearly multiplied in use of the masses but have become what now some may consider diminutive in size. The possibilities are endless with components and added use. In the beginning of technological times, videos games were traditionally designed to work with televisions and computers. The advancements in video games are now full fledge multi-leveled and multi-player video games can be easily accessed from your cell phone, iPad, laptop and tablets. Now ensuring that no matter where you may be located you no longer need to be connected to hard wires to be enjoying the adrenaline pumped- mind grasping- urge to play video games. As the advancement of how behind the screen has always fascinated the tech world, it’s what is happening on the screen and outside out the video game reality that has both child development professionals and parents questioning is allowing your child the entertainment of video gaming doing more harm than good?