Children and Technology

As a parent of two young daughters, technology is on my mind like most parents. As I see it, technology and children can have its benefits, and then on the other hand, can also be scary. This next packet of reading information for the A Assignments for my Digital Literacy class was filled with articles that explained the pros and cons of young children and technology. I was eager to read, explore and learn more to help my family and my future students.

So, what is the impact of technology on our children. I was stunned to read that according to the article by Cris Rowan, “The Impact of Technology on the Development Child, he stated 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.” That is a lot of technology time in front of a screen. Very rarely do we see kids playing outside and using their imagination. It was interesting to read the impact that this has had on our youth. As a result, there has been an increase of physical psychological and behavior disorders, child obesity and diabetes are now national epidemics, and numerous developmental delays and depression and sleep disorders are all associated with technology overuse. What is even more scary is that these are increasing at an alarming rate.

On the flipped side, there has to be some positives to all of this technology, right? Yes, I do believe so. According to the article, “Growing Up in a Digital Age” by Sophie Aziakou gave the examples of several teens and shared their blog links and stories that I felt encouraged by. One teen was Ivan, who stated, “Online, my wheelchair is invisible.”  Another was Emmanuella who is from Benin stated, “I have been in numerous situations where the lack of the internet access was a serious problem.” Each of these young teens had amazing stories to share. Take Ivan, who shared that online he is just a kid like everyone else and his disability is not front and center. Here technology has helped him in his learning but also gave him the freedom to express and interact with other peers. Likewise, another positive was Emmanuella, who was in a  disadvantaged situation it gave her a way to connect to the world and provided a ray of hope for a better future. Stories like these, help me to believe that there is good from technology.

So to all of this, I think that there need to be balance. I was encouraged to read from the Parents magazine, entitled, “Is Technology Good For Little Kids?” by Sarah Kehoe. In this article, she stated some guidelines that I think are great takeaways from this. The first guideline was unplug yourself. I think it is right, as parent and educators we need to set the example for our children both at home and in the classroom. Second, fire the electronic babysitter.  Third, develop health media habits early, it was stated that toddlers and preschoolers should only be allowed 20 to 30 minutes of screen time daily. Fourth, teach how technology can aid learning. This means that we need to show our students and children how to use Google, but also teach them critical thinking skills. Finally, be skeptical and always check for recommendations from a trusted source and I think trust your parent and teacher gut.