The Positive and Negative Effects of Technology on Children

PART C

Technology is becoming increasingly present in the lives of young children. Everywhere they turn technology is an important part of their lives. It has played a big role in changing the way our children learn, get entertained and how they interact with their friends. Besides, it has also impacted their level of creativeness and how they behave in society. Without any doubt, technologies are invented to make our lives much easier and better. Children as young as three years old had been exposed to different kinds of technology such as computer, video games, play station, IPod, IPad and so on compared to kids in era of 1980s or 1990s. Many technological companies are inventing technological tools for kids as they know these tools are high in demand among everyone whether young or old. Nowadays, more young children know how to play a computer game than riding a bike. In 2006, 90% of parents said that their children younger than 2 years old own some type of electronic device. On the other hand, a survey carried out in 2010 says that two-third of children aged 4 to 7 had used iPhone. Technology is changing the phase of childhood. It is difficult for kids today to imagine life without computers, the Internet, cellphones, video games and the other devices they routinely use. Sometimes these devices are taken for granted by most people especially children. This technology has both positive and negative impacts on our children. As much as technology has changed the way our kids learn or entertain themselves, it has also affected their ability to learn and have real entertainment with their friends. It is not bad to give our children technological tools like iPad, video games, computers or other devices but there must be someone to guide them on how to use this technology and set limits on when to use specific technological tools.

Many adults have begun to wonder whether this exposure to such a high number of electronic media is a good thing or not. On the pro side, there is an argument that technology is preparing children for the ‘real world’ that they will be entering. Sixty percent of jobs in the market is technology related, and children need to be exposed to technology to be successful in such an environment and not to be left out in the society. On the other hand, however, others argue that children using technology are becoming socially stunted, ungrateful, and ridden with health-related issues. So, what is the right answer? Which side has the correct insight? While we

may not have the immediate answer, we must look into both sides of the argument and determine what the correct path for today’s children is. Technology has opened up a world of great opportunities, but these opportunities have come with great risks. In order to fully understand the argument surrounding technology and children, we must understand the pros and the cons, and how our decisions about technology use will affect today’s children as they develop.

Technology’s positive effects on children are vast and long reaching. The many different types of computer software are great learning tools and visual aids for kids to absorb information. There are many educational games and other learning materials which children can have fun and learn at the same time to expand developmental learning and express creativity. Using computer software can help children progress in school, says reading specialist. Interactive software programs help kids of all ages develop their strong points and build up their weaker areas. According to a research that had been carried out computer use, such as emailing, can improve children's writing abilities, and Internet access greatly expands the number and quality of resources available for social studies projects. Children can develop their cognitive skills when they solve problems in the computer programs. With good computer programs, children understand the properties of new objects, discover the interaction between things and see the predictability of cause and effect. Besides, children can develop their language skills whereby they tend to use rich language when talking with peers, creating pictures, dictating stories and listening to programs that talk. Through these software, children also can learn independently in any time and place. Normally, this learning software is self-paced and the learning sessions are available all time. Fine motor skills can also be developed when children are typing or playing with their fingers while they also develop eye hand coordination as in typing and looking at the screen the same time.

A common concern for many parents is how technology will affect their children’s social lives. With rumors of social networking and texting stunting children’s social development, it is easy to see where concerns surrounding the topic have grown. However, new research has begun to see the other side of this argument. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times discussing about social media in the lives of children, it is said that technology may act as a way

for children to develop and sustain emotional bonds with peers, as well as carve their own identity. The online world, such as Facebook and Sykpe, create places where people can find connections, ‘like-minded’ people and groups where they feel they are part of a community. The use of hashtags in Twitter and groups and pages on Facebook are examples of ways that kids can find people to connect with at the same time their struggles, their endeavors or their interests can be supported by friendship, advice, expert knowledge, and empathy. Companies use Facebook to advertise to people about something and celebrities fuel their fame through Twitter. Phrases such as “googling it,” “tweeted about it,” and “I Facebooked you last night” have all made their way into this generation’s jargon. Although they have become much more immersed in it than ever before, children today are not using these outlets in the way that now adults once did. Social media has become a way for people to connect and keep in touch with people they already know, instead of forming bonds with new people. Because of this new form of communication, children’s online social lives appear to mirror their social lives outside digital media. These trends in children’s use of social media have been a result of the widespread of sites, such as Facebook, and their blossoming uses. Facebook is no longer just a site that people use to communicate. It has become a gaming center, a chat room, an event calendar, and an application store. As these technologies grow, so do their user bases. As of January 2011, over 600 million people use Facebook actively, and 34 million actively use Myspace (Wikipedia.com). Other specialized social sites, such as Tumblr, and Flickr have also begun to rise in popularity. Pew Internet Research studies have found that children have begun to enter these numbers in a big way. Thirty-eight percent of twelve to fourteen years olds have some form of online account, while sixty-one percent of twelve to seventeen year olds use social media to send messages, forty-two percent of which do so every day. The initial concerns surround these numbers has seemingly been quieted, thanks mainly to the new studies surrounding the topic. According to the psychologist Amori Yee Mikami, this is the new social life. Social media has become the norm in communication and thanks to its speed and ease is not likely to let down

soon. It has also been said that social media has become a way for children to indirectly practice essential technology skills, even in low-income households. Whether children realize it or not, communicating with and navigating through social media sites is exposing them to an array of skills, such as online communication, high speed typing, and searching. Social media allows for these children to be just as technology proficient as their wealthier counterparts.

When we use the any form of today’s technology, images are shown to us at speeds higher than ever before. We can watch high definition videos that make us feel like we’re in the picture. We have intricate visualizers that allow us to see our music. Games have been developed to look more realistic than ever. Although older generations who are now just beginning to see this are not highly affected, children who have been developing along with these new high speed games are showing an increase in their visual reasoning skills. One study noted that children who were expert at video games were better at keyhole surgery. These results have been facilitated by games that have been developed to become emotionally, socially, and visually stimulating to children. They have been created to foster attention to detail, hand eye coordination, as well as survival tactics. Because of all the visual stimuli that result from modern gaming and electronics, children can comprehend complex visual images more than ever before. When looking at a modern gaming system, it can be seen how this is possible. Games today are made to look like reality. Characters are crafted with such detail that they could be mistaken for real people. Think of the contrast to what games had to offer twenty years ago: pixilated images of characters no bigger than your thumb. Now, children are seeing complex structures, monsters, machines, and worlds that enter into their vision at an alarmingly quick pace. Because of this sort of exposure, children today are more used to these images and as

such can react to and understand them quicker than previous generations could have.

With the introduction of systems such as the Wii and the Xbox Kinect, games have become much more than a sedentary activity. Exergaming, or playing games that require a physical movement or reaction, has grown in popularity since its introduction a few years ago. Game systems are now actively encouraging that children play more physical games that require motion in order to win (USAtoday). Some of the most well-known of these games are Wii Sports, in which children and adults can play virtual games, such as tennis and baseball, and Just Dance! for the Kinnect. A game highly geared toward exercise is Wii Fit Plus, which includes activities for yoga, aerobics, and balance improvement, and also allows users to chart their progress and see how well they are improving. According to a study presented to the American College of Sports Medicine, participating in exergaming requires at least twice the amount of energy as traditional video gaming, and can raise children’s activity levels to meet guidelines for moderate force activity level. Although exergaming should not be used to replace exercising, it is a great way to engage children with higher BMIs to take part in physical activity (MedicineNet). Heavier children who took part in a study in which they first did traditional exercise, such as running, and then exergame. At the end of the study, it seemed that those children enjoy exergaming much more than children of a normal weight, who were not as challenged. Using interactive gaming, video game companies have managed to successfully push an active lifestyle on young gamers, as well as promote family time, which is crucial for childhood development (teenagers today), and this movement has been vastly successful. Children have been excited about these games since their introduction.

Although there are countless positive things to be said about children using technology, like all things, it has its downsides too. Internet technology and video games have become addictive to so many children. Many kids have become victims of internet predators and others have become video game addicts, which leaves them with no time to interact with other children and this has resulted into increased cases of loneliness and depression among children. There is a large number of disadvantages of children using technology today. These range from big problems to small problems, however all are of equal importance.

Improper use of technology can expose a child to numerous risks. Children who use technology may unintentionally share information that can put them in danger. In 82% of online sex crimes against children, the sex offenders used social networking sites to get information about the victim’s preferences. And the anonymity of technology can also make it easier for people to bully others online. A quarter of teenagers say they have been bullied either by text or on the Internet. Sexting is another high-risk behavior of concern, with 24% of teenagers aged 14 -17 have participated in some sort of nude sexting. As society become more connected through the internet, cell phones, and social networking, privacy for children is becoming a major concern, and one that is difficult to find a solution to. Currently, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) acts to protect children under thirteen from the distribution of their information. Sites can enforce this by releasing a privacy statement, or disallowing young children from using their site at all (coppa.org). However, it can be difficult to know for sure that the child using your website is being honest about their age or any of their information at all. Facebook has been arguably the biggest web phenomena in recent memory, taking in millions of active users and allowing them to keep in touch with their friends and family, and also the entire world. Any user can regularly and publicly broadcast their photos, videos, opinions, personal information, and even exact location, to whomever they so choose. While Facebook imposes and does its best to keep up with the thirteen-year-old age minimum, this can even be difficult to enforce. Children can easily claim to be thirteen when they’re still a couple years younger, and sometimes, parents even allow this. While it is possible for children to have private accounts on the site, it is often difficult to understand how to become as private as we might like to be. This can be difficult for even for some adults, especially when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg

isn’t all too concerned with privacy himself. He was quoted saying that privacy is no longer a ‘social norm’ and that “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people”. In this type of public online environment, adults and children can attempt to hide their information, but it may be more difficult than originally thought. Children can hide their information from those who they are not friends with, but at this point, this might not even prove to be enough. Facebook has exploded into a widely-used advertising agent, making it even more difficult to keep your information to yourself. Applications have become a popular feature of the site. They appeal to children because they serve so many functions, such as game systems, quizzes, horoscopes, and deal finders, however, they come with their own risks. Applications are able to take information from their subscribers, even if the person only used the application once. Also, buried in Facebook’s privacy controls are settings that allow third party companies to access much of your information if even a single one of your friends use their application. For example, if a child’s friend uses Farmville, the company can also access the child’s information including their bio, birthday, whether or not they are online, photos, status update, or hometown. With this being unknown to most adults, it is difficult to measure that a thirteen-year-old child will be able to understand and keep track of these settings as well. Facebook is not the only threat to a child’s Internet security. Recently, Google Buzz has become a point of concern for many parents as well. Technology analyst Charlene Li spoke in an article from the Los Angeles Times about the issues rising from her nine-year-old daughter using the very public website. After she found her daughter publicly posting a conversation with her friends, she looked deeper into the site and found some alarming posts. “Fortunately, this was her only buzz posting. But what was most disturbing was looking at her friends’ conversations and realizing that some of them were chatting with complete strangers, and in some cases, sharking personal information like e-mails. Absolutely terrifying as these are forth grades who have no clue.” These children having ‘no clue’ is what is most alarming about children’s Internet usage. Many children do not realize how public their information is becoming, and how many potentially threatening people can access it. As children publicly post their emails, schedules and locations, they are allowing strangers to know where they are at all times. It is more difficult to keep yourself private when our world suddenly became the entire World Wide Web.

Childhood obesity is on the rise, and technology may be to blame. Pediatricians also say that severe obesity is increasing among children. Although one traditional focus is on the amount and type of foods kids eat, one study says that obesity is on the rise, not just because of food, but because as we use more technology, we exercise less. With technology that includes cars, television, computers and mobile devices, the amount of time we spend sitting increased and our time in physical activity dropped. As video games and electronic entertainment continue to develop and work their way into more children’s lives, a rising fear among parents is that children are becoming more prone to health-related issues, such as obesity and developmental challenges. The obesity rate in children has tripled in the past 20 years. The most recent figures suggest that different ages are moving at different speeds in terms of child obesity rates. Whilst 6-10 year olds appear to be flat lining (hovering at around 30% for the last decade), 11-15 year olds are still on the rise. In 2013, that rate stood at 37%, whilst the rate for 2-5 year olds was around 24%. Does the evidence blame technology for this, and what other factors are in play? Again, there is no shortage of research with which to draw upon. Much of it seems to draw the same conclusions- there is a direct link between screen time and child obesity levels. TV is given the brunt of the blame, as such a sedentary activity is thought to lead to unhealthy eating habits. TV viewing acts a distraction for children, removing the thought process behind eating a proper meal. To compensate, they reach for snacks that they continually eat during their extended screen time. Adding to the temptation for the impressionable mind of a child, TV screens are plastered with ads promoting foods with high level of fat, salt and sugar. Brainwashing the minds of those who are most susceptible to influences on the TV, children are often left reaching for crisps instead of an apple during their favourite TV shows. There are also some initiative taken to reduce the level of exposure children had to these foods via advertising, but the results have been questioned. Indeed, media industries in general are often left with the majority of blame when searching for the cause of child obesity. Physically then, the picture is rather grim for stationary activities such as using technology like TVs and PCs. The picture doesn’t get much rosier when you consider the negative impact the internet is bringing to young people’s lives. Platforms such as Facebook have allowed playground bullies to take their abuse online, and a number of high profile cases have led to children harming themselves and even committing suicide.

On the other hand, children of today are beginning to lose touch with their social skills. A huge reason for this is technology. Most children today have some form of device or games console which seems to take over their lives. It is important for children to interact with people physically from a very young age but technology is interfering with this and it causes a number of knock on effects as a result, such as the development of bad social skills. Technology such as video games and consoles and devices that are designed to amuse people isolate children. This too leads to very bad social skills but it may also lead to health problems for children as they grow up. Besides, technology has weakened the relationship between kids and their parents. Since most parents have less time with their children because they have to work, kids have replaced their parents with technology. Dad or mum will come back late from work and they will have less time to chat or play with the kid. So at the end of the day, the child will find comfort in playing video games, watch television, chat with friends on Facebook, visit wired harmful websites online, etc. At the end of the day, these kids also consult the internet or online strangers for help if a need arises and this can expose them to some wrong information which can result into problems.

Lastly, using technology can affect a child’s ability to empathize. A study on two groups of sixth graders found that kids who had no access to electronic devices for five days were better at picking up on emotions and nonverbal cues of photos of faces than the group that used their devices during that time. The increased face-to-face interaction that the test group had made students more sensitive to nuances in expression. Overuse of technology can also affect a child’s own mood. A report from the United Kingdom revealed that kids who use computer games and their home Internet for more than four hours do not have the same sense of wellbeing as those who used that technology for less than an hour. One expert explained that with less physical contact, children might have difficulty developing social skills and emotional reactions.

As conclusion, it can therefore be said that there are a lot of pros and cons that come with children using modern technology. Exposure to technology isn’t all bad. Research shows that, for example, video games and other screen media improve visual-spatial capabilities, increase attentional ability, reaction times, and the capacity to identify details among. But, at the same

time, depending on technology excessively may bring harm to our children. Therefore, parents should set a limit on the usage of technology for their kids. Instead of just sitting at home and facing the computer or television, parents can take their kids to play with others at least one – twice a week, encourage your kids to make friends while at school and tell them to invite their friends home so that you can know who they spend their time with. It is my utmost belief that these problems will only get worse as we delve into the future. clutter. Also, rather than making children unwise, it may just be making them different.