The Effect of Technology on Children

...

There are four factors deemed as critical in achieving a healthy child development. They are Movement, Exposure to nature, Touch and Human connection. Children need 2 – 3 hours of active play to realize adequate sensory to their tactile and vestibular systems (Plowman, Stephen & McPacke, 2010). These kind of sensory inputs provides normal development of posture, proper and balanced coordination on both sides of the body and self-regulation, both of which are essential for eventual entry in school at the appropriate time.

Even though it is indeed indisputable that technology has created a lot of ease in learning and improved access to detailed information and as a result made it easy for children to be able to do their homework, it is also true to say that it has also caused a decline in most children’s performances. This is because some of them have developed an addiction to this gadget so much that they spend almost all their tin=me using them. This leaves them no time to study and therefore leading to poor performances.

Children also gain competitive and adaptive skills in technology. When they play with the gadgets like the video games they also gain competitive skills which are essential for survival in the world today where people compete for nearly everything needed for daily survival (Livingstone & Boville, 2013). However, it is also worth noting that in the process doing, they lose themselves to their electronic equipment so much that it detaches them from their social lives. They no longer have time to sit with their parents and bond together like in the older generation.

This also impacts negatively on their character as they do not have time to learn from their parents. Internet exposes the children to a lot of content some of which are adult rated. This degrades their moral values and as such they end up with a very horrible character. Technology has a negative impact on the children’s writing skills. Most texts messages and chats are in poor grammar and all they care about is passing the message. This kills their grammar and ability to communicate effectively. Having discussed the above topic, I therefore find it important to note that technology has more negative effects on our children than the positive ones. And therefore recommend that that the children’s time around or with the technological equipment should be controlled both by the parents and the relevant stakeholders.

References

Heid, M. K., & Blume, G. W. (2008). Research on technology and the teaching and learning of mathematics: Volume 1. Charlotte, N.C: Information Age Pub.

Livingstone, S., & Bovill, M. (Eds.). (2013). Children and their changing media environment: A European comparative study. Routledge.

Wartella, E. A., & Jennings, N. (2000). Children and computers: New technology. Old concerns. The future of children, 31-43.

Plowman, L., Stephen, C., & McPake, J. (2010). Growing up with technology: Young children learning in a digital world. Routledge.