Technology Effects on Early Childhood Development

Technology Effects on Early Childhood Development

Introduction

The last 10 years have witnessed a significant growth in the use of technology, particularly entertainment, by children. This occurs despite the fact that important milestones for children, attachment and motor development are not fulfilled. Children are introduced to technology at an early age by their parent. There are many reasons parents introduce children to technology. Parents allow their children to have TV because children get occupied as parents carry out other pressing duties. Some parents allow children to have TV as a reward for behaving extemporary. Some children share a room with older sibling or an adult who happens to have a TV. Additionally, some parents use TV to lure their children to sleep. Experts warn that the use of technology to distract the attention of a child would be injurious to their emotional and social development.

According to Rowan (Para 5), children (infants 0-2years) watch, on average, 2.5 hours/day of television and is associated with delayed development (Rowan, Para 4). Similarly, TV watching consumes 4.5 hours/day and 6.5 hours/day for 3-5-year olds and elementary aged respectively (Rowan Para 5).  In addition to that, 25 percent of the children have televisions in their bedrooms. She also reports that children spend 7.5hours/day of entertainment technology.

Staggering statistics show that 30 percent of the school entry children are developmentally vulnerable. They lack foundational skills necessary to succeed in school.

Because of technology overuse by children, there has been an increase in mental illness, illiteracy, obesity and developmental delay problems

The impact of technology on modern families is affecting our lifestyles in both positive and negative ways. The use of technology in information, communication, transportation and entertainment has influenced our lifestyles. Children are relying on technology to play, learn and for entertainment.

Positive Effects of Technology in Early Childhood Development

Technology, such as internet, is shaping the way people think in ways that are both beneficial and detrimental. Whether technology hurts or helps in child development depends on the kind of technology used, its frequency and how it is utilized.  Technology may affect physical, emotional, psychological and social development of a child, positively or negatively.

Technology has positive affect on learning. Children can play computer games that are both fun and educational. Technology helps children increase learning via communication and to exploit vast amounts of information (Fuchs and Wobmann, 363). Through technology, a child learns to handle rapid cyber-searches, multitask, make quick decisions and develop visual acuity.  Technology users appear to employ problem-soling and decision-making brains parts more often.  Computer play games support cognitive development, particularly in the aspects of visual intelligence. Computer games can improve the child’s ability to monitor numerous visual stimuli simultaneously, recognize icons, read diagrams and envisage spatial relationships (De-Bell and Chapman, 3). However, playing computer games has also been associated with childhood distractibility, hostility, over-arousal and aggression.

Employing technology in early childhood education can promote peer collaboration and foster positive social development (New and Cochran, 798). Research shows that working with computer-related educational tools can instigate novels forms of collaboration among learners, such as instructing discussion and cooperation (New and Cochran, 798). Moreover, technology can serve as medium for facilitating interactions between students with special needs and typical students. This is true given that many technological learning tools are tailored to foster social interaction.

Technologies that enable social interaction foster literacy and language development as well. Designing activities around technology which promote interactions among peers by boosting peer learning, cooperation and peer teaching often become grounds for exchange of language. In fact, technology-related activities have been found to engender language exchanges, creativity, and imagination that are loaded with interpersonal and emotional understanding.

Technology in early childhood development encompasses a range of media, such as computer-mediated software programs, video games, electronic toys, television, iPods, Smart phones, computer, and robotic building kits (New and Cochran 798). Technology may be integrated into traditional classroom curriculum or may be employed as stand-alone learning material. At home, technology may be used to augment and supplement a child’s experiences in the classroom. Although technology promotes varied levels of personal and social development, there are concerns that some technologies do not foster positive interactions among students in the classroom. In fact, some uses of technology may not be appropriate for pro-social and social development as they encourage competitiveness in students.

Negative Effects of Exposure to Technology in Early Childhood

Gone are the days when children used to play sports, ride bikes, build forts, and play outside on day-to-day basis. These social activities had numerous benefits for developing children, socially, psychologically, emotionally and physically. Advances in technology have changed all this as children of today’s generation are introduced to technology in early childhood.

The availability and accessibility of technology, such as computers, video games, and handheld devices, has impacted all aspects of children’s lives, such as family relationships, school performance, social interaction and language use. Technology may influence children’s developing behavior and attitude and their emotional, social and psychological development (New and Cochran 798). The brains of children are not fully developed and exposing them to technology makes them to become wired. This changes the way they think.

Technology use by developing brain causes brain rewiring. The time used in technology does not provide children with newfangled means of thinking and doing things. Although playing video games conditions the brain to multitask, such technology can result in distraction and reduced memory. In fact, technology rewires the brain causing it to neglect the use of its circuits. Technology related play activities limits challenges to the children’s imaginations and creativity. The use of technology in play also limits challenges to the bodies of children to attain maximum motor and sensory development. According to Rowan (Para 3), sedentary bodies flooded with disorderly sensory stimulation leads to delays in achieving optimal developmental milestones.

Biologically, the child’s motor, attachment and sensory systems have not developed fully to accommodate the disorderly nature of technology. Research has shown that the use of technology in early childhood has contributed to an increase in behavior, psychological and physical disorders (Rowan Para 6). The increase in diabetes and obesity incidences has been partly due to overuse of technology. Developmental delays and diagnoses of coordination disorder, autism, learning difficulties, depression, anxiety, sleeping disorder and unintelligible speech are some of the challenges facing education and health systems today. The source of those problems is the overuse of technology

Exposure to nature, movement, human connection and touch are critical factors that promote healthy development in a child. They guarantee typical development of posture, maximum arousal states, self-regulation and bilateral coordination required to attain basic skills for school entry (Rowan Para 3).

Active play enables children to attain “sensory stimulation to their vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile systems” (Rowan Para 5). The latter is essential in the development of planned/praxis movement patterns. Under-stimulation of vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile systems causes overloading of the auditory, sensory and visual systems and this imbalance causes serious problems in neurological development due to impairment of the brain’s anatomy, pathways and chemistry.

Social Development

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development viewed learning as a mental process which reorganizes ideas based on experiences and biology. Piaget deduced that in young children, learning occur in the same manner as their brains function and grow in sequential patterns. The best way for the children to learn is by face-to-face interactions. Technology fails to provide the necessary conditions for developmental stages to occur.

Technology affects negatively social interactions among children and children and parents. In addition to the technology’s impact on behavior, physical and psychological health, technology also affects children’s ability to learn, as well maintain family and personal relationships. Video games, television, computer play games and smart phones distract children from keeping physical relationships with peers, friends and family (Rowan Para 5).

Technology severs interactions between children and their social environment. In fact, technology seems to disrupt parental attention and bonding. This is because technology prevents children from physically exploring and learning the world via interactions and play.  Educators and health providers are concerned how excessive exposure to touch screen technology may affect developing brains

Rather than playing hugging, talking with other children and adults, digital natives are allowed access to more video games, iPods, smart phones and TV, which create a widening gulf between child and parent.  As a result, children are missing out on critical development milestones. They are missing social interactions where they learn language, about their own emotions and how to control them. They now use technology to avoid social interactions or conflicts. Such children might not know how to deal with face-to-face interactions later in life (New and Cochran 798). They would also have problems when acting in an interview. In addition to that they would not be able to read facial expressions of other people. Moreover, the use of technology negatively impacts the children’s interpersonal and communication skills as it limits development and social interactions.

Technology and Childhood violence

Technology is associated with increased violent conduct and aggression in children. Children are introduced to violent media through video games and TV shows since children develop values and beliefs regarding acceptable behavior and social norms based on their experiences, technologies that foster violence and aggression are more likely to be risk factors for aggressive behavior later in life. Meta-analyses show a relationship between exposure to violent media and aggressive tendencies (Gentile and Anderson 758). Media violence may increase aggressive behavior by priming thoughts of aggression, thereby elevating physiological arousal.

Some forms of technology are addictive. Recent surveys reveal that nearly 2 percent of youth have internet addiction (Cao and Su 279). Video game play and internet use have the potential to turn into pathological in which affected persons have reduced functionality.

The emotional impacts of technology overuse include distractibility and anti-social behavior. Children who are more used to technology can easily distracted when attending to other things. This distractibility causes a child to lag behind in many things including literacy and language development.

Physical Health

Technology, such as video games, may put strain on developmental visual style and the child’s eye and thus cause problems like making reading difficult later in life. Parents should be more cautions and sensitive to a child’s developing eye by regulating the time used to watch TV or video games.

Technology encourages sedentary lifestyle. Advances in transportation and technology have led to a sedentary society, overloaded with sensory stimuli. These changes in environment are occurring at faster rate than the ability of humans to adapt. Technology overuse by children causes sensory deprivation. Technology disconnects children from physical play, meaningful play and physical activity (Tannock 359). In fact, overuse of video games and TV may lead children to lack important connection with nature, themselves, and others.

The corollaries of sedentary behavior are many and injurious. Technology distracts children from engaging in social activities like running, bending, playing and jogging. These exercises are important as they stimulate intellectual and sensory development. Physical activity enhances intelligence quotient, academic readiness, perceptual skills, developmental level, and cognition.

Due to strong attachment to technology, digital natives are being detached from humanity, as the childhood behavioral and psychological disorders tend to increase. Yet, overexposure to technology is related to the decreased psychological and physical health. Video games and TV account for over 60 percent of childhood obesity cases (Trembaly 1102). Harvey-Berino (608) found that childhood obesity doubled  in two to five-year olds, from 4.8-10.8 percent in girls and 2.1 to 5 percent in boys over a-six year period.  Reducing sedentary time and behavior can help reduce body mass index and associated health risks. Indeed, children who fail to achieve motor milestones, incapable of paying attention and with low tone are regular patients of occupational and pediatric clinics.

Attention

Technology affects children’s attention to learn and focus. Attention a gateway to learning, reasoning, creativity, perception, problem-solving, memory, decision making and language. The child’s ability to focus consistently and effectively sets the stage for all facets of development and growth. Owing to its malleability, attention is directly affected by its environment. Thus the immediate environment of a child determines the type of attention he/she develops. Technology has changed the way children develops attention by providing fragmented attention, visual stimuli and diminishing creativity and imagination.

The positive side of technology (TV and video games) as far as attention is concerned is that it improves visual-spatial capabilities and reaction time

Overexposure to technology is associated with attention problems in children (Swing).

When children are overexposed to technologies imagination is lost. Technology denies children the opportunity to represent their knowledge and thought and to generate their own ideas.

Conclusion

There are many negative effects on the development of the child because of the exposure to technology. Technology can affect social, physical, motional and psychological health of a child, in addition to hindering problem-solving skills, diminishing creativity and distracting attention. Infancy and childhood are periods when children are growing at a rapid rate. This is the time when the child’s gross and fine motor skills start to emerge, along with the development of the visual-spatial awareness.  Due to its detrimental effects, parents should limit the use of technology in early childhood by children. As Rowan advises, parents should strike a balance between games children require for success and development with technology use.

Technology is not bad for children. It becomes bad only when it is overused for protracted period of time. Therefore, parents should always supervise and limit the amount of time a child spends on technology.  

 Works Cited

Cao Fenglin and Linyan Su. Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: Prevalence and psychological features. Child: Care, Health and Development, 33, 3(2007):275–281

DeBell, Mathew and Chris Chapman. Computer and Internet use by students in 2003. National Center for Educational Statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Washington DC, 2006. Retrieved on April 2, 2016 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006065.pdf

Fuchs, Thomas and Ludger Wossmann. Computers and student learning: Bivariate and multivariate evidence on the availability and use of computers at home and school. Brussels Economic Review, 47(2005): 359-385

Gentile, Douglas A., and Craig A Anderson. The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 6(2009):752–763

Harvey-Berino J, and J Rouke. Obesity prevention in preschool Native-American children: a pilot study using home visiting.  Obesity Research, 11(2003):606–611.

New, Rebecca S, and Moncrieff Cochran. Early Childhood Education [four Volumes]: An International Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2006. Print.

Rowan, Cris. The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child. Huff Post, 2013, May 29

Tannock, Michele. Rough and tumble play: an investigation of the perceptions of educators and young children. Journal of Early Childhood Education, 35(2008):357-361

Tremblay, Mark.  S and Douglas Willms. Is  the  Canadian  childhood  obesity  epidemic  related  to  physical inactivity?  International Journal of Obesity, 27(2005): 1100-1105

 

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