The Impact of Technology on the

Developing Child, their experience and

capabilities.

Introduction;
Reminiscing about the good old days when we were growing up is a memory trip well
worth taking when trying to understand the issues facing the children of today. A mere
20 years ago, children used to play outside all day, riding bikes, playing sports and
building forts. Masters of imaginary games, children of the past created their own form
of play that didn’t require costly equipment or parental supervision. Children of the past
moved... a lot, and their sensory world was nature based and simple. In the past, family
time was often spent doing chores, and children had expectations to meet on a daily
basis. The dining room table was a central place where families came together to eat
and talk about their day, and after dinner became the center for baking, crafts and
homework.

Today’s families are different. Technology’s impact on the 21st century family is
fracturing its very foundation, and causing a disintegration of core values that long ago
were the fabric that held families together. Juggling school, work, home, and community
lives, parents now rely heavily on communication, information, and transportation
technology to make their lives faster and more efficient. Entertainment technology (TV,
Internet, video games, iPads, cell phones) has advanced so rapidly, that families have
scarcely noticed the significant impact and changes to their family structure and
lifestyles. 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. Gone is dining room table conversation, replaced by the “big screen” and take
out.

Children now rely on technology for the majority of their play, grossly limiting challenges
to their creativity and imaginations, as well as limiting necessary challenges to their
bodies to achieve optimal sensory and motor development. Sedentary bodies
bombarded with chaotic sensory stimulation are resulting in delays in attaining child
developmental milestones, with subsequent negative impact on basic foundation skills
for achieving literacy. Hard-wired for high speed, today’s young are entering school
struggling with self regulation and attention skills necessary for learning, eventually
becoming significant behavior management problems for teachers in the classroom.
So what is the impact of technology on the developing child? Children’s developing
sensory, motor, and attachment systems have biologically not evolved to accommodate
this sedentary, yet frenzied and chaotic nature of today’s technology. The impact of
rapidly advancing technology on the developing child has seen an increase of physical,
psychological and behavior disorders that the health and education systems are just
beginning to detect, much less understand. Child obesity and diabetes are now national
epidemics in both Canada and the U.S., causally related to technology overuse.
Diagnoses of ADHD, autism, coordination disorder, developmental delays, unintelligible
speech, learning difficulties, sensory processing disorder, anxiety, depression, and
sleep disorders are associated with technology overuse, and are increasing at an
alarming rate. An urgent closer look at the critical factors for meeting developmental
milestones, and the subsequent impact of technology on those factors, would assist
parents, teachers and health professionals to better understand the complexities of this
issue, and help create effective strategies to reduce technology use.

Four critical factors necessary to achieve healthy child development are movement,
touch, human connection, and exposure to nature. These types of sensory inputs
ensure normal development of posture, bilateral coordination, optimal arousal states
and self-regulation necessary for achieving foundation skills for eventual school entry.
Young children require 2-3 hours per day of active rough and tumble play to achieve
adequate sensory stimulation to their vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile systems.
Tactile stimulation received through touching, hugging and play is critical for the
development of praxis, or planned movement patterns. Touch also activates the
parasympathetic system lowering cortisol, adrenalin and anxiety. Nature and “green
space” has not only a calming influence on children, but also is attention restorative and
promotes learning.

Further analysis of the impact of technology on the developing child indicates that while
the vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile and attachment systems are under stimulated, the
visual and auditory sensory systems are in “overload.” This sensory imbalance creates
huge problems in overall neurological development, as the brain’s anatomy, chemistry
and pathways become permanently altered and impaired. Young children who are
exposed to violence through TV and video games are in a high state of adrenalin and
stress, as the body does not know that what they are watching is not real. Children who
overuse technology report persistent body sensations of overall “shaking”, increased
breathing and heart rate, and a general state of “unease.” This can best be described as
a persistent hypervigalent sensory system, still “on alert” for the oncoming assault.
While the long term effects of this chronic state of stress in the developing child are
unknown, we do know that chronic stress in adults results in a weakened immune
system and a variety of serious diseases and disorders.

It’s important to come together as parents, teachers and therapists to help society
“wake up” and see the devastating effects technology is having not only on our child’s
physical, psychological and behavioral health, but also on their ability to learn and
sustain personal and family relationships. While technology is a train that will continually
move forward, knowledge regarding its detrimental effects, and action taken toward
balancing the use of technology with critical factors for development, will work toward
sustaining our children. While no one can argue the benefits of advanced technology in
today’s world, connection to these devices may have resulted in a disconnection from
what society should value most, children. Rather than hugging, playing, rough housing,
and conversing with children, parents are increasingly resorting to providing their
children with more TV, video games, and the latest iPads and cell phone devices,
creating a deep and irreversible chasm between parent and child.

www.twitter.com/zoneinprograms
Review of Related Literature

Technology has completely changed virtually every aspect of our society over the past
few decades, from the way we work to the way we socialize and everything in between.
One of the differences that have been most noticeable is the change in the way that
children play and interact with each other from previous generations. Although
technology does provide many positive benefits for learning, it also can have several
negative effects on child development and quality of life.

One of the biggest differences in the way that children live today is that they don’t get as
much exercise as they used to. This is because technology such as computers, smart
phones and television encourages them to be sedentary when they get home from
school, as opposed to going outside and playing with other kids. Child obesity rates have
risen drastically over the past several decades. In 2012, the child obesity rate was
measured to be 18 percent, which is an 11 point difference from the obesity rate in 1980.
While many schools and parents have made strides to change this by promoting
organized exercise both during and after school, we still have a long way to go in helping
kids playing in more conventional ways.

In addition to not getting enough exercise, many kids do not experience the benefits of
spending time outdoors when they are heavily reliant on technology for entertainment
purposes. Spending time outdoors has a huge number of positive effects on the body — it
provides you with exposure to sunlight, which supplies your body with Vitamin D. This
helps to fight infections and keep your skin healthy. Additionally, regular exposure to
sunlight helps to keep your sleep cycle regular by influencing the body’s production of
melatonin. Recent research has shown screens from devices such as tablets and smart
phones emit harmful blue light that can cause headaches, eye strain and irritated eyes
for children. Furthermore, sleep is also disturbed by harmful blue light when children are
exposed to screen time in the evening due to the suppression of the hormone melatonin
which regulates the sleep wake cycle. This makes it increasingly difficult for a child’s
body to effectively prepare to get ready for a goodnights sleep.

Technology also has profound impacts on the way children think and feel. Since
technology is full of stimuli and often requires paying attention to many different things at
once, children who play many video games or spend most of their time online tend to
have less of an ability to focus than kids who use technology minimally. It can also affect
the way kids process information — when kids are exposed to high levels of technology,
they tend to think through things only superficially and don’t develop the ability to think
critically or be creative when learning new concepts.
Technology changes the way kids socialize and interact with others, which can have
huge impacts on their mental and emotional well-being. It has now become common
knowledge that high levels of social media use, in both kids and adults, can lower self-
esteem and create negative moods. However, all types of technology can actually have
negative effects on children when used in excess, because they lower children’s
frequency of interacting with their peers. This makes it more difficult for them to pick up
on social cues and develop meaningful relationships with others — something that can
have serious negative consequences as they grow and develop. They also have a
difficult time developing emotions the same way other kids would if they spend too much
of their time with technology and not enough time being engaged while in the presence
of others.

This isn’t to say that all technology is bad, or that children should never use technology.
Technology provides tons of positive opportunities for learning, entertaining, and
socializing, but it should be monitored and used appropriately. Here are some tips to
help head off these problems and encourage responsible technology use with your
children.
Conceptual framework
Problem Statement

With technology being an essential part of our day-to-day lives, I can’t help but think about some
of the negative effects technology may have on children and their ability to disconnect from it
all.

As I parent I often wonder, what impact will technology have on the social and mental behaviors
of our children as they continue to become more dependent on this information/communication
resource?

Some concerns I have raising digital kids are:

Bullying: Bullies have infiltrated the Internet are able to torment their victims both in
school and online. How will kids be able to fend them off if they seem to show up
wherever they are?

Lack of privacy: Gone are the days of being safe from prying eyes. The Internet has done
away with privacy and kids are at the front lines of this dilemma. Whether they are doing
the sharing or their friends, it seems kids are being exposed for the world to see.

Compromised Identity: Remember when you and your friends had things in common like
the same Trapper Keeper, favorite color or having a crush on the same '80's heartthrob?
Now it seems bonds are formed depending on material item they have in common and the
cost factor behind them.

Developmental Effects: Social media isn't going anywhere, so as parents we to need

consider how it affects kids' developing minds and determine what role we want it to
play in our children's lives.

Sense of reality: Television, video games, and other media often represent the world in
ways that concern us. We worry that young children may copy what they see on
cartoons, that older children may be influenced by the sexual and violent images they
see, and that adults may be influenced by stereotyped images. While there is cause for
concern, there is also evidence that even children are able to reasonably interpret much
of what they see. On the other hand even adults can be influenced by television without
being aware of that influence. Understanding the complex psychological mechanisms
that people use when watching television can help families know what to worry about
and what to do about it.
Scope of a Problem

 With kids sharing so much online they become vulnerable to having their
identities stolen. What happens as they grow up and they have (over the years)
created a digital footprint they regret?

 Many parents are concerned with the impact too much screen time will have on
their child's over all development. How are touch screen devices affecting a child's
motor skills?

 Many kids are constantly online to escape their reality. Being online can make
anyone a rock star, have hundreds of friends and hide behind and avatar. But what
effect will that have on a kid who needs to hide from who he/she is?
Review of Related Literature CONT:
In today’s society we are overwhelmed with technology. Technology is changing every
day, and will forever be a staple in our lives. The effect that technology has on our
children has brought on some concerns and some praises. Children these days have no
choice but to somehow be influenced by the ever growing technology in our societies.
Our common concern has been that although digital technology has boosted children’s
talent for multitasking, their ability to process information deeply may be deteriorating .
Many people have a wide range of opinions on if technology is having a positive influence
on our children or a negative, there is a vast amount of evidence to support both of these
arguments.

The effects of both violent and non-violent video game playing can be determined by the
amount of time playing the video game and by the content of the games being played.
The content of the games being played could definitely have a factor in how a child
performs in school, and how aggressive they are towards peers and teachers. Obviously
if a child is playing hours upon hours of violent video games, this can lead to them acting
out violence and having no consequences for it. If a child took the time that they played
video games a week and used that time to be engaged in reading, homework or even a
creative activity we’d have less issues with our children’s school performances. Parents
should really be monitoring how long their child is playing video games, but this doesn’t
always happen. A child who plays video games for long periods of time could also build
up a social wall, become a loner. It is important for children to interact with other children
in order to help develop their social skills, which without will make it very difficult to make
it in this world. At the age children start playing video games, it is hard for them to
distinguish what is reality and what is not. So in some cases the violent acts in video
games could make the child believe the world is a scary place. More than a thousand
scientific studies and

Technology can refer to so many things, but there are three main parts of technology that
are having the greatest effects on our children: video games, television/media, and
computers. The modern technologies we have today are so powerful because they attract
our genetic biases, that the human brain has a tremendous love for visually presented
information. Video games, television, movies and computer programs are all very visually
oriented and therefore they attract and keep the attention of children easily. By far the
largest concern of technology today is video games. There have been so many
experiments and studies to try and figure out if video games have a negative or positive
effect on our children. A growing body of research is linking violent video game play to
aggressive cognitive, attitudes and behaviors. Video games can obviously be dangerous
for our children causing aggression, bad performances in school and obesity. Although
we can’t blame all of these problems on the use of video games, there have been many
studies to prove so. Boys do seem to be more attracted to video games than girls are ,
Adolescent girls played video games for an average of 5 hours a week whereas boys
averaged 13 hours a . The effects of both violent and non-violent video game playing can
be determined by the amount of time playing the video game and by the content of the
games being played. The content of the games being played could definitely have a
factor in how a child performs in school, and how aggressive they are towards peers and
teachers. Obviously if a child is playing hours upon hours of violent video games, this can
lead to them acting out violence and having no consequences for it. If a child took the
time that they played video games a week and used that time to be engaged in reading,
homework or even a creative activity we’d have less issues with our children’s school
performances. Parents should really be monitoring how long their child is playing video
games, but this doesn’t always happen. A child who plays video games for long periods
of time could also build up a social wall, become a loner. It is important for children to
interact with other children in order to help develop their social skills, which without will
make it very difficult to make it in this world. At the age children start playing video games,
it is hard for them to distinguish what is reality and what is not. So in some cases the
violent acts in video games could make the child believe the world is a scary place. More
than a thousand scientific studies and reviews conclude that significant exposure to
media, and video games of violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in certain
children, desensitizes them to violence and makes them believe the world is a ‘meaner
and scarier’ place than it is .Children who are playing endless hours of video games are
also said to have less hobbies and activities, which may lead to obesity. Obesity in young
children has become an overwhelming problem these days. They are now making “fit”
video games such a Wii Fit, which involves actual movement and exercise. Video games
like these are excellent especially if your child just needs to play a video game. There are
educational video games out now, more and more are surfacing. The amount of time
children play these is completely different than the amount of time children are playing
violent video games. Educational video games obviously can do a lot for your child, they
can improve vocabulary, mathematics, and some fitness. So increasing the time they are
interacting with educational video games is said to have a very positive effect on them.
Even though they make video games with the intent to be entertaining, challenging and
sometimes educational, most of them do include some form of violence. Recent content
analysis of video games show that as many as 89% of games contain some violent
content and that about half of the games include serious violent content towards other
game characters . It is now a known fact that playing violent video games increases
aggressive behaviors, increases aggressive cognitive, increases aggressive emotions,
decreases pro social behaviors and increases physiological arousal. So people do say
that children who already have aggressive tendencies get therapy from playing violent
video games. By releasing their aggression on playing a video game, they are less likely
to be aggressive towards others. Then others believe that violent video games maybe
even more harmful to the children who were characteristically aggressive already.
Because violence is such an attractive part to a video game, companies will continue to
keep selling violent video games, to make more money. Although now they do usually list
the rating on the game, but who’s to say that parents will take any interest in the rating.
Most parents are to blame for their children playing violent video games, how else would
they get the game? Parents need to be held responsible for the effects that violent video
games have on our children, they need to be monitoring them more closely. Recent
research has shown that connections between children playing violent video games can
cause later aggressive behavioral problems. In retrospect studies have also shown a
twelve percent increase in aggressive behavior after watching violent television as .For
many years it has been apart of the repercussions that television has on children. Now
we have those special chips called V-chips to put in the TVs to block certain programs or
channels. But who knows what your children are watching when they go to a friends
house, or even at school. Exposing your children to some violence almost seems
inevitable , everywhere we turn there is some kind of violence on some kind of new piece
of technology. Endless hours of watching television may be thought of as somewhat
entertaining to a child, but it has such negative effects on them. TV is consistently
reinforcing gender-roles and stereotypes which isn’t always a good thing to show our
children. A child should be out running around, exploring their environment, participating
in activities and sports. Children who view media violence are more likely to have
increased feelings of hostility, decreased emotional response to the portrayal of violence
and injury that lead to violent behavior through limitation . During the first 2 years of a
child’s life, the brain is at a critical developing period. Television can get in the way of a
child exploring, learning and spending time interacting with their parents and other
children. Having time to play with others helps kids develop the skills they need to grow
cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally. If parents limit the television that their pre-
school age child is watching it can be a good thing as long as what they are watching is
educational or age appropriate. If you allow your children particularly ages 2-7 to watch
shows or movies with scary monsters, they will remember those scary faces. Children this
age have a hard time distinguishing between real and fantasy, so to tell them that
monsters don’t exist, wouldn’t really console them. While kids 8-12 are usually scared by
natural disasters, the threat of violence and victimization of kids. Many shows or movies
nowadays depict risky behaviors, such as sex and substance abuse. They portray these
things as cool, fun and exciting, and there is often no discussion about the consequences
of these actions. More and more now we are seeing alcohol ads on television, and more
underage children are being exposed to them. Over sixty percent of television shows
being shown in prime time contain some form of violence (Tompkins, 2003). They are
now linking child obesity to over watching of television which includes four or more hours
a day. While watching television kids are usually inactive and usually snacking. Kids are
getting overwhelmed with the many ads on television encouraging them to eat unhealthy
foods. The ads are meant to target children, by showing sugary cereal, or sugar filled soft
drinks. Children are being manipulated by advertising companies, so then they beg and
plead with their parents to buy them exactly what they have seen on television. In another
study of preschoolers (ages 1-4), a child's risk of being overweight increased by 6% for
every hour of television watched per day. If that child had a TV in his or her bedroom, the
odds of being overweight jumped an additional 31% for every hour watched. Preschool
children with TVs in their bedroom watched an additional 4.8 hours of TV or videos every
week Parents should treat watching television as a privilege, maybe not allowing
television in their child’s room will help reduce the percentage of overweight children. Its
simple, reduce the amount of time your children are doing nothing with their minds or
body, and increase the amount of time they are exploring things and participating in
physical activities. So over all its apparent that watching too much television isn’t healthy
for any child of any age, or even any adult. While boys tend to be more attracted to
violence on television, girls tend to be more attracted to the teeny bopper shows. Some of
these shows include situations that are not likely to ever happen, or that are too mature
for the child whose watching them. The image that most female television/movie stars,
and models are giving to young girls is that the skinner you are the better. We are in a
vein world, where somehow everyone got the impression that its not alright to look
healthy, better to be overly skinny. Eating disorder experts say prepubescent girls are
developing eating disorders as young as 5 and 6 years old. They may be getting their
obsession from parents who are preoccupied with their own body images, and media
images of skinny stars like the Olsen twins, or even Kiera Knightly, whom stars in a very
popular movie series Pirates of the Caribbean. Which is a movie directed towards the
younger crowd, considering it is a Disney movie. If we take a look at the figure of Barbie,
who’s body is considered to be perfect, yet no girl or woman could achieve a body like
this, this figure is a definition of beautiful. Unfortunately the only way to help change the
outlook of body images is to help our children know its ok to be a different shape than
someone else, to teach them its not okay to poke or make fun of children who are bigger
sizes. This is not something we need to change just for our children but also for ourselves
and our world. Some programs that may seem age appropriate for our children, are still
showing some sort of sexual activity. Young girls are getting the image that it is okay to
engage in some sort of sexual activity, even if that is just kissing. Some of these shows
are saying that having a relationship at a young age is okay, kids need to be kids and not
worry about relationships until they have at least approached puberty. Blaming only
television and technology for these acts is unfair, because parents have a lot of effect on
their children as well. Children are just getting the wrong message from a lot of these
shows, that premarital sex is the thing to do, that even something as simple as kissing is
okay. This all depends on the age of the child, some parents need to make sure that the
shows their child is watching is age appropriate. Maybe some parents need to watch a
couple of minutes of the show their child wants to watch and get the feeling, and voice of
the show to determine whether its appropriate for their child. Children are natural
‘manipulators’ of the world-they learn through controlling the movement of and interaction
between objects in their world: dolls, blocks, toy cars, and their own bodies. With
television, they watch and do not control anything, computers allow interaction. Children
can control the pace and activity and make things happen on computers (Perry, 1999).
Computers are becoming apart of everyone’s daily lives. We have them at work, home
and even at school in children’s class rooms. Computers like all technology have their
pros and cons. Obviously the computer can open up a world of intelligence for children,
you can look up and explore anything you want on the internet. Studies indicate that the
media can promote pro-social behavior, that some computer games can hone visual
intelligence and that classroom use of the internet links children with distant mentors and
resources, enriching the way kids learn (Carpenter, 2010). Computers are now being
used as a learning tool, we have access to them, we might as well try and use them for
good. Technology offers children a sense of empowerment and provides kids with the
tools needed to solve problems (Goessl, 2002-2008). Educational websites, and games
are at the reach of our children’s hands, not to mention if they want to know everything to
know about Alaska, or who holds the record for chewing gum the longest, they can.
Computers can have a great influence on developing hand- eye coordination, since it
does take this skill to type and use a mouse. But still the time they spend on the computer
should be limited, because kids still need social interaction, and physical activity. We
must encourage our children to develop the ability to think first and then give them a
computer (Fanning, 2007). Even though we can see many positive outcomes from
children using computers, there are also many negative views. Computers are being
introduced to children younger and younger these days. Which is making our children
lazy, they can now type papers that automatically spell check for them, they don’t even
have to go to the library to do a research paper, the computer puts all information at a
click of the mouse. While it is a nice way for children to communicate with their friends,
whatever happen to hand writing a note. Our kids are talking in chat rooms, to who
knows, they could be talking to a sexual predator. We have seen this in many cases, the
world is such a crazy place and we have to do the best to protect our children from it.
Hours and hours of computer use can also be physically damaging to children causing
bad posture, hand problems and can effect their eye sight. A child who is always on the
computer can cause a lack of social skills. Children need interactive time with peers and
adults to really develop correctly. On the computer our children can come across things
that aren’t age appropriate for them such as violence, and sex. All they have to do is type
in a word and somehow it can be referenced to sex, and link them to a pornography site.
Computers are now being linked to as a factor to anti-social behaviors, primarily because
computers are replacing normal social activities. Anti-social personality disorder is
characterized as a gross disparity between behavior and the prevailing social norms.
Children who constantly use the internet as a form of socializing can develop social
anxiety disorder or a internet addiction. You may think that young children cant have an
internet addiction, but today it is becoming more common. Some children would rather
rush home and get onto the internet rather than go play outside with friends or do a
creative activity with their parents. Children are isolating themselves from the ‘real’ world
with the excessive use of computers. They are only knowing the web world. Some may
not realize it but cell phones do have an effect on our children. In fact they say that
children under the age of 8 shouldn’t even use one. Cell phones can not only cause brain
tumors, but also impaired cognitive functions. Scientist have now discovered that even a
two-minute cell phone call can alter the electrical activity of a child’s brain for up to an
hour after the phone call. This finding has lead many doctors to believe that the disruption
in brain activity can lead to psychiatric and behavior problems and can impair learning
ability. The alteration in brain waves can lead to aggressive behaviors, lack of ability to
learn and memory loss. A study found that children who used cell phones, and whose
mothers used cell phones during pregnancy were 80 percent more likely to have
behavioral problems such as emotional symptoms, inattention, hyperactivity and
problems with peers compared with children who had no cell phone exposure as fetuses
or in early childhood. Children whose mothers used cell phones during pregnancy but
who had no other cell phone exposure were 54 percent more likely to have behavioral
problems . Excessive cell phone usage can also be linked to an earlier onset of
Alzheimer’s disease. Many parents have no idea how a cell phone is impacting your
child’s brain. Some scientist have found that cell phone transmissions damage the ability
of white blood cells to ward off infectious diseases by disrupting the immune system’s
electromagnetic communications. The biophysicist from Lincoln University in Christ
Church, New Zealand has also found that cell phones can murderously modify moods. In
brains and bodies seriously derailed by tiny imbalances in trace minerals and hormones,
depression, suicide, anger, rage and violence can result when calcium and serotonin
levels are disrupted by cell phone transmissions . It’s amazing that all of this time we have
been exposing our children to something that is unrecognizably harmful to them. As we
can all recognize, technology today is vastly growing, and is out of our hands. What we
do have control over is how much of that technology we expose our children to. It is
inevitably up to the parents to monitor and react to the technology being used by their
children. This may not seem very serious to some parents, but more and more we are
seeing children, young adults walking into their classrooms and shooting theirs peers and
teachers. All because maybe they played one too many violent video games growing up,
or have felt like an out-cast due to a social-anxiety disorder which can be caused by
dissocializing yourself with video games, computers and even television. Even though not
one research conducted could really prove either positive or negative long term outcomes
of technology, it is apparent that technology does have a great effect on our children’s
lives and developmental behaviors. Technology has many effects on our children today,
but how couldn’t it when our society is transforming into a technology world. Children
these days will never know what life is like without technology so it is important to make
sure we use the technology we have for what it’s worth. Although there are many
negatives to the use of technology, we need to embrace the ever changing world, and
just learn as parents to pay attention to what our child is doing.

Conclusion

The capacity to reflect, reason, and draw conclusions based on our experiences,
knowledge, and insights. It’s what makes us human and has enabled us to
communicate, create, build, advance, and become civilized. Thinking encompasses so
many aspects of who our children are and what they do, from observing, learning,
remembering, questioning, and judging to innovating, arguing, deciding, and acting.

There is also little doubt that all of the new technologies, led by the Internet, are shaping
the way we think in ways obvious and subtle, deliberate and unintentional, and
advantageous and detrimental The uncertain reality is that, with this new technological
frontier in its infancy and developments emerging at a rapid pace, we have neither the
benefit of historical hindsight nor the time to ponder or examine the value and cost of
these advancements in terms of how it influences our children’s ability to think.

There is, however, a growing body of research that technology can be both beneficial
and harmful to different ways in which children think. Moreover, this influence isn’t just
affecting children on the surface of their thinking. Rather, because their brains are still
developing and malleable, frequent exposure by so-called digital natives to technology
is actually wiring the brain in ways very different than in previous generations. What is
clear is that, as with advances throughout history, the technology that is available
determines how our brains develops. For example, as the technology writer Nicholas
Carr(link is external) has observed, the emergence of reading encouraged our brains to
be focused and imaginative. In contrast, the rise of the Internet is strengthening our
ability to scan information rapidly and efficiently.

The effects of technology on children are complicated, with both benefits and costs.
Whether technology helps or hurts in the development of your children’s thinking
depends on what specific technology is used and how and what frequency it is used. At
least early in their lives, the power to dictate your children’s relationship with technology
and, as a result, its influence on them, from synaptic activity to conscious thought.
Over the next several weeks, I’m going to focus on the areas in which the latest thinking
and research has shown technology to have the greatest influence on how children
think: attention, information overload, decision making, and memory/learning.
Importantly, all of these areas are ones in which you can have a counteracting influence
on how technology affects your children.

Attention

You can think of attention as the gateway to thinking. Without it, other aspects of
thinking, namely, perception, memory, language, learning, creativity, reasoning,
problem solving, and decision making are greatly diminished or can’t occur at all. The
ability of your children to learn to focus effectively and consistently lays the foundation
for almost all aspects of their growth and is fundamental to their development into
successful and happy people.

Attention has been found to be a highly malleable quality and most directly influenced
by the environment in which it is used. This selective attention can be found in the
animal kingdom in which different species develop attentional skills that help them
function and survive. For example, wolves, lions, tigers, and other predators have highly
tuned visual attention that enables them to spot and track their prey. In contract, their
prey, including deer and antelope, have well-developed auditory attention that allows
them to hear approaching predators. In both cases, animals’ attentional abilities have
developed based on the environment in which they live.

The same holds true for human development. Whether infant recognition of
their parents’ faces or students paying attention in class, children’s immediate
environment determines the kind of attention that they develop. In generations past, for
example, children directed considerable amounts of their time to reading, an activity that
offered few distractions and required intense and sustained attention, imagination, and
memory. The advent of television altered that attention by offering children visual
stimuli, fragmented attention, and little need for imagination. Then the Internet was
invented and children were thrust into a vastly different environment in which, because
distraction is the norm, consistent attention is impossible, imagination is unnecessary,
and memory is inhibited.

Technology conditions the brain to pay attention to information very differently than
reading. The metaphor that Nicholas Carr uses is the difference between scuba diving
and jet skiing. Book reading is like scuba diving in which the diver is submerged in a
quiet, visually restricted, slow-paced setting with few distractions and, as a result, is
required to focus narrowly and think deeply on the limited information that is available to
them. In contrast, using the Internet is like jet skiing, in which the jet skier is skimming
along the surface of the water at high speed, exposed to a broad vista, surrounded by
many distractions, and only able to focus fleetingly on any one thing.
In fact, studies(link is external) have shown that reading uninterrupted text results in
faster completion and better understanding, recall, and learning than those who read
text filled with hyperlinks and ads. Those who read a text-only version of a presentation,
as compared to one that included video, found the presentation to be more engaging,
informative, and entertaining, a finding contrary to conventional wisdom, to be sure.
Additionally, contrary to conventional educational wisdom, students who were allowed
Internet access during class didn’t recall the lecture nor did they perform as well on a
test of the material as those who weren’t “wired” during class. Finally, reading develops
reflection, critical thinking, problem solving, and vocabulary better than visual media.

Exposure to technology isn’t all bad. Research(link is external) 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 clutter. Also,
rather than making children stupid, it may just be making them different. For example,
the ubiquitous use of Internet search engines is causing children to become less adept
at remembering things and more skilled at remembering where to find things. Given the
ease with which information can be find these days, it only stands to reason that
knowing where to look is becoming more important for children than actually knowing
something. Not having to retain information in our brain may allow it to engage in more
“higher-order” processing such as contemplation, critical thinking, and problem solving.

What does all this mean for raising your children? The bottom line is that too much
screen time and not enough other activities, such as reading, playing games, and good
old unstructured and imaginative play, will result in your children having their brains
wired in ways that may make them less, not more, prepared to thrive in this crazy new
world of technology.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201212/how-technology-is-
changing-the-way-children-think-and-focus