Technology influences our lives in various ways. When it comes to children, technology, particularly computers and the internet have quite some positive influences besides its negative corollary. Statistics indicate an estimated 75% internet usage prevalence among 6 to 8-year children across all locations in America (Johnson, 2010). In Canada, the numbers are much higher with figures indicating that almost 30% of 9-year-olds have their personal computers on which they access the internet. Webcams, broadband and other internet access strategies are rapidly becoming the hallmarks of an upper social status consequently leading to an innate popularity of the technology among children. Nowadays, kids use technological advancements such as the internet to finish most of their assignments. They also use technology as a tool of communication especially after school through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, their mobile phones in texting and calling and the entertainment technologies such as TV sets among others. Currently, technology use has become increasingly ubiquitous. This has led scientists and researchers to study its effects on the lives of young kids and young adults alike. Although the risks involved in exposing children to technology are quite real and dire, there are also significant advantages that if implemented correctly will continue to resonate throughout the lives of individuals exposed to the capabilities of technology at an early age. In light of this, parents need to carefully control and monitor computer access and other technologies by children. Therefore, they should not entirely hinder access as this limits the developmental processes required in this fast paced and highly dynamic world.
Livingstone (2009) published research conducted on the opportunities and risks for kids who have constant access to the internet, computers and other high-tech developments. As their study indicated, in the past decade alone, few issues have subjugated the international headlines resulting in the capture of the public’s imagination, and the problem of children as forerunners of online use is one of them. Although the current trend facilitates a significant number of tech users at a given time, presently, more than one decade after the en masse access gain of online technologies, young individuals and children are in a different league altogether compared to the worlds in which adults and guardians are living. Parents and guardians who are expected to teach children what they ought to know, design principles and policies to facilitate their overall well-being and be there for them emotionally, intellectually and physically are continually finding themselves in a quagmire of sorts regarding being challenged and on the downside, being emotionally perplexed. Ultimately, this world has saturated with immense hopes and outright fear for the lives and future of children. A drastic twist and somewhat positive outlook ensue with the fact that the internet avails everything in an easily accessible way and one no longer needs to access a library or depend on a tutor for professional knowledge. The prospect of meeting various kinds of people is inherently secure as the barriers of time, money and transportation become obsolete over a network. Moreover, the internet gives most individuals the chance to meet concurring persons to share their hobbies, passions and other beneficial characteristics (Livingstone, 2009). This and more opportunities continue to resonate within the world of the internet.
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Although there are significant and considerable hopes for the positive impacts of the internet on children, it would be naïve not to discuss the negative repercussions unsupervised access has on the developmental process of children. Notably, worldwide governments, institutions of learning, leading parents and guardians continue to finance information and communication technology available to children to expand their horizons, better their chance in life and give them opportunities to develop. In spite of this, technology headlines often depict the dangers associated with Internet scammers, racists, bullies and the most feared, sexual marauders. With the expandability of the technology and the internet, the risks today are tenfold and are more prevalent since the perpetrators readily cross national borders to orchestrate their malicious intents and can evade local and national security systems. As a result, the initial instinct of many adults perceiving these arrays of dangers the results in the harming of children in the comfort of their homes is the immediate banning of technology use. However, this reaction is usually counterproductive than it is effective in according developmental advantages to the child. The argument for this is the fact that psychologically, children have a level of curiosity inherently higher than that of adults and this makes them want to access more technology in regards to computers, entertainment technology and much more. Consequently, this impasse has led to innovative empirical research that comprehensively work to understand the activities that children engage in online platforms and how it affects them. Moreover, in children, the best approach and solution to influence positive results from technology is not necessarily imposing a strict ban on access but in limiting and strictly monitoring the access.
Technology significantly affects the cognitive and psychological development of children. In the everyday lives of all individuals on this planet, a closely-knit negotiation of risks and opportunities is required for proper development and keen construction of meaningful lives. The developmental impacts of technology on children are more or less part of these risks and opportunities. Modern researchers interpret the process of living as a kind of self-actualization that is integrally comprehended as the creation of meaningful identity, which is the prime occupational tasks of children, especially those in adolescence (Livingstone, 2009). Such self-actualization pronouncements and daily strides are normally mixed with opportunity and risks. In light of this, technology, especially internet use has a tremendous impact on the developmental process of children, particularly their cognition and psychological functions. Such features like feeling, thinking, intuition and seeing are integral in the overall development of a child. When it comes to perception, especially during the periods of fast development, technology and in particular the use of computers and the internet, highly influences cognition positively (Johnson, 2006).
Fish et al. (2008) researched the use of home computers in relation to the development of cognition among children in a pre-school program. The data gathered from parents about the experience of children who had computers in their home environments, which included a consistent access, time spent and the programs accessed, was incredible in their revelations. After extrapolating the data based on individual controls among them; the parent's educational background; household revenue, the children with computer access showed dramatic improvements in cognitive growth than those who did not have access to a home computer. This study involved two hundred participatory children administered tests standardized to measure one aspect, cognitive development. Another observation was that the frequency in which the children were exposed to technology especially the use of computers was highly correlational to the development of acute cognition. The overall inference was that the use of computers at home, especially at an early age in children, led to developmental fetes in their cognition.
Technology accords impressive graphical displays, text messages and other forms of communications that have increasingly permeated our modern world. This, in turn, fascinates children leading to positivistic developmental cues. The internet, with its graphical displays and a rich text-based medium, has enabled children who use the internet frequently to become master readers (Jackson et al., 2007). In a research by Li and Atkins (2004), the general conclusion was that exposure to technology especially computers, the internet and other technological advancements during the times of preschool was commensurately associated with a subsequent readiness for school. Moreover, Jackson et al. (2007) accorded children from low-income families with access to the internet in a consistently recorded period online. The findings were nothing but astounding in that they showed that children who had consistent access to computers and the internet achieved higher grade point averages and scores in all standardized tests in periods of 6 months, one year and 16 months onwards. Therefore, from a developmental outlook, the use of technology especially the computers and the internet profoundly affects the continuous cognitive processes of a child, more particularly the processes pertaining to the interpretation of text and images. Besides metacognitive neural networks such as strategies of search, planning and the appraisal of meaningful information are usually exercised while navigating the various web pages. Such acute cognition can only be achieved through the exposure of technology in children at an early age. This way, they are assured of positive developmental processes.
Another cognitive developmental advantage is in the area of visual intelligence. As stated above, technology comes with an array of graphic displays and designs. Research by DeBell and Chapman (2006) concluded that technology, especially the internet, accords development in children’s cognition. The invention of computers brought about computer games that challenge an ability to concentrate on a number of visual stimuli at once, visualize and interpret particular relations, recognize and interpret icons and other intricate cognitive undertakings. Such undertakings while regulated are highly advantageous in the overall development of children. An observation of children 10 to 11 years’ old who played video games on a consistent basis showed that they had an extremely high level of pattern recognition, visual memory, spatial reasoning and the ability to self-monitor. Moreover, this observation was at a time when computer games were unsophisticated. Presently, the games produced are more involving and require higher intelligence in solving the different problems they present. However, it is critical to note the negative aspect of video games especially the ones that are not encouraged for children. Such video games lead to the over-arousal of children, distractibility, hostility and intense aggression. Therefore, when exposing children to technology, especially computer video games, one should do it in moderation and should only reveal the right content to their kids. Otherwise, the risk of having adverse technological impacts on children is especially real in our contemporary world.
Technology also influences the motor development and sensory of children. With the growth and expanse of technology in almost all facets of life, elementary aged children are being exposed to a dynamic world at a tender age. Entertainment technology has evolved to the point that almost 65% of children in America have television sets in their homes. This, coupled with the fact that 50% of most homes in the United States have their TVs on all day makes the influence of technology on the developmental growth of children a hot button affair. While cognition has highly increased in children who have access to computers, the opposite is true when you combine all the effects of technology together. Its rapid advancement has caused an increase in psychological and behavioral disorders. Parents, guardians and all citizens alike need to understand the dire effects of overreliance in and the unsupervised use of technology. In recent years, this has become the backbone of increasingly debated topics regarding the significance of technology towards child development. Therefore, in this last section of the paper, it is of utmost importance to note the adverse effects of child development especially in relation to their psychology. Commensurately, since technology remains to be of the essence, such negativity can be overcome through moderation and selective attention focusing. Therefore, it is not entirely right to render technology completely inaccessible to children.
In relation to psychological child development, the connection to humans is highly noteworthy. Touch, movement and the formation of relationships are essential forms of input that is vital for developing the attachment and motor systems in children. For healthy development, children require four to five hours of active physical play to achieve acute sensory stimulation. Therefore, exposure to technology all day long cause adverse effects. In the current virtual world of social networks, gaming, the internet and television, being inactive as a child results in adverse consequences. As children are connecting more with technology, they also require and need physical connections that make them more attuned to nature, others and themselves, leading to a complete psychological connection. Movement is critical, and the physical connection one child makes with another is highly essential in guaranteeing positivistic psychological developments in future.
Ultimately, it is highly imperative for parents, therapists and teachers to come together and fine-tune the use of technology in children through placing necessary safeguards and regulating the exposure of technology in children to ensure proper assimilation of the right influences in their overall developmental processes. Technology is never bad; only the negative use of it causes undesirable effects on the individual involved. Through careful regulations, technology can cause more good than harm in the lives of children. Therefore, parents should not hinder the developmental processes of their children consciously by limiting the use of technology.
References
DeBell, M., & Chapman, C. (2017). Computer and Internet use by students in 2003 . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Fish, A., McCarrick, K., Butler, S., Stanton, B., & Brumitt, G. (2008). Early childhood computer experience and cognitive development among urban low-income preschoolers. Journal Of Educational Computing Research , 38 , 92-113.
Jackson, L., Samona, R., Ramsay, L., Moomaw, J., Murray, C., Smith, A., & Murray, L. (2007). What children do on the Internet: Domains visited and their relationship to socio-demographic characteristics and academic performance?. Cyber-Psychology And Behavior , 10 , 182-190.
Johnson, G. (2010). Internet Use and Child Development: Validation of the Ecological TechnoSubsystem. Educational Technology & Society, 13(1), 176-185.
Li, X., & Atkins, M. (2004). Early childhood computer experience and cognitive and motor development. Pediatrics , 113 , 1715-1722.
Livingstone, S. (2009). "Children and the Internet: great expectations, challenging realities" . Cambridge: Polity.
Johnson, G. (2006). Internet use and cognitive development: A theoretical framework. E-Learning , 4 , 565-573.
