Notes

Technology and Our Kids
With most people plugged in continuously, I often wonder what effect technology is having on our kids. Some say technology is another helpful learning tool that is making our kids smarter plus some say it really is having no significant effect at all. Still, others suggest that technology use is encouraging social isolation, increasing attentional problems, encouraging unhealthy habits, and ultimately changing our culture and the way humans interact. While there isn't a causal relationship between technology use and human development, I really do think a number of the correlations are strong enough to encourage you to curb your children's screen time.

Is television really that harmful to kids? With respect to the show and duration of watching, yes. Researchers have discovered that contact with programs with fast edits and scene cuts that flash unrealistically over the screen are linked to the development of attentional problems in kids. Because the brain becomes overwhelmed with changing stimuli, it stops attending to anybody thing and starts zoning out. An excessive amount of contact with these frenetic programs provides brain more practice passively accepting information without deeply processing it. However, not all programs are bad. Kids who watch slow paced television programs like Sesame Street aren't as more likely to develop attentional problems as kids who watch shows like The Power Puff Girls or Johnny Neutron. read more are slow paced with fewer stimuli on the screen which gives children the opportunity to apply attending to information. Children can then practice making connections between new and past knowledge, manipulating information in working memory, and problem solving. Conclusively, a good rule of thumb is to limit television watching to an hour to two hours a day, and look out for a glossy-eyed transfixed gaze on your own child's face. This can be a sure sign that his / her brain has stopped focusing and it is definitely time to shut down the tube so that he can start thinking, creating, and making sense out of things again (all actions that grow instead of pacify the brain).

When you do shut down the tube, you shouldn't be surprised assuming you have a melt down on your hands. Technology comes with an addictive quality since it consistently activates the release of neurotransmitters which are connected with pleasure and reward. There were cases of addictions to technology in children as early as four-years-old. Recently in Britain, a four-year-old girl was placed into intensive rehabilitation therapy for an iPad addiction! I'm sure you understand how rewarding it is to sign onto Facebook and see that red notification at the top of the screen, or higher directly how rewarding doing offers on your computer is often as you accumulate more "accomplishments." I am guilty of obsessive compulsively checking my Facebook, email, and blog throughout the day. The common answer to this problems is, "All things in moderation." While I agree, moderation could be difficult for children to attain as they usually do not possess the skills for self discipline and can often take the simple route or even directed by a grown-up. According to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children spend about 5 hours watching tv and movies, 3 hours online, 1 1/2 hours texting on the telephone, and a 1/2 hour talking on the telephone every day. That's almost 75 hours of technology use every week, and I am certain these email address details are mediated by parental controls and interventions. Imagine how much technology children use when left with their own defenses! In a recent Huffington Post article, Dr. Larry Rosen summed it up well, "... we see what happens unless you limit these active participation. The kid is still reinforced in the highly engaging e-world, and more mundane worlds, such as for example using toys or watching television, pale compared." How are you currently ever going to get your child to learn a monochrome boring old book when they could use a flashy, rewarding iPad instead? Children on average spend 38 minutes or less every day reading. Do you visit a priority problem here?

With such frequent technology use, you should understand if technology use encourages or discourages healthy habits. It's reported that among heavy technology users, half get C's or reduced school. Light technology users fair far better, only a quarter of these receiving low marks. T here are numerous factors that could mediate the relationship between technology use and poor grades. One could be decreased hours of sleep. Researchers from the Department of Family and Community Health at the University of Maryland discovered that children who had three or even more technological devices within their rooms got at the very least 45 minutes less sleep than the average child the same age. Another may be the attention problems that are correlated with frequent technology use. Going further, multitasking, while considered an excellent skill to have face to face, is proving to be a hindrance to children. It isn't uncommon to visit a school aged child using a laptop, cell phone, and television while attempting to also complete a homework assignment. If we look closer at the laptop, we would see several tabs opened to various social networks and entertainment sites, and the phone itself is a mini computer these days. Thus, while multitasking, children are neglecting to give their studies full attention. This leads to too little active studying, failing to transfer information from short term to longterm memory, that leads ultimately to poorer grades in school. Furthermore, it really is next to impossible for a child to activate is some of the higher order information processing skills such as for example making inferences and making connections between ideas when multitasking. We wish our children to be deep thinkers, creators, and innovators, not passive information receptors who later regurgitate information without really giving it good thought. Therefore, we have to limit usage of multiple devices together with limit duration useful.

Age comes into play when discussing the harmful ramifications of technology. For children younger than two-years-old, frequent contact with technology could be dangerously detrimental since it limits the opportunities for interaction with the physical world. Children two-years-old and younger are in the sensorimotor stage. During this stage it is very important that they manipulate objects on the planet with their bodies so that they can learn cause-effect relationships and object permanence. Object permanence may be the knowing that when an object disappears from sight, it still exists. This reasoning requires the ability to hold visual representations of objects in your brain, a precursor to understanding visual subjects such as for example math later in life. To build up these skills, children need several opportunities each day to mold, create, and build using materials that do not have a predetermined structure or purpose. Just what a technological device provides are programs with a predetermined purpose which can be manipulated in limited ways with consequences that often don't fit the rules of the physical world. If get more info is not being given a drawing app or so on, they are likely given programs which are in essence nearly the same as workbooks with structured activities. Researchers have found that such activities hinder the cognitive development of children this age. While researchers advise parents to limit their baby's screen time and energy to 2 hours or less each day, I'd say it's better to wait to introduce technology to your children until after they have at the very least turned 3-years-old and are demonstrating healthy cognitive development. Even then, technology use ought to be limited enormously to provide toddlers with time to engage in imaginative play.

Technology is changing the way children learn to communicate and use communication to learn. Many parents are using devices to quiet there children in the car, at the dinner table, or exactly where social activities may occur. The risk here is that the child is not witnessing and thinking about the social interactions playing out before him. Children learn social skills through modeling their parents social interactions. Furthermore, listening to others communicate and speaking with others is how children figure out how to talk to themselves and become alone. The benefits of solitude for children result from replaying and acting out conversations they had or witnessed throughout the day, and this is how they ultimately make sense of their world. The bottom line is, the more we expose our kids to technological devices, the worse their social skills and behavior will be. A Millennium Cohort Study that followed 19,000 children discovered that, "those that watched a lot more than three hours of television, videos or DVDs a day had a higher chance of conduct problems, emotional symptoms and relationship problems by the time these were 7 than children who didn't." If you're going to give your child screen privileges, at least set aside a time for just that, and don't use technology to pacify or preoccupy your children during social events.

There is no question that technology use can lead to poor outcomes, but technology itself isn't to blame. Parents need to remember their very important role as a mediator between their children and the harmful effects of technology. Parents should limit exposure to devices, discourage device multitasking, make sure devices are not used during social events, and monitor the content that their child is participating in (ie. Sesame Street vs. Johnny Neutron). Technology can be a excellent learning tool, but children also need time and energy to interact with objects in real life, take part in imaginative play, socialize face-to-face with peers and adults, and children of all ages need solitude and time to let their mind wander. We must put more focus on the "Ah-ha!" moment that happens when our minds are free from distractions. That is why alone, technology use should be limited for all those.

If you enjoyed this article, head to http://cultivatefamily.blogspot.com for more articles about parenting and child development.
Here's my website: https://musescore.com/user/63562666