Technology’s Effects on Children

Some might not like to hear this, but it is safe to say that technology has become an essential part of our daily lives. Many or most of us access digital newspapers, send and receive email and pay bills online: we must admit that our new technology-driven lives are likely here to stay. And with society so dependent on technology, it is no surprise that children are avid users as well.

As children have continued to become absorbed in media, many adults have begun to wonder whether so much contact with electronic media is a good or a bad thing in their lives. On the positive side, access to media prepares children for the reality of the job market, where a large percentage of jobs are technology related and children need the tech advantage to be successful. On the negative side, it could be argued that children using technology are becoming socially stunted, ungrateful, and susceptible to such health-related issues as obesity and sight or eye problems.

Due to our generation being the first to have access to this level of technology, we have not yet seen all the effects of this; therefore, we as a society must base our opinions on preliminary studies and theories.

At present we do not have all the facts and thus must look at both sides of the argument. One reality so far is that technology has opened up a world of vast advantages, but these can also be dangerous. Another reality is that technology will continue to be part of our society for the rest of our foreseeable lives. It will also continue to advance, therefore allowing us to find more ways to use and interact with it. This is why for us to say that technology should be taken out of children’s lives has become an unrealistic view. To totally prohibit children’s access to it would be to shield them from TV, mobile phones, iPods, and computers. This is not realistic, considering the fact that parents themselves are most likely immersed in technology.

Parents can enable their children to benefit from technology while more or less preventing them from accessing the risks, by implementing some basic safeguards: parental controls and moderation. Parental filtering/control and monitoring over how children work with technology can provide shelter from risks such as giving out personal information or online chatting with strangers. Other safeguarding mechanisms that ought to be implemented are time restrictions on their daily usage and showing them that there is more to life than living behind a screen and being a whiz with technology.

What about theories that video games lead to antisocial behaviour and health risks? Most health professionals and teachers would say that this might be an excuse for a bigger issue that’s behind everything else – an overall lack of parenting! Video games can usually only become a concern when parental restrictions and content monitoring of violence are lacking.

The main physical risk of technology comes when children sit in front of a screen to play video games for large amounts of time indoors, rather than engaging in more physical activities outside. Permitting children access to video games is not the problem; the problem is the uncontrolled access to all that technology has to offer.

Some of the other negative issues that arise are the mixed messages that we as parents send to children. A good example is how we teach children from a young age about “stranger danger,” yet we are allowing them access to a Facebook account with limited restrictions! On it, they can interact with whomever they choose, including potentially predatory individuals, while providing others easy access to private information about themselves. With Facebook’s capability of informing others of one’s precise whereabouts, children are at a great risk if unsupervised. This is why parents must inform children early about what certain technologies are used for and what risks are involved, whether on the Internet at large or on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. For social networking especially, parents ought to follow the age limit guideline. They should also assess the maturity and readiness of their children to use accounts such as Facebook, and even then monitor how the child uses the site. As briefly mentioned above, the web opens up a risk of loss of privacy, exposure to adult content, and contact with predators. Children ought to be educated about keeping their information private in order to ensure their privacy and safety.

What about TV time? Public Health organizations in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States have recommended complete restriction of TV time for children under the age of two; this is in order to prevent speech and language delays in toddlers. Limit this to two hours a day once children reach the age of two.

Here is some food for thought: it is best to actively engage children in games, arts and crafts, playing sports, and learning new skills, so that reliance on technology as the main form of entertainment is greatly reduced. If parents only model reliance on technology, then what can we expect from our children?

We are only in the early stages of assessing technology’s full impact on society and especially on that of our children. We as a society and especially as parents, therefore, must continue to carefully examine how our children develop under the easy access of technological advances, and tweak our parenting around our observations.

By Amalia Bouch BScN, RN, MSc

Amalia currently works for the National Health Service (NHS) in London and also has a private practice at www.abcparentingcoach.com.