By Ben Oroko
Ever worried about your child’s engagement with the new information and communication Technology, what they watch, read or listen to? Worry no more. You can manage it for your child’s good.
Owing to technological advancement, the amount of technology available to many children today is greater than in any previous generation, and it is more specifically designed to capture their imaginations.
A heated debate stands as to how the digital influx is shaping children’s development and experience. What of those whose homes don’t have smart phones?
Childhood is a time of rapid change. Some of these changes are obvious, such as height gain, language ability and physical dexterity. Others are less obvious, such as how children make sense of the information in their environment. Social scientists try to understand every aspect of children’s development, including how children learn, think and interact with those around them, and how their personalities and temperaments emerge.
How is digital technology changing childhood – and how can adults keep up with it ? The entertainment and interaction with tablets and smartphones has made them attractive to children. Touch-screen interfaces mean that digital technologies are now accessible for children as young as three years.
The volume of digital technology available to my young son is massively different to that in my own childhood. As a parent, I have found it difficult to make sense of media reports and research findings in this controversial subject.
Is technology beneficial or detrimental to child development? Does screen time lead to increased distraction, obesity and loneliness? Or does it offer opportunities for autonomy and experimentation beyond anything imagined when I was growing up?
As the generation gap widens between adults and children’s understanding of new technologies, how will we protect them from the risks while allowing them to benefit from the opportunities new technologies offer?
And how might technology hinder children’s physical, social and cognitive development and how might it provide exciting environment for learning?
To understand how children change and develop, their abilities are often judged against developmental milestones, such as steps in acquiring language (babbling, talking), cognition (thinking, reasoning, problem solving), motor coordination (crawling, walking) and social skills (identity, friendships, attachments).
Technology has become part of our lives and those of our children in the form of computers, mobile devices, and smartphones among others.
It is important to note that, more children are increasingly having their own mobile phones or device such as a tablet, where they watch television on their own device, play digital games for a few hours per week, and use websites such as YouTube.
Various research findings have revealed that, children constitute a third of internet users across the world. These technologies are a new phenomenon to our children’s lives, the way radio and television might have been new during our childhood days.
These technologies have raised concerns and ongoing debate about potential benefits and harms, especially when used at a young age. The conversation on the benefits and harms of digital technologies to our children has attracted news headlines all over the world, with such headlines as “Is watching video games changing children’s brain and their general nervous system ?”.
However, what most of us might not be aware of is that all these concerns are not new but rather; they have been with us for decades since the new inventions of the radio and the television.
It is equally critical to note that, like books, toys, exercising and travelling, technologies are part of a larger ecosystem; they are one more resource in the environment in which our children grow and develop.
As parents, teachers and guardians, more often than not we get worried, uncomfortable and even frown at our children when we spot them interacting and getting enticed by new technologies.
It is advisable to pause and think: are we aware of what our children are doing with technologies, what they may be feeling or learning when interacting with them? And if so, have we provided some guidance and support to our children about how they should use technology in order for them to get the most out of it?
Parents,teachers and other stakeholders,it is up to us – the adults, to closely to monitor how our children are interacting with technologies, what they are watching or playing, and what their overall experience looks like.
Equally again, it is up to us to ensure that technologies are enriching our children and supporting their learning experiences and holistic character formation and development.
The Writer is a Communication Practitioner and Correspondent Based in Kisii.
benoroko2000@yahoo.com
