IT assignment short description answer on: Technological advances impact a child’s development

Does the availability of such technological advances impact a child’s development positively or negatively?

Introduction

This report will emphasise on impact of technology in children’s development. There are positive and negative side of technology. The myriad forms of technology are present today and it has many significant roles to play in one’s life. There is seen an increasing trend of the dependence which one now has on technology right from the household use and the official purpose too. As it can be found that the professionals have been relying upon many software which can only be accessed through the provision of technology. The technology has also been doing wonders in the domain of computers on which all the educational activities are highly dependent (Druin, 2009). Thus, in the contemporary context the technology has been playing an important role in the pedagogical development of the child as it has many multimedia advantages. The development is only possible when the same adheres to the requirements of the curriculum which nowadays is designed on the basis of the computer based activities.  The advent of the Web 2.0 has enabled the teachers and the students to make use of the online resources which are highly useful for the present day teaching in the classroom. On the other hand technology has a negative influence when children such as obesity, social isolation and self discipline. Technology has become a daily part in children’s lives and this report will attempt to explore this particular topic in more detail (King, D et al. 2012).Background Information

Technology has always been around and with that the study of how that it influences those who use it. For example, on a typical day more children watch television and go on internet than they do physical activities. The new media is also making inroads with young children. It is very hard to see that use of internet has a positive effect on physical development of children. Some parents discourage television viewing for young children because they learn crimes and adopt the behaviour without knowing the consequences, for example, they see people fighting in war zone countries with guns, knives and bombs. They might use the weapon to harm someone as they copy from television without knowing the outcomes. On the negative front it can be seen that it creates stickiness in the people and especially it has proved to be harmful for the people and especially the children. The children spend long hours entertaining themselves in form of the television screens and thus making them inactive enough to get obese. The children put themselves in couch all the day and they remain there because of the multiple tempting options which the television offers to them. The influence of television is greater on the generation today and acquiring the unhealthy habits with an increasing pace can be highly harmful to them. The children at one hand see the skinny models at the television and aspire to share the platform with them without realising that the virtual space which the television is creating for them is also increasing inactivity for them. The other problems facing media technology is that it bypasses parents and gatekeepers for the developing child (Young, K. 2009). For example, explicit pictures popup when they go on internet. It might broaden their knowledge if they view only educational material but given the nature of such technologies, they are exposed to a wide range of material which is not always beneficial to them. Moreover, there has been an increasing trend in which the parents allow the individual television sets in the rooms of their children and that way it goes much uncontrolled. A stop has to be there for this habit to watch television and that can only be regulated by the parents. It is estimated that the children watch the television for more than twenty hours in the time of two weeks and this data is made on the basis of the survey that occurred in the year 2006 when the children participated in the cultural and the leisure activities.Obesity is the corollary of the continuous habit of watching the television and accessing the internet for the prolonged duration. This is a situation in which a child is found stuck for the lifetime and thus cannot be treated immediately. The consequences of going obese are even much more harmful as the children are exposed to the danger of gaining diabetes and that further causes the cardiac disease in the child. The children are the ones who eat junk most of the time and thus feel unlikely to get up and engage themselves in the exercises, and even deny for any household help to the parents. This way they are posed to the danger of gaining weight and accompanies it the fact that if a child develops such a habit at an early age, they might see it as a norm as they grow older. They would always prefer “TV or internet time” over getting out and engaging in various physical activities thus continuing the problem further (Henzey, M. 2011).However, in saying the above, childhood is all exploration by the help of inter active world of technology such as computers and internet. If these devices are used properly it can help development of child’s cognitive and social skills. These devices get children interested because they make different thing happen with the internet. Using of internet helps in muscular development and motor control-skills such as, child’s eye-hand coordination while using keyboard and mouse.

Children gain in cognitive abilities such as, memory, spiritual and logical problem solving, critical thinking and concentration. Internet also promotes language and literacy by gaining verbal and non verbal skills. The technologies such as, televisions, videos, internet and mobile phones can increase the background knowledge of the globe. For example children can communicate with other children around the world through emails and text messages. Playing educational games can be useful for child development. Laptops can be used to watch videos which could have a set of questions to answer based on the video. Another advantage could be a program that helps students to learn to type faster which will be a good thing whilst they’re still studying. For example if they want to take notes during a lecture or just during a video in class.

Methodology

Quantitative method was used to collect information on the impact of technology on child’s development. The inquiry was conducted by issuing inquiry questions to the people who had knowledge about children. There were two participants. One of them was a nurse and the other one was a parent with young children. The reason for choosing the nurse was that she has a better knowledge on a child’s development.  On the other hand the other participant was a parent.  This gave me a good source to compare the different views. They were interviewed on one on one basis and were asked to sign the consent form. They were happy to share the information. The quantitative way of measuring or sorting the data is basically empirical in nature and it means that the calculations would be done in the numerical forms like the percentage calculation and the statistical data. The questions which would be asked to the participants in this research would be objective and structured at a go.

The limitation of this method, however, is that the results are only as good as the data collected. There could have been more questions in the inquiry such as, does a child spend time in outdoor activities, does your child have a TV in the bedroom, to you overlook what a child is doing on the internet, is your computer blocked from explicit pop-ups, does your child have a mobile phone and how often do you check the call log, how much time does a child spend on computer games (Isaacs, D. 2011). These questions would have provided more different views so that the comparison between quantitative and qualitative would have been done easily.

Results/Findings

According to the people who were interviewed, social isolation was common. They both agreed that children spend too much time on internet rather than outdoor activities. The parent agrees that technology has positive effect on children as they are more alert and computer literate. (Refer to Appendix 3 and 4)

Such findings can be backed up by previous study conducted. Children can get shot-sightedness from watching too much T.V and by watching games that shows flashing images against a bright background can cause epileptic seizures. Whereas by using too much mobile phone children can get radiation which can cause cancer. Parents play a large role to determine what their children watch and choose educational programmes according to the child’s academic level. The parents usually tend to mistake the number of the hours which an adolescent spends at surfing the internet and the young Australians are found to use the same for double the time, while the parents believed it was six hours a week in total that their children stay online but it was seen that it was double the same number that they remain online (Wood, R. 2007).

Children who watch violent related shows on T.V are more likely to become emotional towards violence and believe that the violence is unavoidable. They also believe that violence is unacceptable to solve problems and they behave aggressively. The particular habits like the taking of alcohol and smoking are the ones which influence the youngsters very easily, according to the reports of the Cancer Council of NSW. The virtual world which the internet creates for the children; influences them easily and therefore lure them to take up the negative habits. The addiction to technology is something which cannot be treated at a go because many other problems follow the same. It has argued that play is used to restore energy- this theory of play is known as recreation or relaxation.

Discussion and Analysis

Technology has changed the way of life by affecting everyone especially children from helping with homework to causing depression and encouraging violent behaviour. Technology affects children with physical, social and cognitive development. For example, students sit in front of the computers instead of doing other activities which causes obesity. Through cognitive way, that is playing the computer games can be beneficial at times. It can be seen as the important building block which can enhance the knowledge to computers. In the entertainment industry in fact there are present the games which keep the mind fit and ensure the exercise of the brain. Also, the games ensure a better visualising capability in the child and also the tracking of the images simultaneously. On the other hand, it also has a negative implication that the technological aspect of learning takes the children away from the habit of learning from the books and they also remain isolated.This enhances social isolation which may cause depression and loneliness. Playing violent computer games can also increase aggression and this may decrease the ability of a child to distinguish real life from simulation (Bar, M et al. 2001). For example, before technology was familiar, children used to play in groups which increased their skills by sharing ideas. Nowadays computers are their friends and they don’t need anyone else. They lack in interactive development which causes problems when they start school because they don’t know how to interact with others. Technology is good in many ways because it helps to educate children and helps the business world by connecting the world faster and quicker. It’s harmful for children if technology is not used properly. The research defines that a television and its trends if well-designed, if it is educational in nature and is appropriate according to the age of the people then it would be beneficial for the pedagogical development of the children. The videos and the images give a unique and the real touch through the multimedia experience. In fact, the researchers have been of the view that in the initial years of the life a child who is exposed to the prolonged use of the technology it is found that there has been a poor cognitive development in those children.

Parents play a big role to maximise the positive effective and minimise the negative effect of media. This can be done by choosing the appropriate programs that will have a positive effect on the child.Television could have a positive side because it can be entertaining and educational. E.g. it can give them a chance to look at the outside world and their cultures and gain ideas from them which they can’t gain in their own community. On the other hand by watching television, children gain unnecessary knowledge that no parent would want their child to know. It is very hard to get the child to be teen active, sometimes this is one of the challengers that a parent would face. To make children active, the parents should have fun activities with them and also spend more time with them to ensure that they’re more active.  For example you go out with them and make it enjoyable. Kids just love it when parents make mistakes and laugh about it. Sometimes it’s very handy to make plans and also make to-do list. These way activities won’t be pushed aside. Another important point is that they should always choose the activities and this will make them look forward to the activities.

Education Implications

Since technology has been introduced into the curriculum the relation between the teacher and student has changed in a lot of ways. A few years ago two-third of the teachers were asked to do a survey and the results to the survey was that most teachers weren’t too happy with the whole using technology idea. Students that are smart with technology can also help the teacher with anything she doesn’t understand about using the technology. Technology has made things easier for the teachers; however, it also means they don’t have to as much teaching as before. For example, the teacher could just use the projector to project the work instead of writing it on the whiteboard. Using technology is classrooms will have a positive on the students because every student should have some general knowledge about technology. Students become more involved because technology makes learning a lot more interesting. Most students would use technology these days so they would engage more in lessons because it can be used in everyday lives (Wood, R, Griffiths, M, & Parke, A. 2007).Data-driven teaching ensures that the lessons that are imparted in the classroom are effective and are much interactive in their sessions. It also helps the teachers to plan their lessons properly to meet expectations. Computers give independence to children because it helps them to play and learn at their own pace. They don’t have to rely on teachers; instead they take comfort by technology. Children have lost trust and confidence in teachers because they think they are more independentConclusion

Overall, it can be said that if technology is used in an appropriate manner by the children and monitored consistently by their parents and care givers, it will help them to expand their knowledge and keep them better connected. However if children are exposed to excessive media usage, it will overtime have consequences on them as discussed above. It could lead to diseases overtime, make children reliant on media (internet and TV) as their only source of entertainment or hinder their social and mental development over time; On the other hand it could encourage self learning and independent development. Technology is useful for children because it makes learning more enjoyable and interactive. Technology also stores data for future references and improves methods for reporting.

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