Introduction
Technology has become an integral part of
our lives in the 21st century. There is no sphere or stage of life
where technology does not have a role to play; since it has made life easy and
smooth for us humans giving us more time for leisure or to employ ourselves
better in pursuit of a better standard of living. It is also noted, that
technology is deeply impacting the earliest stages in childhood development,
weaving a new set of dynamics in human life. This essay specifically studies
the impact of technology on early childhood development; elucidating on the
topic keeping an unbiased approach and listing both pros and cons of the trend.
Before we list any arguments in favour or
opposition of technology’s impact on early childhood development, we must first
understand the meaning of two essential parts of this essay i.e. technology and
early childhood development.
Technology
Simply put, technology is the application
of human knowledge and innovation to reduce human effort. Any outcome of an
innovative endeavour that minimises human effort in the design, production and
application of goods and services can be termed as technology. The earliest
traces of technology can be found in the Stone Age, when early men carved
instruments like knife from stone to minimise effort in hunting with bare
hands.
In context of early childhood development,
technology is any aid that influences the developmental process of a child’s
lifecycle. Whether, this influence has a positive or negative impact is the
subject of discussion in this paper.
Early Childhood Development
The World wide accepted definition of early
childhood is the span from birth to the age of 8 years. It is the time period
when the child develops the most, physically, emotionally, socially and
mentally. The skills acquired at this stage are used for the rest of our lives.
Child psychologists have divided this life stage into five major parts; the
knowledge of which is must to determine the impact of technology on child
development, since these parts highlight the key areas in which child grows
during the first eight years.
1.
Cognitive Development- This
stage is composed of three parts; the sensorimotor phase (age 0-2 years) where
the child learns mostly through sensation. The preoperational phase (age 2-7
years) in which the children are imaginative and self oriented; and the last
being concrete phase (approx from first grade to early adolescence) where child
acquires critical reasoning skills.
2.
Linguistic Development- This is
dependent not only on mental development but also the physical development of
speech mechanisms (tongue and vocal chord). Development at this stage requires
a healthy physical development as well as interaction and exchange to acquire
language skills.
3.
Physical Development- Children
grow the most during their early developmental years. Typically a baby would grow
3 times its birth weight every 6 months; post that he/she gains 2.5 inches of
height and 5-7lbs of weight each year. Also activity level is highest between
ages 3-5 years. Hence the stress on physical development at this stage.
4.
Psychosocial Development- It is
during the first two years babies develop values such as trust (on their
environment); later activities such as toilet training determine the level of
confidence, feeling of guilt, pride and failure in children. Hence a lot of
psychological and social development is impacted.
5.
Emotional Development- In the
first 2 years children develop a sense of emotions such as pride and
embarrassment. Later they throw temper tantrums however, by early innocence
they mature to control negative emotions. Conclusively a lot of emotional
development in children happens in the earliest stages of childhood.
Comparing early childhood development in context of modern
technological environment vis-à-vis, traditional low technological impact
environment
Research suggests that technology has mixed
effects on early childhood development. Low technologically impacted
environments differ widely from the modern environments where the developmental
process of the child is significantly impacted due to the penetration of technology
in each household. Some points in this context are discussed below.
Repeated experiments and studies have
highlighted that media such as television and video games have surely impacted
childhood development however, negatively or positively is a subject of debate.
It has been observed that such technology has increased the visual reasoning
skills in children; the most explicit example being that of surgeons who played
video game often were likely to excel at surgery. Thus regarding video games as
better practice, than surgery itself.
It was also found that children now, are
more comfortable in multi tasking (due to exposure to a wide array of complex
technology) than their ancestors. However, it also rings true that children in
the past could retain information longer and in volumes due to singular focus.
This is verified by a study, where children who viewed CNN Headline news with
only the news reader could retain more information vis-à-vis children who saw
the standard format of multiple graphics on screen.
Technology has also seemingly impacted the
critical reasoning and motor skills of the children. Children today can
multitask and process visual information faster than generations of the past
but, they fail when it comes to focussing on a single point or the solving of
complex problems which require extended attention span. Also children of the
past were more endowed when it came to physical skills such as running,
climbing or even simply walking. This helped them to remain physically fit,
develop social relations and develop emotions (such as that of friendship,
bonding and sharing among others) as well. However children of today lack good
motor skills; technologies such as seat belts, toddler carriers, baby seat or,
walking assistance for babies (walkers) restrict movement thus, impacting
physical well being in the earliest stages of development.
Educators and parents need to understand
where to draw the fine line between use and over use of technology; so that it
has the minimum adverse effect on a child’s growth. For example, educators can
promote internet as a means of research among children rather than propagating
it as a means for learning. Learning by doing can be promoted in such a case.
Disadvantages of technology in context of child development
In the past one needed to move to live; the
situation now is that one needs technology in order to live. This attitude has
shaped due to changing outlooks of current generation of parents, educators and
the masses in general. Children of this age would rather spend time surfing on
the internet or playing video games whereas, children of yester years used to
spend most of their time playing outdoors, roughing it out, making castles on
the beach or riding bikes. This dramatic change in habits of toddlers and
children has resulted in a negative impact on their development in more than
one way. Some of the important ones are discussed below.
1.
Social and Psychological- The
three basic pillars of healthy psychological and physical development are
movement, touch and connect to other human beings. Earlier children used to
play outdoors, which not only kept them fit but also promoted their interaction
with fellow human beings inculcating human characteristics and values in them
(like that of compassion, bonding, as well as sense of achievement among
others). Children today live a sedentary lifestyle, staying mostly indoors (as
increasing number of parents think that outdoors are ‘unsafe’) which is
contrary to the principles of healthy development. Being isolated from other
humans due to addictive nature of technology such as video games or television
has prevented mental/psychological growth. Lack of sensory development or
inappropriate development (due to overload of sensory data from mediums such as
cable tv) is leading to psychological and health issues among children from an
early age. More numbers of such children are ending up as ‘lonely’ and
depressed individuals when they grow up, due to social skills being negligibly
developed.
2.
Vision, Perception and Imagination-
Spending long hours looking at a two dimensioned glowing screen at a fixed
distance vis-à-vis looking at varied objects at varying position and of varying
sizes in an outdoor location, is badly affecting the visual and ocular
development of children at an early stage. This has resulted in limited visual
perception and decreased attention span and focus among children. Also, a lack
of imagination has been observed; weak eyesight is an accompanying
disadvantage.
3.
Physically Unfit- A growing
number of children are being diagnosed with diseases such as obesity, type 2
diabetes, stress and depression among others. Lack of physical exercise
resulting from being hooked on to the television or ipad all day long, or
movement being restrained due to toddler bucket seats or strap-on carriers; is
leading to the growing numbers of unhealthy children. Sedentary lifestyles and
easy availability of wrong dietary habits (junk food) is the foremost cause of
young deaths around the world. Technology has surely taken its toll on the
young citizen’s population.
Advantages of technology in context of child development
Although academicians have
widely debated technology’s harmful effect on early childhood development, a
large number of researchers, parents, scholars and doctors have also put valid
points in favour of technology having positive impact on early childhood
development. Some of such key points in favour of technology are stated below.
1.
Visual interpretation and
multi-tasking- Children who are exposed to modern technology and especially
media technologies are more likely to interpret faster, the complex visual
presentation and exhibit quick decision making. Also handling complex
technologies and applications at once has made children dextrous in handling
multiple tasks at a go.
2.
Language skills- Children
familiar with technologies such as SMS, Emails, Phone, certain audio based
programs (movies and tele-series) are able to polish their language skills through
these mediums. They get a wider audience to interact with and in turn may also
pick up new trends in language (not heard of in their immediate physical
environment)
3.
Assertive individuals/Unique
self identity- The availability of personalised technology such as music
players and personal computers has enabled one to make informed personal
choices easily, without having to face opposition. Hence, youngsters are surer
about their likes and dislikes now (as compared to youngsters in the past).
This has helped young ones to have a sense of uniqueness and to be able to assert
it too.
4.
Reasoning, logic and academic
excellence- Supervised TV habits and utilising specialised software and
applications has aided education and better understanding. Technology in this
sphere has surely led to academic excellence.
5.
Special Needs- Thanks to
technology that differently-able children can experience outdoors like never
before (example being use of prosthetic limbs). Also, technology has aided
learning among children with special tutoring needs (autistic or visually
impaired children)
6.
Social and human behaviour of
the space age- Some scholars even argue that introducing children to technology
at an early age is only stimulating their adaptation to a space age, the
dynamics of which will be ruled by technology alone.
Conclusion
Drawing a conclusion from above it would be
easy to sum up that exposure to technology at an early developmental stage in
childhood has its own pros and cons. However, the tricky part is to identify
the fine line between use and overuse.
Researchers and parents must come together
to determine how the harm from the use of technology can be minimised and how
technology can be made more useful and pro development of a child. Guidelines
must be laid down which can make parents (or a child’s guardian) understand the
need to draw a limit on the use of technology, to a point where it stops being
advantageous.
An answer to the problem (dealt with in the
essay) cannot be drawn in black and white thus, all perspectives of the issue
have been thoroughly analysed and stated in the essay. However, the question of
how technology influences early childhood development has been answered in this
paper.
References
3.
The Impact of Technology on Child
Sensory and Motor Development by Cris Rowan, OTR
4.
Technology and Early Child
Development Mary Eming Young Senior Public
Health Specialist, The World Bank
No comments:
Post a Comment