As I'm sure you are aware, technology has become a huge part of life today. I never really realized how big of an impact it was making until I started assistant teaching at a childcare center. For me, technology has only been a huge part of my life in my later years. However, for the generations who have technology readily available to them, it's their world. The fact that technology has played such a large role in their life at such a young age terrifies me.
Sitting at restaurants I see toddlers playing on their parent's phones instead of the parents interacting with their child. I am not trying to judge but I can't help but think about the consequences of swapping physical attention for technology during a child's most developmental periods. Kids need physical interaction to stimulate their social skills, not games on an electronic device.
The kids in my class are constantly asking to get on the computer or play on their iPads or even phones. The fact that children below the age of five are given an iPod or phone seems absurd to me. That's the thing that is crazy -- for their generation and generations to follow having access to that type of technology at such a young age has become completely normal. I think it's about time we begin to conclude what the consequences of this will be.
I fear that children will lose a lot of the social skills needed to thrive in the world. I have noticed with my generation that some social skills have been impaired and I wouldn't say we have been nearly as exposed to technology as the generation following. Children will begin to find it easier to talk to an electronic device and the divide of human interaction will continue to widen.
I fear that children are becoming exposed to certain things way too fast. The innocence of childhood is being threatened by the evil that lies on the internet. Kids are playing violent games without parents knowledge and are acting it out in class because they think that it's acceptable to behave that way. Violent games are not the only threat to children. Predators can chat with children on internet games and damage the child's well being.
I'm not trying to say that parents need to be psychotic hovering parents and cut children off from all types of technology. I only wish that technological interaction could be limited and replaced with physical or enrichment activities instead. Technology is not all bad but it's not something that kids should be on frequently. Kids should be enjoying the outdoors and interacting with other classmates, not sitting behind a screen. I can't help but be scared for future generations. Technology could ruin their childhood if changes are not made. What ever happened to hide and go seek?
