Children and Technology

The You Tube video “How Media & Technology Affects Children | Child Development”, uploaded by Howcast, focuses on the impact technology can have on child development.  The lady speaking in the video discusses the importance of social interaction during development – but feels strongly that this be done without technology. She explains that when a child is playing with a peer and the TV is on, the child will pay more attention to the TV and miss out on the social aspect of playing. Another matter she brought up was the use of technology while eating and how it can create a poor habit for children. Perhaps you’re at a restaurant to eat and you whip out the iPad to entertain the kids – seems innocent enough – but this video suggests that it can condition children to associate going out to eat with the iPad. This is troublesome because old habits die hard – chances are the kids will continue playing on their iPad when going out to eat instead of interacting. While this video mostly spoke about the negative impact on children, it did briefly talk about the positive influence technology can have on a child. She felt that if used for education and a limited amount of time, approximately 10-20 minutes a day, then it can be valuable. In short, she felt that technology can be troublesome to our culture because it potentially could result in a generation that is socially deprived. One thing I didn’t like about this video, and others brought it up in the comments, is the lack of ethos. The women in the video is never introduced and there is nothing in the description about who she is. This is disappointing because without knowing her credentials – the valid points she brought up seems like nothing more than opinions. For this to be a stronger message, I think that the video should have begun introducing her and continue to explain why we should be listening to what she has to say about this subject; or this video should have used someone who is an expert in this field such as a child development specialist or child physiologist.