Technology and Our Children: Friend or Foe?

By Julie A. Omar Makram

One of the concerning issues that that comes with the exploding
amount of access our children have to computer technology today is the fear
that overuse will lead to problems with attention, focus, antisocial behaviors
like isolation, physical maladies like obesity, and safety issues as their
exposure to inappropriate materials and online predators becomes more of a
risk with increased usage. As we help this next generation to grow into
happy, healthy, knowledgeable adults we must incorporate technology into
their lives, but as responsibly as we can. The American Academy of
Pediatrics recommends screen time for children to be no more than two
hours per day. It is our responsibility to monitor their usage time; opting for
quality over quantity.
Some developmental experts, like Manfred Spitzer, head of the
Psychiatry Department at Ulm University in Germany, fear the effects of
computer technology has on the developing brain is so great as to
recommend against their use until later as teens, after much of the brain
development has occurred (Recknagel, 2013). According to Spitzer, if you
just point with a mouse to something, rather than touching it and handling it,
you will not use, in learning about that object, approximately one-third of
your brain that is controlling motor behavior. That is, your hands and your
plans to do something, so this one-third of the brain is basically not used by
learning, and if it is not used by learning to get discriminative

representations within this one-third of the brain, you cannot then use this
one-third of your brain when you think about this thing (Recknagel, 2013).
The real world offers a much fuller range of stimuli than the virtual world
does: physically, socially, etc., and a childs developing brain requires these.
Overuse of computer technology, or replacing real world learning with virtual
learning would greatly impact our children negatively.
Other sacrifices most likely being made by our children with the
overuse of digital technology is loss of focus and attention, with a developing
mind in constant need of stimulation and input, no matter the quality of that
information. Daniel Anderson, a professor of psychology at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst stated, If youve grown up processing multiple
media, thats exactly the mode youre going to fall intoyou develop a need
for that stimulation (Richtel, 2010). As teachers this starts to put us in a
really tight spot when we cannot begin to compete with the amount of
sensory input these digital devices can deliver so it is best to limit their use
to only when and as needed for our students and childrens education.
Other developmental experts argue strongly for the use of computer
technology in our childrens learning lives; with the amount of benefits
almost too numerous to list. Computer technology usage in lessons highly
motivates and engages learners, broadens their exposure and connections
well beyond their classroom and community, helps students gain more
opportunities for understanding the material being taught via modeling
programs, real world applications, accessibility technology, supports
motivation for cooperative learning, etc. (Roblyer, 2013, p. 25-6). The future

lives of these children will undoubtedly require at least a minimum amount of

technology literacy, and the idea of completely ignoring that fact and not
allowing them to learn today using computers in the classroom would only
impede their growth and successes later in life.
As an educator and parent myself, my goal is to ensure children are
exposed to computers in ways that add to their childrens educational
stimuli, not detract, using a broad array of applications, such as word
processing programs, spreadsheets, simulations, networking and
programming (Behrman & Shields, 2013), while limiting their access to less
educational stimuli such as games, social media and web surfing without an
educational goal. We must all aim to help them to develop a philosophy that
computer technology is for broadening their understanding and knowledge
and perspective of the world, not just for time-filling, sedentary
entertainment. Digital tools are simply that: tools for our education, not the
means. We must use them only where they are sensibly beneficial, and then
also know when to get their eyes off the screens into the real world in which
we all live, learn, work and play.

Resources:
Behrman, R., & Shields, M. (2013, February 11). Children and Computer
Technology: Analysis and Recommendations. Retrieved March 29,
2015, from
http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/journals/article/i
ndex.xml?journalid=45&articleid=200ionid=1301&submit
Recknagel, C. (2013, August 12). Computer Exposure Leads to Fears of
'Digital Dementia'. Retrieved March 29, 2015, from

http://www.rferl.org/content/computer-exposure-digitaldementia/25073023.html
Richtel, M. (2010, November 21). Growing Up Digital, Wired for
Distraction. Retrieved March 29, 2015, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?
pagewanted=1&_r=0
Roblyer, M.D., Doering, A., (2013). Integrating Educational
Technology into Teaching. USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Last Updated 5/9/2015