It has been claimed in the last several years that the increasing use of modern

communication technology by children is leading to a detriment to their reading

skills. The common use of computers, mobile phones and internet as a main
source of information and communication is thought to have taken its toll on the
young population because of several causes, but since the studies that have
been held regarding this topic are still quite ambiguous and controversial, I tend
to support the conclusions made by Hellen J. Watt , writer of the article: How
does the use of modern communication technology influence language and
literacy development.
According to the widespread belief, the excessive use of modern technology by
children correlates with attention deficit disorders, high exposure to
inappropriate content, decrease in social interactions in real life, missuses of
slang words and shorts such as b4 instead of before. However, many of
these claims have been proved by studies to be simply false, while the others
have not been thoroughly examined. For example, the concern that computers
can lead to attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been refuted by several studies.
Moreover, children of high access to internet and technology have shown
significantly better educational achievements than those with limited access.
Similarly, Computers are being used by many children to learn how to read in an
early age and thus, enriching their experience with the written word can improve
their reading skills.
Many people might claim that that if some of the studies were actually made by
people in their late years, it might imply of a slight biased opinion towards the
new technology effects. This is because of the gap in ages between the test
group examined children, and the researchers which belong to the old
generation and might have a pre-conceived opinion about the phenomenon.
While this saying might not be true for some, or most of the research works I
tend to agree that evaluation of technological reading skills should not be done
by the same criteria of literacy skills. Since the internet content requires
additional skills, like handling hyperlinks, dynamic pictures and different kinds of
texts and devices, the comparison of the proper book reading skills to the virtual
one is invalid in our days.
In conclusion, the total effect of the modern communication technology on
childrens language and literacy development has proven to be not negative, and
in some cases even beneficial. Because of absence of enough satisfying studies
examining each usage aspect of the computer and other devices separately, the
question of their true nature in a dynamic technologic world remains unknown.

Reference: Helen J. Watt (2010) How does the use of modern communication
technology influence language and literacy development CONTEMPORARY
ISSUES IN COMMUNICATION SCIENCE AND DISORDERS Volume 37 141148