Running Head: TECHNOLOGY AMONGST CHILDREN 1

Technology Amongst Children

Karla O.Armendariz

University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract

The following literature review research paper will touch the topic of technology and

children. Media is everywhere in the twentieth first century. Children are one of the number one

users because they have grown surrounded by it in the time of the greatest technological boom.

The usage of media by children, the effects of media on children ,and the positive and negative

characteristics of media on children will be reviewed along this paper. Two primary sources of a

survey and observations have been used to explain in further dept. The rest of the sources are

secondary and are based of other research, survey information collection, and the knowledgable

findings of well know researchers. An image containing graphs and percentages regarding the

media topic affecting children is provided to give a visual image of the topic. The results

displayed show the effects of media on children through their parents, education ,and

environment changes. Overall, this interesting topic will give the reader a whole new perspective

of this new phenomena of technology amongst the children of today.

Children are rapidly being affected by the media. New technology integration to society

has created obvious changes in the development of kids.The purpose for this research is to
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understand further in detail the effects of media on children. The main points will be on media

consumption by children, importance of understanding media effects on children ,and positive

and negative effects of media on children.Media affects childrens relationship with their parents,

school ,and environment changing their relationships.

All the research and articles used were done in a time range between the years of 1999

and 2017. This time frame shows a rapid growth and development of technology that

consequently also became part of children habitual surroundings. Daily activities such as

greeting their parents when they arrive from work have changed. According to Dr. Jim Taylor,

[o]ne study found that when the working parent arrived home from work, his or her children

were so immersed in technology that the parent was greeted only 30 percent of the time and was

totally ignored 50 percent of the time(Taylor, March 13, 2013). Tad Druart interviewed 30

educators at the Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development conference to

understand what kind of role the media was taking in education. He states that,[s]tudents today

are digital natives ,and 58 percent of those that responded [to the interview] feel social media

will help students be far more engaged(Druart, January 28,2013). The way to connect and

interact has changed and the most popular tool is media. Dr. Jim Taylor writes in a previous

article that [w]e have entered a new era of relationships in which the rules and practices that

have guided the development, maintenance and termination of relationships for eons are being

rewritten(Taylor, February 11, 2013)The research displayed will be used to review focuses on

how much time children are spending on media, why it is important to understand media effects

on children ,and which are the positive and negative effects of media on children.

How much time are children spending on media?

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Dr.Randy Kulman researched how United States twenty-first century children spend their

time on media. He found that, [a]ccording a Kaiser Foundation study conducted in 2010,

children between the ages of eight and [eighteen] spend an average of 7 hours 38 minutes a day

with digital media(Kulman,July 13, 2015). Compared to previous studies done in 1999 with an

average of 6 hours and 19 minutes a day with digital media(Kulman, July 13, 2015).A

significantly increased amount of usage in about 10 years difference. Figure 1 shows statistics

and numbers that give an overall view of the exposure, usage, parental concerns, and some

teachers perspective of media.

Many parents worry for the safety of their children when they are out with friends

without them being present and are afraid to let their children go out. Three out of five parents

in a survey done with twenty persons stated that they were weary about letting their children stay

out with other children without a reliable adult supervision(Armendariz,March 14,2017). These

kind of problems lead to more children relying in online interaction to spend their time in. The

immersion of online communities with the same passion gives enhancement of individual and

collective creativity through development and sharing of artistic and musical endeavors

(OKeeffe,G.S, Clarke-Pearson, K, 2011). Here is where the previously stated problem of less

children greeting their parents due to total immersion in a social network takes place. As

conducted in a recent observation,

over a period of two,five day working weeks, 2 children where observed upon the arrival

of their parents only 2 days out of 5, the children greeted their parents

automatically. The other 3 days the parents either had to go themselves or called a
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numerous of times before obtaining at least a response. They where greeted only 40

percent of the time and 60 percent the parents where ignored at first.

( Armendariz,2017,n.p)

The results were surprisingly accurate to the findings from Dr.Jim Taylor where he found that

children where so immersed in technology that the parent was greeted only 30 percent of the

time and was totally ignored 50 percent of the time(Taylor, March 13, 2013). Two different

studies with a difference of 4 years and an assumed increase of 10 percent.

Why is it important to understand media effects on children?

Thinking encompasses so many aspects of who our children are and what they do, from

observing, learning, remembering, questioning, and judging to innovating, arguing, deciding, and

acting(Taylor, December 4, 2012).When technology is a big factor in childrens thinking life, it

is important to understand how it affects them. According to Children,wired-for better and for

worse, [c]hildren today encounter and utilize technology constantly both at home and in

school(Bavelier, Shawn Green, Dye,September 9, 2010).

As twenty-first century children grow, parents fall behind with the ability to regulate their

children use over media ,because they are not as experienced with it. According to Dr.Jim Taylor,

[d]ue to parents anxiety or apprehension about the use of technology, they may be unwilling to

assert themselves in their childrens technological lives(Taylor,March 13, 2013). This special

position children obtain with technology can be harmful or positive depending on the action

parents take to address it. Something that continuously stands out is that, [n]ew technology

offers children independence from their parents involvement in their social lives, with the use of
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mobile phones, instant messaging, and social networking sites(Taylor,March 13, 2013).

Although many parents feel at disadvantage with their lack of experience with the newest of

media many understand that if they loose that connection with their children it can be harmful.

In return, parents have attempted to counteract this growing divide not with actual face-to-face

communication with their children, but by joining their children in cyberspace(Taylor, March

13, 2013). A very interesting perspective and action taken by non-native of twenty-century social

media parents.

Schools realize that by understanding the effects of media in children they can use it as an

advantage and guideline to enrich the classroom activities.For example, [p]opular media(films,

music, YouTube) are a familiar medium to students that helps gain attention and maintain student

interest(Why use media to enhance teaching and learning, May 15, 2012). In this case, by using

a known source, to the student it can be facilitated the grasp of an unknown concept. It is also

pointed out that, [u]sing media requires a complete understanding of copyright law, an

appreciation of the workload involved, and some skill in recognizing content that will enhance

learning, instead of becoming a distraction (Why use media to enhance teaching and learning,

May 15, 2012). Some recommendations regarding the use of media in the classroom.

Children are constantly submerged in online reality games and social media. From a

research article found in National Center for Biotechnology, a computer game like Space

Fortress requires cognitive and motor control skills best predicted by structures that regulate

habit formation and reward processing, rather than content learning(Bayelier, D,.Shawn Green,

C,.Dye, M.W., September 9,2010). Many research programs look for the effects that media has
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on children for further comprehension. They expect to find other, fruitful line[s] of research will

be to investigate which events during technology use enhance learning and brain

plasticity(Bayelier, D,.Shawn Green, C,.Dye, M.W., September 9,2010). Children right now are

somewhat like guinea pigs, a test of the usage of technology, under Concluding Remarks,

Some forms of technology have no effect on the form of behavior they were designed to

transform, while others have effects that reach far beyond their intended

outcomes. All of this is indicative of a field that is still emerging. What we do know

is that, in technology, we have a set of tools that have the capability to drastically modify

human behavior.(Bayelier, D,.Shawn Green, C,.Dye, M.W.,2010, n.p)

Media formed environments that 15 years ago were not even imaginable. Now they are

beginning to be the foundation of relationship building and interaction. According to Dr.Jim

Taylor, all value-neutral advancements, there are both benefits and costs, positive uses and

unhealthy misuses, intended outcomes and unintended consequences(Taylor, February 11,

2013). Which leads to the next topic regarding positive and negative outcomes for children using

media extensively.

Which are the positive and negative effects of media on children?

Whether technology helps or hurts in the development of your childrens thinking

depends on what specific technology is used and how and what frequency it is used.

The major benefits of the usage of social media among children is the vast socialization and

communication it offers. As a conducted in a survey, [p]arents have also stated that with media

such as phones,it is easier to communicate with their children in a situation were they may not be

present or available(Armendariz,March 14,2017). According to Dr.Jim Taylor, [t]echnology has

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also been a boon to maintaining already-established relationships(Taylor, February 11, 2013).

For example, maintaining a more constant communication with family members far in other

places. The educational system has taken many initiatives to identify the positive and negative

constructive uses of media in the classroom.

Some negative aspects of media in school are as follows. Allowing technology to fully

take on jobs that once where developed fully at childhood can,reduce[s] a students ability to

effectively write without relying on a computers spell check feature(Dunn, July 11, 2011).A

very simple task ,but in the long run becoming a head ache to many students and

teachers.Another example is that, [s]tudents who spend a great deal of time on social

networking are less able to effectively communicate in person(Dunn, July 11, 2011). These is at

cause of interacting more online than face to face, leading to a lack of full social skills. When it

comes to starting a fluent interesting conversations many students have problems at cause of lack

of practice.

On a positive note, there is many features that help balance the negative ones in

technology usage. An example is that it gives, [t]he ease and speed with which users can upload

pictures, videos or stories has resulted in a greater amount of sharing of creative works(Dunn,

July 11, 2011). Now students can share their work and get feedback to grow in their abilities at a

faster rate. It can also, increase productivity and help them learn how to work well in

groups(Dunn, July 11, 2011). Balancing the negative effect of having problems at first to

communicate well with others. Once they find a common ground it is more easy to work along.
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The author of this particular article states that,most of the negative aspects can be overcome by

reducing the amount of time spent on social network sites(Dunn, July 11, 2011). A great thing to

know because there is ways to fix any problems in media with the children.

The new uses of technology have allowed for different environments to be created in a

childs life that would not be reached in other forms such as growth of ideas from the creation of

blogs, podcasts, videos, and gaming sites(OKeeffe,G.S, Clarke-Pearson,K.2011). Although all

these new resources are available, there is also a sudden violence, addiction ,and distraction

factor. These not all necessarily affect children, research on media and children is also, highly

correlated with other factors that are strong predictors of poor behavioral outcomes making it

difficult to disentangle the true causes of the observations(Bavelier, Shawn Green, Dye,

Sepetember 9, 2010).

In the article, Children wired- for better and for worse, it is stated that, [a]lthough

researchers nearly always attempt to statistically control for known confounding variables, the

possibility of additional lurking variables always remains(Bavelier, Shawn Green, Dye,

Sepetember 9, 2010).Meaning that although there is many studies done, there will always be

variables on positive and negative effects of media on children. Future studies are looking

forward to, research on technology and brain development may benefit from more

systematically addressing the cognitive state of the learner, especially when it comes to the

boundary between video content, reality and fantasy(Bavelier, Shawn Green, Dye, Sepetember

9, 2010). These types of research goals can shape a more structured media usage.
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In this new age of technology media takes a great role on childrens daily life. It shapes

their relationship with their parents, relationship with school, and relationship with their

environments. Children spend their time immersed in technology, due to this there is an

importance of knowing how media affects them ,and finding the positive and negative effects.

The new generation is moving forward, technology is moving forward, and knowledge must

move forward as well.

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Figure 1.How is media affecting kids?

References
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Armendariz, K. (2017, March 8). Household observations. (e.d).

Armendariz, K. (2017, March 14). Parental survey for research. (e.d).

Bavelier, D., Shawn Green, C., Dye, M.W. (2010, September 9). Children, wired-for better and

for worse. National Center for Biotechnology. Retrieved from https://

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3170902/

Dunn, J. (2011, July 11). The best and worst ways social media impacts education. Edudemic.

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Druart, T.(2013).What role does social media have in education. Retrieved from http://

www.gettingsmart.com/2013/01/what-role-does-social-media-have-in-education/

Early Childhood Education Degrees.(May 17,2013). How is media affecting kids?Retrieved from

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us-infographic

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Kids. Retrieved from http://learningworksforkids.com/2015/07/how-much-time-do-kids-

spend-with-technology/

OKeeffe Schurgin, G., Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The impact of social media on children

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Taylor, J. (2013, March 13). Technology creating a family divide?. Psychology Today. Retrieved

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technology- creating-family-divide
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Taylor, J. (2013, February 11). Is technology changing the way children develop relationships?.

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Why Use Media to Enhance Teaching and Learning.(2012, May 15).Retrieved from http://

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