The riveting issue of elementary-aged children using interactive devices in their everyday lives has been a concerning debate in the past few years and continues to escalate today. Children have been spending too much time on their touchscreen devices and it is interfering with their cognitive thinking process and decision making. This argument is important because technology is impacting the way children are interacting and their intellectual development which leads to mental disorders. Some of the most common disorders from too much screen time are sleeping disorders and attention deficit disorders. Currently in the U.S., children are shown many technological devices at a young age which can stunt their ability to process information, become overwhelmed, and eventually develop permanent anxiety. Children will continue to be exposed to these devices that are harmful to their health because the average amount of devices in the American household is rising. Monica Anderson studies at the PEW research center to investigate what type of people use technology and how much time is spent on devices. The journal she published after researching is called, "Demographics of Device Ownership". The amount of people with smart devices is progressively increasing, "68% of Americans have smartphones, 45% have tablet computers" (Anderson 3). In the last five years, Americans have doubled their technology devices in their homes, leaving their children to use them freely. Victoria Dunkley, author of "Gray Matters: Too Much Time Damages the Brain," explores the negative effects technology has on young children. With more devices to play with, "the average child clocks in seven hours a day" (Dunkley 1). These children have trouble paying attention, have mood swings, and have impulsive attitudes. By investigating how touchscreen devices affects children's cognitive and psychological development, it is evident that pre-adolescences suffer from the overuse of their interactive devices. In return, children are unable to retain as much information and are developing mental disorders. The issue analyzes how much time children spend on touchscreen devices. 

Historically, technology has impacted children's behavior. For example, children can develop aggressive defense mechanisms after playing an intense videogame such as Call of Duty which involves war stimulations. Movies have also played a role by exposing adolescences to frequent images of murders and rapes. Television is also a way that children grow up around seeing violence and crime on a screen at home. When a new stream of technology comes out, it is important for children to be monitored of what they are viewing and how long they spend watching it. Computers opened up the possibility of spending hours on the internet and therefore becoming distracted from the outside world. Technology has become more advanced by becoming touchscreen. Ellen Wartella and Nancy Jennings published, The Future of Children in an academic journal to explore how technology has changed rapidly and the affects it has on children. Young children can easily learn how to work these forms of technology, "with respect to computer technology, surveys have found that children between ages two and five are using the computer for an average of 27 minutes per day" (Wartella and Jennings 32). Not only has technology always affected the way children behave by exposing them to erratic scenarios of make-believe, but now touchscreen devices such as iPads and iPhones have blocked children's concentration and they are becoming obsessed with them. Technology has changed exponentially in the past decade from Razor flip phones to personal, touchscreen iPads which allows for more interactive and personalized time spent on the devices. 

Recently, the Kaiser Family Foundation produced a study, "Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-to 18-year-olds" researching what types of media, how much time children spend using technology, and how they are affecting young lives. The type of media children used to be interested in the past decades such as movies, television, and radios have declined, while iPods, cellphones, and laptops have increased significantly in the last five years. Because the popular technology has evolved to become more interactive, the youth has spent more time using these devices. The more time young children spend on media is also contributing to lower grades and poor behavior in school. Youth who spend more time on media which is "nearly half (47%) of all heavy media users say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly C's or lower), compared to 23% of light media users" (Rideout et. al. 34). Heavy media users also reported being bored, distracted, and getting into trouble more than light users. The unhappiness that these heavy media users feel can eventually lead to mental disorders such as sleeping disorders and depression in our youth. 

Children's cognitive development is most important when they are going through the preoperational stage which are ages 2-7 years-old. This is where children learn to distinguish what is real versus what is not. They are egocentric; the inability to judge whether an object or idea exists when they are not present for it. Between these ages, children base everything on appearance, therefore, when they see violence while they play a game on the iPad, they believe their character actually died or has undergone trauma. This causes stress to the child playing the game. Lisa Guernesy preformed a TED Talk, "How the iPad Affects Young Children and What We Can Do About It" based off her personal knowledge as a mother and a technology reporter.  While children use technology, "their visual and auditory senses become overstimulated but the vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile, and attachment systems are under stimulated" (Guernesy TED Talk). The overstimulation's are responsible for the balance and sense of touch which children who spend most of their time on tablets do not get compared to the kids who play outdoors with others. As a solution, Lisa tells her audience not to take away children's screen time, but manage how often children are using their devices. By encouraging children to stop playing on iPads and to interact with other kids their age in playtime will enhance their communication skills and build up their physical developmen as well. 

Children who spent most of their time interacting with others around them are able to grow their cognitive process and thinking abilities. The psychologist, Jean Piaget, created four stages that kids from birth through age twelve will go through to have a healthy childhood development. In his academic writing, "The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence," Piaget explores his four stages and his observations that a developing child undergoes during those ages. For elementary aged children, role playing and imitation are essential to lively development. Children must incorporate, "movement, touch, human connection, and exposure to nature" (Piaget 10). Playing on mobile devices does not satisfy children's playtime needs. Children need to be in constant physical contact with others and not distracted from the outside world on their touchscreen devices. Young children who engage more of their time with face-to-face interactions rather than screen time will have a healthier cognitive development and lower the risks of developing mental disorders. 

Cris Rowan, a pediatric occupational therapist, agrees with the psychologist Jean Piaget in her writing, "The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child". Cris Rowan's article takes an argumentative stance to bring awareness to the disconnect that children are having due to an overuse of iPads and iPhones. The author explains how children are spending more time than ever on their devices, which can lead to many different types of disabilities such as ADHD, autism, and sleeping disorders (Rowan 1). The author believes that the four factors; movement, touch, human connection, and exposure to nature are essential to a healthy child's development and that the use of tablets hinder all four aspects. It is important as a society to be educated on this issue and know that limiting time on devices is essential for children's developmental skills. The author is trying to persuade her audience that time spent on iPads needs to be cut short because it will be dangerous for the future of our youth. The author uses pathos by listing all of the long term effects on children that are glued to their tablets. This is done to scare the parents who read the article. Cris Rowan has witnessed dramatic changes in how children play because they cannot focus on one activity at a time and a shorter attention spam. This results in rising levels of obesity, developmental delays, and mental disorders. Rowan has a lot of knowledge about this issue because she has witnessed the developmental changes first hand, however she is not a doctor or a researcher. The source persuades parents to limit their children's time spent on technology. 

The gaming world on the touchscreen devices purposely creates interactive games geared towards preschoolers. The creators of these games know that children are their most loyal consumers and become angry towards their parents when they do not get enough time to play games. According to the study, "Abnormal White Matter Integrity in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study" that was completed in 2012, "72% of iTunes' top-selling 'educational' apps are designed for preschoolers and elementary aged children" (Lin, et. al. 5). Many of the electronic products claim to be educational, however children are learning short memorization facts such as counting to five rather than being taught small motor skills, like gripping a pencil, using a glue stick, and painting. The learning that these children are doing by playing on their electronics is superficial because the game points children into picking the right answers in order to earn rewards, but not knowing why they are correct. For instance, the most popular education app according to iTunes today is called "PAW Patrol Pup Takes Flight", the game claims to "build pre-k math skills to prepare preschoolers for kindergarten" (Nickelodeon). However, after playing on the game for a few minutes, children can memorize the simple addition skills such as 3+3=6, without knowing why or how they reached that answer. Not only are the apps not teaching children fundamental math and reading skills, but they are also used as an outlet for parents to use to distract their child and keep them occupied. 

Children are becoming more reliant on their devices because they are encouraged at school to use them. However, those who disagree that tablets and iPhones have a negative correlation with their ability to focus and causing mental disorders argue that technology enhances children's learning because they are multitasking and learning efficiently. The National Association for the Education for Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children. The organization continues to be a leading influence for local, state, and national legislation regarding children's education. The organization writes the article, "Technology and Young Children" and believes that children should use technology in the classroom if they are being used in the right way. The NAEYC states, "when used intentionally and appropriately, technology and interactive media are effective tools to support learning and development" (1). They view technology as a tool that can benefit children when they have strict guidelines for educational purposes only. The common subjects such as math, science, and language arts are taught with technology that children operate themselves. For example, children are taught how to access the websites that teachers use to teach students how to read. Teachers can give audio books to their students so they can listen to them and follow along through audio. In order for the tablets to be used effectively, parents and school administrators must be educated about the correct amount of time children can use technology.  To refute that technology should be used freely in classrooms, it can be seen that children will become too reliant on having the devices as a convenience. By encouraging children to use their technology for learning, they become too familiar with the devices and quickly do not know how to go without them. From a young age, the school system strengthens the idea that technology can enhance children's learning experience, but it is really making them reliant on their devices. Children will eventually not know how to do schoolwork without having a smart device near them.  

 Researchers, Ching-Ting Hsin, Li Ming-Chaun, and Tsai Chin-Chung, conducted a study about how pre-adolescences respond to technology and how they learn, and published a journal in 2014 called, "Journal of Educational Technology & Society." The study's main objective was to survey the relationships between technology use and children's learning. Contrary to other findings that technology should be completely avoided by children, these researchers found, "the use of a touchscreen increased children's behavior of pursuing individual goals instead of collaboratively achieving the same goal, implying that the use of technology may hinder children's social development" (Hsin, et. al. 96). The data implies that interactive devices do indeed help children learn more individually, but learning through touchscreens does not engage children with others, making them selfish. By working together, without technology's help, children will be promoted to interact, communicate, and problem solve more cohesively.   

Overall, it is clear that children's cognitive development will be, and is hindered by spending too much time on touchscreen devices such as iPhones or iPads. Experts have stated that when children spend too much time on interactive devices, they have trouble making decisions because they are filled with anxiety and are slowly developing mental disorders (Rowan 2). The amount of technology in the average home is increasing, giving children more opportunities to be exposed and reliant on it. The types of popular technology have majorly shifted from radio and movies to personalized tablets which can easily distract children quicker because of the advancements. It is crucial for children's cognitive and psychological development to play with others, and to participate in activities to develop skills and learn from experiences rather than memorization. Now more than ever, advertisers and game makers are aiming their products towards children because they know children are their most loyal consumers, but the learning they receive is superficial and short term. In schools, technology and interactive devices are being encouraged because it is a faster way to teach children and relies less on the teacher and more on the program. The idea that a software teaching the next generation of children is frightening because they will not fully grasp important skills of communication and become easily distracted and filled with anxiety by trying to multitask too often. The problem is not that technology is becoming more abundant in children's lives, but the amount of screen time children are getting and how they are using the devices. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed in society because if parents and caretakers are not aware of the powerful effects technology is doing to their children, then children's development will be impaired. The controversy of touchscreens impacting pre-adolescence's cognitive development and eventually leads to sleeping disorders, depression, and attention deficit disorders will certainly not slow down. It is important for school administrators, parents, and even teenagers to be educated about the prevailing damages that technology has on the youth and to limit the amount of time spend on the interactive devices to save the next generation. 

