It was a nice summer day, perfect for a day in the park, so my sister asked my five-year-old nephew if he would like to go play. His response was “Um no, I want to stay inside and play my tablet.” In fact, this would be his response whenever someone asked him if he would like to do something else, after receiving his first tablet when he was just three years old. Over the last ten years, America has seen a wide expansion in the advancement of technology that affects all age ranges, even children younger than the age of five. 

The digital world has really transformed with innovations like portable devices and Wi-Fi. Newer car models even have Wi-Fi and outlets to charge devices on the go. Every one desires to have the latest new device and children always put these things on their Christmas lists, and of course, Santa Claus brings them. Because of this, child play has made a drastic change from imaginative play with Barbie dolls and superhero action figures to mainly technology play, and this is due partly to the invention of tablets specially made for children. These tablets and other technologies are causing children to be exposed to technology use at much younger ages. With the fear of missing out, many parents, like my sister, want their child to have the hottest new “toy,” but what could children really be missing out on? The problem is that parents and caregivers are unaware of the affects that these technological advances could have on their children.

Certainly, technology makes our lives easier and more efficient, but there has been little concern shown for how technology could affect the lives of our future leaders, our children. When children are permitted to use technology at younger ages, a major issue is created . . . that is, the possibility that technology use at a young age could have a negative impact on early childhood development. Even though digital technology has many purposes and can be used in a variety of environments, there should be careful consideration about whether children should be allowed to use it and what age is most appropriate to introduce it. Technology use in education has shown to be beneficial, so when parents decide to allow use at home, they most likely believe the children are getting the same benefits they receive in the classroom, especially when many products claim to make children more intelligent. However, without knowledge of the effects and guidelines to effectively and efficiently use these products, caregivers could be exposing their children to products that actually do more harm than good. Pediatricians, therapists and other advocates interested in the wellbeing of children are now aware that technology is becoming a problem, and many agree that it could eventually be deleterious to a child’s development. Whereas technology is not as advanced in Third World Countries, America is continuing to see an increase in technological advancements. Therefore, because technology has negative impacts on development, American children’s access to technology should be limited to educational purposes mainly for the sake of a healthy development, while technology for entertainment should be using sparingly and with parental advisory.

Technology of the twenty-first century has a much heavier impact on individuals and family life than ever before. “Children of the past moved... a lot, and their sensory world was nature based and simple” (Rowan). In the past, children were physically active. They spent plenty of hours playing outside, often times from sunrise to sunset. When weather and other forces interrupted a day of play outside, children would use their imaginations and play inside, and this play did not require expensive equipment or even much parental supervision. Also, before technology took over, family lifestyles were different and of more value. In other words, most time was spent with family and this time was very well cherished. For example, similar to how family interactions were portrayed on old sitcoms like Good Times and Brady Bunch, Rowan noted how the dining room table was a special aspect to family time because it was a “central place where families came together to eat and talk about their day, and after dinner became the center for baking, crafts and homework” (Rowan). However, child play is now less creative as children rely upon technology such as tablets and Xbox for entertainment, and the values of life that kept families together are being disintegrated by technology. 

There has always been concern about the effects of technology on society since it was first introduced, especially with the introduction of television in the 1950s. Because television was not released to the nation all at once, but instead to certain geographic areas, researchers took advantage of the opportunity to conduct a research of the effects that television had on the development of preschoolers (Bavelier). As technology continues to advance and subsume nearly every new invention, the concern continues to grow. As a result of technology’s complex nature, its impact on child development is still ambiguous, and the issue of whether technology is harmful to a child’s development remains controversial and multisided. Essentially, the cause of this issue is that, over the past fifty years, children have been targeted consumers. The amount of technology available to and used by children continues to increase dramatically, thus, affecting the way children learn, develop and behave. Now, researchers are deepening their investigations to identify if only certain developmental areas (or all) are affected by technology use and what, if anything, can be done to help reduce adverse effects because it is clear that the advancements are going to only get greater, especially when robots are now a real thing, like the robot Sophia who received citizenship in Saudi Arabia. No one knows what the future holds; children could very well grow up in a society where robots are their peers. However, while there is still uncertainty about the true effects of technology on children’s development, there has been organizations like IT-oLogy in Columbia, SC that are helping children develop skills to be problem solvers and prepare for a technology based world, which is important because, at this rate, it is impossible to imagine a future without any technology.

Today, there is still debate about technology’s impact on child development, which expands to a much greater deal than it did decades ago because technology is now being used by children younger than the age of five. It is an understood fact that children, particularly infants, learn best from social interactions. However, technology takes away much needed social interactions. With that being said, technology has detrimental effects on a child’s development, and therefore, should primarily be used for educational purposes because it could also be disadvantageous if children are prohibited from using technology completely.

Many believe that when technology is introduced at an early age, certain developmental areas are offset and results in delayed development. Cris Rowan, a pediatric occupational therapist, is among the many believers that think technology use causes children to miss, or have delayed developmental milestones, resulting in physical, psychological and behavioral disorders. She believes this negative impact is because “children’s developing sensory, motor, and attachment systems have biologically not evolved to accommodate this sedentary, yet frenzied and chaotic nature of today’s technology” (Rowan). A developing child’s body and brain has difficulty adjusting to the sensory stimulation received from technology, which causes problems later in life that are necessary for learning. With increasing technological advancements, diagnoses for behavioral and attentional disorders, like ADHD, autism, anxiety and sleep disorders, are also increasing. Additionally, the United States is experiencing an epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes because of the sedentary behaviors technology overuse cause (Rowan).

Similarly, in her article posted on USA Today, Adrianne Albarado Ortiz says she has witnessed children as young as two years of age playing with a cell phone (Ortiz). Parents often use technology, such as their cell phones, to keep children occupied while they do elsewise. Although this idea may sound very convenient, it could actually have negative effects on children when used too frequently. While Rowan focused on the physical and behavioral developmental areas, Ortiz also added that overuse of technology takes a toll on a child’s social development. In detail, a child’s “ability to make friends in person, take responsibility for actions, display good manners, use polite language, control emotions and temper, follow verbal directions, and develop empathy for others” will be difficult tasks to achieve because of delayed, or even missed, social skills (Ortiz). This could eventually affect the child’s mental health, leading to some of the same disorders that Rowan mentioned.

Several other researchers also agree with Rowan and Ortiz that technology is detrimental to early child development, though their works only accessed the negative aspects of technology overuse. Despite Ortiz’s argument that technology overuse is harmful to a child’s social development, in the research article “The Influence of Young Children's Use of Technology on Their Learning: A Review,” it was shown that technology actually had positive effects on children performance in several developmental areas, especially in the social area. Technology had improved children’s interactions with others and their development of multiculturalism (Ching-Ting). 

On the other hand, Manny Alvarez, an obstetrician-gynecologist, suggested that technology use by young children has both pros and cons. A study presented at the 2017 Pediatrics Meeting revealed that there is a positive correlation between amount of screen time given to children and speech delay; as the amount of screen time increases, the chances of having a speech delay increases. Fortunately, this was the only correlation found and no other developmental areas were found to have a correlation. It was noted that this research is still fairly young and progressing, though (Alvarez).

Also, now that technology is more easily accessible than before, it can be used in various environments, such as an educational setting. One of the pros Alvarez discussed is that school-age children can benefit from educational technology, which was proven by a study conducted in Maine which presented that kindergarteners that were given iPads improved in literacy quicker than their peers who remained learning the traditional way (Alvarez). So, technology in an educational setting could indeed be effective as it can help children learn skills at a faster rate and improve existing ones. However, as the study only consisted of school-age children, use of technology at young ages may only be beneficial to children who are old enough for school.

The main focus of most studies is that technology becomes harmful when used excessively. Even though sources like Alvarez’s suggest that technology is effective in educational settings, when used too often, technology could still have a harmful effect. Pediatrician Dmitri Christakis appeared at a TEDx Talks presentation in which he discussed how too much exposure to media with rapid image change, such as television shows like the Power Puff Girls, create over stimulated children and cause them to have attentional problems later in life. He believes that children needs more real time play and cognitive stimulation rather than fast paced media to prevent the development of attentional problems (TEDx Talks). Because this overstimulation could cause children to become more distracted and have difficulty focusing, it could cause them to resort to drugs like Adderall later in life, like how the main character in Margaret Talbot’s Brain Gain used neuroenhancing drugs because, as she claims, “the more gadgets we own, the more distracted we become, and the more we need help in order to focus” (Talbot). This could lead to several more problems as there is already a growing epidemic of drug addiction in South Carolina.

Without doubt, Americans know that technology is going to only improve from here. It is almost certain that technology is soon going to take over the nation, and as the faces of the future, our children are going to be surrounded with technology. Therefore, young children should not be forbidden to use technology. It is important children are permitted to have some access to technology because if some children are not allowed to use technology, they could possibly lag behind their peers who are allowed to use it. Alternatively, children should be allowed to use technology mainly in an educational setting, with limited access to entertainment technology.

Many parents and caregivers have stated that they do not have the knowledge of technology’s effects on child development. In Frederick Zimmerman’s study of screen viewing in children younger than two, the reasons parents gave for allowing their child to watch television were babysitting, education, and entertainment purposes (Zimmerman). Media has great influence on parents’ decisions about the items they choose to allow their children to use. In response to Zimmerman’s study, Alice Park analyzed the many products, like Baby Einstein, that claim to make babies more intelligent. Despite their claims, these products actually have detrimental effects on language development and create overstimulated children (Park). Since these products advertise that they make babies smarter, parents choose to use these products without analyzing its effects. Hence, parents and caregivers should be educated about the effects of technology at early ages by doctors and teachers, as suggested by Jenny Radesky’s research, then, they should be given guidelines for how to effectively and efficiently allow their children to use technology (Radesky). Additionally, local areas could incorporate more physical activity events to keep children active, and also, host technology events that feature the latest technology to teach children how to use them successfully and to prevent adverse effects.

Within the past fifty years, America has continuously seen a wide expansion in the technology world. Children are beginning to use technology at much younger ages, even younger than the age of two. However, there has been concern about how technology overuse at early ages affect child development. Many research studies revealed that the major developmental area that is affected by technology overuse is social and language development. Though, technology is an important aspect of the future and children are going to constantly be surrounded by it. Therefore, parents and caregivers should be educated about the detrimental effects of technology on early childhood development by doctors and teachers and advised how to effectively permit their children to use technology for educational purposes, instead of completely prohibiting its use because children who are not exposed to technology could lag behind their peers in an advanced technological world.
