Technology is changing the world every day in ways that were never imagined before, but how is it affecting the development of children in their educational journey? You might think, “how could technology hurt children?” or “there are many ways and opportunities for children to learn with technology.” Yes, there are certainly aspects in learning that technology helps children progress, but some of the core values in learning are vanishing because of the early engagement in technology that modern generations are experiencing. Technology hurts children’s development in education because it hurts their retention and learning skills, limits their focus time, takes away creativity, and damages their ability to be independent.

I have always been intrigued by technology and like many grew up with the internet and smartphones in their early stages of development. Around campus it seems everyone has a smartphone of some type, whether they are listening to music, texting, facetiming, calling, or checking social media. Have you ever wondered that this sight is now very similar to children in the ages of 5-12? Kids now have their own smartphone or smart device at very young ages. Kids getting pushed around in strollers or sitting in a doctor’s office with ipads to keep them occupied. For me, kids are missing out on a very essential value of life, which is, experiencing the world’s beauty and innocence that a child’s mine comprehends. Learning to talk and interact with other kids at a park seems to be fading away for today’s youth. I grew up with a father who was a computer science and technology related major in college and a mother who focused on elementary teaching. So, with my parents growing up and experiencing from firsthand the changes technology made to society, I was raised with a limit on technology use and pushed for the “old school” way of learning and interacting with the world as they did. So, my bias is from hearing what my parents have always told me growing up and their methods of parenting. To keep an open mind on the subject, I have been able to think for myself and being a part of the technological world, I enjoy technology and think there are some benefits for children, but do the benefits outweigh the dangers? To me, the dangers outweigh the benefits especially in the field of education. To understand my stance on the topic, I will explain both sides of the argument by beginning with the benefits technology has when in an educational setting.

Technology use in higher education is beneficial for many universities and college students. Kim and Holmes, authors of, “An introduction to current trends and benefits of mobile wireless technology use in higher education” explain how many varieties of mobile technology boost educational learning for many universities. Specifically, wireless computers allow for ease of movement, low profile, flexibility, simplicity, speed, and much more. The authors lastly discuss the benefits of mobile wireless phones, such as, increasing speed in teaching and learning, enabling one on one learning, and several others. Mobile technology in a classroom allows all students to participate, such as, applications like TopHat and Kahoot, which are interactive questions that students can answer using their smart phones or computers. This can help because it allows the less out going students, or ones who do not prefer to speak in front of the class to be able to participate and interact with the question and therefore be able to grasp the questions meaning and answer. The argument to this point can be, students should not need or be able to use a screen of some sort to hide behind just so they can be comfortable and not have to deal with their fear of talking out loud in front of people.

The benefits of technology can be directly seen in a study done by Laura Zimmermann, author of “Using a Virtual Simulation Program to Teach Child Development.” consisted of 100 students taught in four sections and two of the sections used textbooks while the other two used an online virtual simulation program. This study took place at a private university in Northern Virginia and the 100 students were all signed up to take PSY 220 which is a child development course. The two sections using a textbook were taught in the fall of 2011 and the other two section using technology were taught in the spring of 2012. The technology used was MVC (My Virtual Child) which is an online simulation program. This program works by giving a survey to the students that measures their personality and multiple intelligence. The child’s development is shaped by the interaction of these traits, unplanned events, such as divorce, ADHD, job loss, and parenting decisions. The results showed that the MVC increased student engagement and allowed for more interactive learning that the students thought made the course more understandable and enjoyable to learn. The test results for Spring sections using MVC were significantly higher than the fall sections using only textbooks. This study is a great example of how technology offers new learning ways that many students in newer generations found helpful or better than old traditional learning techniques. While this study has data and numbers to back its theory up, it gives a sort of disclaimer at the end. The “shortcoming” of this study that the author states are, “MVC’s did not reflect the complexity seen in real life—a drawback of simulations in general, as they tend to provide an oversimplified version of the actual processes” (Zimmerman). Technologies like these can be very beneficial for learning, but only this method could have given students in this study a false understanding of child development compared to the real world, leaving them unprepared for the situation when they meet it in real life. I think the MVC is a great learning tool and probably helped exam scores compared to just textbooks, but this is more than just exam scores, it is about understanding information and acquiring knowledge for life. The use of a textbooks and MVCs would allow for the hands-on interaction of course material while being backed up with facts and information on real world scenarios for child development.

The benefits of technology can be seen across many more platforms other than education. There are several different technologies that are greatly improving our world, from face and body cams for police officers, apps that can screen for symptoms of autism, and devices that will help stop sex trafficking crime. Jason Miller, author of, “Technology to Improve Our Lives,” explains that with special beacons that are hidden as tampons for women in public bathrooms or other common places where women are found alone and can hide the beacon in their purse or pocket which will allow authorities to find where they are being taken. Other benefits of technology not related to education are explained by James Kendrick, author of, “Mobile Technology: The Amazing Impact on Our Lives.” He discusses how mobile technology has improved very much in past 10 years. Not with just all the social media, games, and apps, but much more. Sending important emails or files to anywhere in the world in seconds makes communication unstoppable. Mobile technology gives a voice to those who may not have had the chance to express before. The quality of life has improved with technology in the medical field as it improves every day. People with disabilities such as hearing, diabetics, and even blindness are being able to break through their disability and be independent.

The benefits of technology have been shown in many studies and research to back it up, but now we must explore the harms or negative effects technology poses on children. A study done by the authors, Campbell and Beverley, “Motivating children to learn: the role of technology education” explains about how children react when they are given technology and a certain task. The study was to show how children engaged with each other in all aspects of working as a team. The scientist gave the children the question, “Design and make a model of a small recycling device for the home or garden. Your product should be made mainly from recycled materials.” The scientist documented the children’s comments after completing the activity. After looking over the many comments from the children, many of them said they just wanted it done because they have had enough or they didn’t know what to do because it was too hard. These comments are a prime example of technology having a negative effect on development of children. The task given was not a long activity and still some of them showed the inability to stay focused on a task. Children were also not able to show problem solving skills when given a problem that has no guidelines and is open minded.

New technology today including the internet is without question affecting children in some way, shape, or form. A specific example is the way we think. Thinking is what makes us who we are and defines so many children in their early stages of life. New technology is constantly coming out and there is no secure way to test whether some of these new upbringings are beneficial to development. In the major aspect of technology, there are researchers who claim that there are benefits and harms that can be done by technology. Jim Taylor, a Ph.D Psychology teacher at the University of San Francisco discusses how technology affects the development of children. Previous generations had books which let the brain be more focused and imaginative. With the internet, this has faded away, but has wired the brain to scan information rapidly and efficiently.

Technology is wiring the brains of newer generations differently than in earlier generations before the internet.

I had the opportunity to have a discussion with an elementary school teacher about her take on technology in education. Her name is Mrs. Page and she is a teacher at Riverview Elementary in Fort Mill, SC. She was very open and knowledgeable about the subject. She is specifically a kindergartner teacher. She says that her classroom has 4-5 ipads that her kids will rotate throughout the day using certain apps for activities. She thinks the ipads add a new way of learning, but only if used correctly because many of these kids get sucked into the screen playing a game. She said, “Around 90% of the time I will catch the kids not being on the right app or on the internet searching random things.” Therefore, she does not like using the ipads in her classroom every day and instead, only one or two times a week. I was able to ask her what harm is done to children’s development when they use too much technology. The issue she said with not using her ipads is she will have parents complain about “why they technically pay for these devices and their child is not able to use those devices.” Next, She said one of the biggest things she has been seeing in the newer generations is the lack of problem solving skills. She explained that now when one of her kids cannot figure something out within around 5 minutes they will go up to her and ask her to fix their problem or answer the question they need instead of spending a little longer trying to figure out the problem. Other issues she notices that technology has brought about in her classroom is how much time they should use technology and learning to be self-disciplined with it. The speaker of a YouTube TedTalk, Ethan Dickens, goes deeper into discussing technology in the classroom and how children today grow up with technology so they don’t understand controlling their use with it. 

Other issues from my interview with Mrs. Page included a discussion on social skills and self-confidence. She says that technology, such as the ipads given only let the kids be one on one between themselves and the screen. This gives the children an excuse to not interact with other kids and therefore, develop their social skills. I included self-confidence in this paragraph because Mrs. Page explained that these two can go hand in hand. When kids don’t learn how to interact with each other whether it’s playing a game or having a conversation they will eventually, not have self-confidence to speak up for themselves. She went on to explain that further down the road when these kids are able to have complex thoughts on their own in the latter part of elementary school, they will sometimes question their actions or answers because they are not self-confident in their ability to interact or take action. She says this can be affiliated with leadership qualities as well as teamwork qualities. At the end, she made sure to make it clear that this what she has experienced for some kids, not all. Just because it happens to some of them, does not mean it will happen to all who experience these scenarios in their early educational career.

To see this argument from a different point of view. I have found information and articles about the educational systems of foreign countries. A specific one I found is Ireland. I was able to look into Irelands educational system and see how they incorporate technology into everyday life in school. They support children using technology because they want them to examine how technology and science impacts their lives and the environment. 

The question, “How technology hurts the development of children in Education” is arguable because there are many people on both sides saying, “yes technology hurts children in education”, and others saying “no, technology does not hurt children and is actually beneficial in education.” With my personal experience and discussing other experiences with teachers, parents, and other college students I see both sides of the argument, but choose to side with technology being harmful to children in education. There were many teachers and professionals who found technology to be very beneficial in the classroom and being more efficient in a day of teaching by allowing children to pick up concepts at their own pace. Others against technology claim that technology will suck a child in and they will never want to put it down, restricting them from social learning with other children and learning to problem solve on their own. These are the reasons why I believe technology to be more harmful than beneficial.
