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 of learning that technology helps children progress, but some of its values are vanishing because of the modern generation’s early engagement. Technology hurts children’s learning skills because it limits their retention and 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 many children in the ages of 5-12 do the same? Kids now have their own smartphone or smart device at very young ages. Kids are 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 mind comprehends. Learning to talk and interact with other kids at a park seems to be fading away todays. I grew up with a father who was a computer science and technology related major in college and a mother who was an elementary school teacher. So, with my parents experiencing firsthand the changes brought by technology, 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. 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 of technology in an educational setting.

Technology use in higher education is beneficial for many universities and college students. Sang Kim and Kerry Holmes, professors at the University of Mississippi 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 explain how mobile wireless phones are able to increase speed in teaching and learning, enable one on one learning, and several others. Mobile technology in a classroom allows all students to participate. Applications such as TopHat and Kahoot are a few examples, which feature interactive questions that students can answer using their smart phones or computers. Many teachers at universities including the University of South Carolina use another tool related to TopHat and Kahoot, which is the iClicker. This device is designed for students to answer multiple choice questions as they appear on the screen. The purpose of this is to take attendance or participation grade and more importantly, engages the student in the lecture and therefore, they grasp and retain the information. This can help because it allows every student to learn and participate, especially students who do not prefer to speak out loud in a classroom. One may argue, however, that students should not need 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. This is a great example about how higher education has incorporated technology in their education systems to benefit students and allow them to reach their potential. 

The benefits of technology can be directly seen in a study done by Laura Zimmermann, a faculty director in the Psychology department at Shenandoah University, which 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, while the other two sections 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, as the author states is, “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 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 rather than using only textbooks, but this is more than just exam scores, it is about understanding information and acquiring knowledge for life. The use of a textbook and MVCs in the same PSY 222 class 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 have been shown in many studies and research, but now we must explore the harms or negative effects technology poses on children. A study done by the authors, Campbell and Beverley, explain about how children react when they are given mobile wireless technology and a certain task. The study was designed 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 psychologists documented the children’s comments after completing the activity. Many of the children 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 the 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 ended.

New technology today including the internet is without question affecting children in several ways. 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 programs or devices are beneficial to the development of children when it comes to developing the way they think and process information. In the major aspect of technology, there are researchers who claim that there are benefits and harms that can be done by technology, such as Jim Taylor, a Ph.D Psychology teacher at the University of San Francisco discusses how technology affects the mental 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. Modern generations are falling more and more into this hole, which is not worrying about retaining the information because they have been taught and learned for themselves that they can find anything they desire with a quick internet search. At a young age, it is vital that children develop their long-term memory retention skills. The internet and push for more technology use is continuously damaging this process. This may not be seen in young children, but as they grow older their long-term memory and retention skills will not be at the same level as previous generations. Now, this is not true for every single child that uses technology and specifically, the internet, but it is important to understand that the risk is there and could be a potential threat. To continue on how technolopy negatively impacts children, I have conducted an interview with a local school teacher from my hometown.

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.” Further in the interview 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. I explained to her about the study I found which showed the same issues. To recall, this issue was when children are given a task that they find challenging, their attention span for the problem is short and they show signs of giving up and seeking outsider help. 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. He explains that modern generations are essentially born with technology at their fingertips and think it is normal to rely on it. He explains that only a select few will have full restrictions on their use with technology. Many will get restricted, but only to a certain point that will have no impact on the child because they usually have an alternate way of using technology. What he means by this is if you a child’s phone or tablet was taken away from them, they usually find a different way to fill their desire of using technology. This could be using a friend’s or using the many different devices at their reach, such as computers, television, gaming devices, and much more.

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 associated 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.

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. (Leahy and Phelan)

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.” The technology we know and use every day will not fade anytime soon, so it is important to understand what impact technology has on a child. 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.
