Running Head: Effects of Technology on Children

Effects of Technology on Children: A Review of Literature

Leslie A. Duran
University of Texas at El Paso

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Effects of Technology on Children

Abstract
Technology has become a major part of the everyday life for the average person in this
generation. While in the past when it first came out there was no major effect because it was
something new to everyone. Not many children were allowed to use it due to the fact that parents
or adults were just understanding how to work with it and were learning what it did. Having your
own cell phone when it had just been invented was hardly seen and now a days even some three
years olds have some of the latest cell phones. The only issue is that all the advancement in
technology happened so fast that nobody knows the true effects that it will have on children. The
purpose of this literature review is to help present some of the pros and cons that technology is
having on children, specifically, their development.

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Effects of Technology on Children

Effects of Technology on Children: A Review of Literature

Technology is currently one of the biggest topics that everyone knows about and is up to
date on, but tying in with the topic of technology is how technology is affecting the younger
generation? Overall technology has continued to change and progress as the years have
continued to go on. We know that the computer has evolved from many years of little
advancements because for some people the typewriter was their computer, but now we have
laptops, desktops and some tablets that have similar features to those of a computer. Over the
years along with computers cell phones have also continued to advance and manage to have
much more capabilities than it did before.
Along with each advancement that was made to these devices and many more, humans
started to become dependent of them and have now made it a part of their daily lives. When this
need to have technology at our hands most of the day there was also a change into the age that
most kids were receiving these devices. Many parents were buying them simply to give their
child something to entertain themselves with and so they would not cause trouble, but when this
change took place it opened the doors to many children wanting to constantly be on these devices
without any time limit or restriction.
Children by the age of three or younger now know how to work a tablet and or smart
phone because adults use these things to keep their children calm. Some of these three year olds
even have devices to call their own. The only problem with this is what are the pros and cons to
how this will affect the development of each child who begins to use these devices at such a
young age when the adults of today were raised in a different manner. So, considering that as the
years have passed by and times have changed society must be consider whether or not the
changes made an improvement or will this all harm everyone in the long run. To help figure out

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Effects of Technology on Children

what to do about this or if there should be a change, there are a couple of questions which must
be answered:
1. What links have doctors found between technology and child development?
2. What are the different developmental effects between a child who starts using
technology as a toddler and those who start using technology in their teens?
3. How has the use of technology in school contributed to a childs development?
These questions will help everyone see both the pros and cons that technology is having by
showing viewing different aspects and scenarios as to how it is affecting a developing child.
They will also provide information on whether or not technology in the schools is contributing to
any changes if there are any.
What links have doctors found between technology and child development?
As more advancements in technology have been introduced to the world much
controversy has followed along with it. Many parents have a concern with whether or not all the
technology that is being used now a days is affecting the way children are developing or how
they are living their lives. So, some doctors have made it a goal of theirs to find some answers
for these concerned parents. Although there are not yet many studies completed, over all, due to
the fact that the latest technology advancements are what have caused the most concern for
parents.
For instance, tablets and smartphones can be said to be the newest technology to have
come out and catch the attention of the younger generation. When out at the store or at a friends
house it is seen that many of the kids are walking around with a tablet or phone in their hand so,
Juju Chang from ABC decided to go and observe some toddlers at Barnard Universitys
renowned Toddler Center. While at the Toddler Center specialist described what was being
viewed through the two-way mirror. The test or observation done at the time was distractibility

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Effects of Technology on Children

on kids between the ages of three and five. First, the children were provided with tablets to
entertain themselves with, but while they were playing on the tablets their names were being
called and they were being as questions like what are you playing? Overall this was testing to
see how readily each of the children would respond or if they would not respond at all. None of
the children responded when their name was called or when they were asked what they were
playing on the tablet. Next, they proceeded to take away the tablets from all the children and
allow them to play with traditional toys. With the traditional toys there was a different reaction as
opposed to the reaction that was seen with the tablets. All the children became much more social
with one another as well as expressing themselves in a different manner. Automatically you
could see that they became more verbal, creative, and social. Although sometimes it does cause
for them to have disagreements and fight over silly things there is communication going on
(Generation iPad).
In the video Generation iPad: Could It Hurt Toddlers Development? Tovah Klein
Director of Barnards Center for Toddler Development also explains how today parents are using
technology as a way to calm children down or to keep them entertained. The repercussion of this
is that children today are not learning how to calm themselves down when they get upset which
is something that needs to be learned through experience. She continues to explain that it is okay
for children to get upset because if they do not learn to come down from those tantrums at a
young age they will not know what to do in the future when someone or something upsets them.
Juju Chang not only gives insight on children from the ages of three to five but she also
goes with a family who has three girls ages nine, seven, and four. Each of them has their own
tablet as well as their own smartphone which they are playing on most of the time. The challenge
for this family is that they cannot use their tablets or smartphones for a period of thirty days, they

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Effects of Technology on Children

must entertain themselves doing something else. Over those thirty days the girls begin to use
their imagination more when they are playing and in trying to figure out what to do with all the
extra time that they have available to them. Along with having more imagination and verbal
skills the girls were also arguing more which was not a bad sign because it was a form of
communication. When the thirty days were over though and the tablets and phones were returned
to the girls, they automatically turned them on and left behind what they had been doing without
the tablets and phones. So, at the end of this challenge Juju Chang sat down with the parents of
the girls and asked them whether or not they would recommend going tablet free for a while, the
parents response was that technology should be used with restrictions to ensure that social skills
and communication were still being used and developed properly (Generation iPad).
In other studies it also shows that technology for infants is good in developing certain
parts of the brain but you must have the child playing a somewhat educational game so that the
correct message is being received in the brain. There are some specialist which are now creating
specific games so that toddlers can play on the tablets and learn how to recognize things such as
colors, shapes, sizes, etc. The producers of these new apps are part of the crew which helped
develop the show sesame street (Generation iPad).
According to some of the research Rowan has done she has found out that children now
rely on technology for the majority of their play, grossly limiting challenges to their creativity
and imaginations, as well as limiting necessary challenges to their bodies to achieve optimal
sensory and motor development. All this meaning that the way a child used to learn how to use
their hands and sense things changes when they are mainly using technology instead of playing
the old fashioned way. Rowan also states that the impact of rapidly advancing technology on
the developing child has seen an increase of physical, psychological and behavior disorders that

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the health and educations systems are just beginning to detect, much less understand. Some of
the detections that Rowan introduces everyone to are diagnoses of ADHD, autism, coordination
disorder, developmental delays, unintelligible speech, learning difficulties, sensory processing
disorder, anxiety, depression, and sleep
disorders. All these things effect a child in the
long

run because they are things that could have been

prevented simply by having a time restriction when

using any
image above
values, mentality,
What are the
using

type of technology device. For instance, as seen in the

when the foundation of a child is technology a childs
and health are not what a parent would want them to be.
different developmental effects between a child who starts
technology as a toddler and those who start using
technology in their teens?

For younger children whose brains are still developing sensory, motor, and attachments
systems have biologically not evolved (Rowan, 2013). She also states that the four critical
factors necessary to achieve a healthy child development are movement, touch, human
connection, and exposure to nature. Meanwhile, Jim Taylor states that because their brains are
still developing and malleable, frequent exposure by so-called digital natives to technology is
actually wiring the brain in ways very different than in previous generations. He then goes on
saying that it is clear that, as with advances throughout history, the technology that is available
determines how our brains develops (Taylor, 2012).
Younger children are being affected mostly in a way of how they think and how their
brains are processing certain information. Taylor explains that thinking encompasses so many

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Effects of Technology on Children

aspects of who our children are and what they do, from observing, learning, remembering,
questioning, and judging to innovating, arguing, deciding, and acting. He also lets us know that
simply by watching television their attention was altered by offering children visual stimuli,
fragmented attention, and little need for imagination (Taylor, 2012) therefore the attention span
is very minimal. There was also research which showed that parents thought children should
have a time restriction of at least an hour (Duran, 2015) so that the effect would be minimized.
In children whose brains are not as malleable and more developed and gone through the
stages of actually reading a book, have brains wired in a different way (Taylor, 2012). While in
the research conducted for this paper, parents felt that the skill being most effected is
communication due to technology (Duran, 2015). In older children they still have some of the
same brain wiring that allows kids to be creative. It was also shown that for older children
students who were allowed Internet access during class didnt recall the lecture nor did they
perform as well on a test of the material as those who werent wired during class (Taylor,
2012). Concluding that the attention span or focus was not there because the brain was not
allowed to focus on the information being presented.
How has the use of technology in school contributed to a childs development?
Now, there is also the fact that schools have decided to further incorporate the use of
technology inside the classroom compared to previous years. Some research shows that the
educational system has been trying to catch up with all the advancements technology has made
over the years. The reasoning behind this is that the youth of today has grown up in a completely
different manner than the youth twenty years ago. For instance, in the past twenty years
technology has made a quick advancement and has affected many parts of the average person
and childs everyday life. The average person now has a television in their living room and

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Effects of Technology on Children

bedroom; a cell phone/ smartphone; lastly now most jobs require people to work with technology
to complete paperwork, etc. (Lincoln, Strommen, 1992, p. 466). Children now have also been
greatly influenced by this advancement because the toys that have been made for this generation
compared to twenty years ago have lights, are mobile and play music or talk to the child. For
these reasons educators/ teachers believe that it is time for schools to further incorporate the use
of technology while teaching certain curriculums (Lincoln, Strommen, 1992, p. 466).
Educators/ teachers have also come to realize that it is unfair to try and teach a child of
this generation with tradition methods such as simply reading a book. The facts have also begun
to show that most jobs require for the employee to be able to work a computer, so they do not
want for a child to finish their education and not be able to get a job because they are lacking
computer skills. As well as the fact that at home with the television and toys they are learning in
a different manner due to the fact that different parts of their brains are being used to process and
learn certain information. (Lincoln, Strommen, 1992, p. 469). More specifically educators want
to let people know that they do not wish to change what is being taught but rather how they are
presenting the information so that it may be easier for the youth to learn specific information. It
is also said that this will help utilize the competencies that a child is going into school with.
Although if schools decide that overall they will completely bring in technology the educators/
teachers must have workshops so that they are well informed about continuous advancements
made in technology. The educator must also have time to explore the many options available to
him or her (Lincoln, Strommen, 1992, p. 470). Overall with these efforts to integrate
technologies into schools have been more effective when they have placed the locus of control
with teachers rather than requiring teachers to adapt their teaching style to the technology (Bull,
2008).

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Effects of Technology on Children

There are many pros and cons coming from the use of technology at home as well as at
school. With different techniques and approaches that the educators/ teachers are talking some of
the youth appear to be comprehending what they have to learn both for possible exams in the
future and for the future. Computers are not an end in themselves, but a means to an end. We
must determine what we want our children to experience and learn from their use of computers
so that they are empowered to take control to this powerful new tool in their lives states
(Behrman, Shields, 2000, p.4). The advancements that technology has made and will continue
making are overall something that has to be learned in order to succeed in the future, seeing as to
how it has begun changing the shape of everybodys life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the literature review has answered many questions concerning how
technology may be affecting children being raised in todays society whether it be good or bad.
Currently parents or anybody in general really do not know what the long term effects of the use
of technology will be. Many people are simply trying to live their lives and adapt to all the
technology advancements coming towards them, so really they dont have time to process what
is going on. Meaning while we might have some questions answered more questions seem to be
arising as technology continues to advance and there is less understanding of how each child is
being affected. Each brain is unique therefore not each child will be affected the same way, but
with more extensive research parents can get more answers as to what they should do. As well as
every parent has their own unique way of parenting they should know of some modifications that
can be done in order to prevent different wiring of their childs brain compared to theirs.
Technology overall is causing a difference amongst everyone and it is advancing at such a fast
rate doctors do not really know what the overall effect will be.

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Effects of Technology on Children

References
Generation iPad. ABC News Productions, Films for the Humanities & Sciences and Films
Media Group (Directors). (2013, 20130401).[Video/DVD] New York, N.Y.: Films Media

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Group. Retrieved from http://0-digital.films.com.lib.utep.edu/ PortalPlaylists.aspx?

xtid=54909&aid=12400
Bull, G. L. (1997). Technology and schools. Advances in Computers, 45, 321-356.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2458(08)60711-1
Duran, L. (2015). Technology and child development. El Paso, Texas: Survey Monkey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/xV4kiFXZYQkA5yivGgMf58iNayzfDRuhkRXj_2
BEt1_2Bgg_3D
Lincold, B., & Strommen, E. F. (1992). Constructivism, technology, and the future of classroom
learning. Education and urban society (Vol. 24 ed., pp. 466-476). New York, New York:
Children's Television Workshop.
Rowan, C. (2013, 7/29/2013). The impact of technology on the developing child. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cris-rowan/technology-children-negativeimpact_b_3343245.html
Shields, M. K., & Behrman, R. E.. (2000). Children and Computer Technology: Analysis and
Recommendations. The Future of Children,10(2), 430.
http://doi.org/10.2307/1602687
Taylor, J. (2012, 12/4/2012). How technology is changing the way children think and focus.
Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201212/howtechnology-is-changing-the-way-children-think-and-focus

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Virtual Features [Photograph]. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crisrowan/technology-children-negative-impact_b_3343245.html