Editor's note: A student, M. Penrod, wrote the following argument for my WRIT 1311 class in the spring of 2016.
Ten years ago,
people could walk outside of their house and see children running around with
their friends, riding bikes together, or even doing less active activities, such
as blowing bubbles or drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. If you walk outside today,
you will not find any children participating in these activities. Instead you
will find children inside with their attention fully captured by a small
electronic screen or engrossed in a video game that is more important than the
reality that they live in. More and more often, children are being exposed to
electronics as early as one year old and are becoming attached and dependent on
these devices as a source of entertainment. These striking events have shown
that an early exposure to electronics is having serious social effects on
children of the next generation.
In the first three
years of a child’s life, their brain is about 85% developed (Lally, 2012). These
first three years are crucial for social and cognitive development in a child
because by the time a child is three years old, they should know how to talk
and how to interact with other children. Psychologists have noted that, “play
is more than what children of preschool age do to pass the time. Instead, play
helps preschoolers develop socially, cognitively, and physically” (Feldman,
2015, p. 179). When you take away the play aspect of a child’s life, they are
not able to develop fully and this will cost them in the future. Psychologists
have established different stages of play that preschoolers go through that
aide in their social and cognitive development. People need social interaction
in order to maintain a healthy mindset. It can be concluded that if electronics
are substituted for active and creative play, then children will not build upon
their imagination, therefore affecting the creative abilities they need in life
to solve problems. Problem solving skills are essential for a person’s success
in life because people are faced with new problems every day and these skills
help them resolve their issues and move on. People without these skills will
have a harder time overcoming simple obstacles and will become more stressed
out over these situations.
It is a known fact
that children learn the most effectively by visual representations. The top
visual influence in a child’s life is the television. Scientists have recorded
that the average child watches more than twenty-one hours of TV in a week
(Gentile, 2004). Popular TV shows for children often exhibit violence and crude
references that are not appropriate for them. These subtle remarks and violent
outbursts can have long term effects on the young viewers and can easily be the
cause of an increase in aggression in children as they grow older. As a result,
it is encouraged by pediatricians that parents should monitor programming and
encourage alternative forms of entertainment, such as reading, athletics,
hobbies, and creative play (American, 2001). By encouraging outdoor activities,
children will be able to stimulate the “motor movement” area of their brain and
also engages their creative juices while they are interacting with other
children. Not only do TV shows have negative effects on child viewers, but
video games do too. It has been recorded that adolescents spend anywhere
between thirty-five and fifty-five hours playing video games or playing on
other media devices (Gentile, 2004). Popular video games among male adolescents
are often very violent and have been connected with aggressive behavior in the
video game player when they are not playing these games (Feldman, 2015, p. 189).
If these young, developing, boys continue to play these violent video games,
then they will be more likely to be aggressive and violent as adult men.
On several T.V.
shows that adolescents watch, they get the wrong idea of what a family is. In
our society, divorce is a common principle that is brushed off as nothing
major. In the past, couples getting a divorce was almost unheard of and, to
some people, frowned upon. This idea is demonstrated in many shows that present
a single mom or father taking care of their children. One of T.V.’s most
popular shows, Grey’s Anatomy, demonstrates this principle. Main characters are
seen starting relationships and the audience follows them as the characters go
through their ups and downs. On several occasions the audience sees the
characters hit a major bump in their relationship and they either end the
relationship or file for a divorce. Even though the show is not intentionally
conveying this message, teens are seeing and learning that it is easier to
terminate the relationship instead of working through the problems you are
facing and rebuilding the relationship afterwards.
Not only will an
electronics-addiction affect the families yet to come, but it is also affecting
the ones in the present. Parents are often seen giving their young children
their smart phones in public places in order to keep them from screaming or
even talking. Children will become
accustomed to this pattern and will expect to be given the cell phone every
time they go out with their parents. Children and adolescents are becoming addicted
to surfing the internet or playing games on tablets and are showing signs of not
being able to function without their devices. Psychiatrists have concluded that
future generations will become more agitated when things do not go their way
because “everything can be ‘now’ and on their terms, from mixing their own
hip-hop music choices (on iPods), to when (via [DVR recorders]) and where
(arranged by cell phone) they watch their desired television shows” (Brody, 2006).
The patience in the next generation will be little to none, and will have
negative effects on the generation after.
Some people would
argue that electronic advancements have a positive effect on a child’s access
to information and communication. While computers and tablets do help with
research and school projects, they are also easy distractions to the students
that are using them. There is something hypnotizing about using a computer or
tablet for your own personal interests. Electronics have made it possible to
maintain long distance relationships with family members and friends that have
moved away, but children are abusing this privilege because they are using technology
to make new friends from behind a screen instead of in person. Relationships
cannot be built through a screen because you are missing a key fundamental
interaction for good relationships, face-to-face conversations. Because
adolescents and children are not experiencing this interaction, they are
becoming socially awkward and will not have the right background knowledge for
social interactions in the future. It has been noted by writer, Carolyn
Gregorie, that people today are adapted to holding conversations with others
while being interrupted by an electronic device (Gregorie, 2013). Eye contact
in a conversation is the most crucial aspect because that allows the other
conversationalist to know that they are being heard and listened to. Limited eye-contact experience can hinder
children and adolescents when they are older and trying to get a job because
they may have a difficult time looking their interviewer in the eye when they
are speaking. This simple, unprofessional action can be a deciding factor when
it comes to giving the applicant the job or not.
Even though
electronics have had a great impact on scientific advancements, they have had a
negative effect on younger children and adolescents that use these devices
daily. These children have not been able to develop fully, which will impact
their future successes in social and professional encounters. Children and
adolescents have also been heavily influenced by the suggestive violence and
social acceptances in T.V. shows and video games that they watch and play.
Indeed electronics allow for speedy communication and information gathering,
but adolescents are becoming accustomed to these quick processes and will soon
rely on their devices to do things for them in the future.
References
American
Academy of Pediatrics: Children, adolescents, and television. (2001).
Pediatrics, 2, 423-6.
Brody,
M. (2006). Understanding teens in this age of digital technology. Brown
University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter, 12, 8.
Feldman,
R. S. (2015). Discovering the Life Span
(3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. 179, 1.
Gentile,
D., Oberg, C., Sherwood, N., Story, M., Walsh, D., & Hogan, M. (2004,
November). Well-child visits in the video age: pediatricians and the American
Academy of Pediatrics' guidelines for children's media use. Pediatrics, 5,
1235-1241 7.
Gregoire, C. (2013, July 28). How technology
is killing eye contact. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/28/why-youre-not-making-eye-_n_4002494.html
Lally, R. (2012, February 22). The human
brain from birth to age 3. Retrieved from
http://forourbabies.org/2012/02/22/the-human-brain-from-birth-to-age-3-2/
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