Negative effects of technology on children’s education
There are numerous advantages or rather benefits that technology has impacted the education sector. However, with its benefits, there are also a number of severe negative effects that technology has brought within the education sector especially among young children. Within contemporary society, technology is everywhere and children have not been left out in using agents of technology in one way or another (Check & Schutt 2012). Currently, the world is run by technology. It is common to see children as young as two years watching cartoons on playing with a mobile phone. Many parents are currently using technological tools such as phones to keep their children busy while they attend to their daily duties. Despite the fact that children are entertained by these technological tools, a wide body of literature reveals that these tools might be having negative effects on children (Alghamdi, 2016).
Findings on many studies have confirmed that when electronic devices are overused, they might result in impairment in the growth and development process of a child particularly socially. Children’s socializing skills can be compromised especially when it comes to their ability to make and interact with friends on a personal level, also children might not have the ability to be accountable for their actions and displaying appropriate behaviors as expected in society (Alghamdi, 2016). These children might have a hard time learning since they are most likely not to abide by the rules provided in school. Long term use of technological tools among children can also cause them to be moody and challenges in maintaining focus. Many children who overuse technological tools such as tablets, smartphones and computers among other things often display reduce attention in classwork and subsequently perform poorly when it comes to exams. Anxiety brought up by a lack of social skills can also contribute to reduced concentration in class work (Alghamdi, 2016).
Technology can also be harmful to children’s education by affecting their brains. Numerous studies have asserted that the brain of children is still in the development stage and thus it is vulnerable to environmental influences (Alghamdi, 2016). Some studies have found out that playing video games leads to the production of dopamine and subsequently resulting in similar effects with drugs thus making children addicted to these games. When children become addicted to these games, it becomes extremely challenging for them to focus on classwork (Check & Schutt 2012). As a result, they exhibit poor performance in school which if not controlled early enough they might end up performing poorly and lack the motivation of pursuing further studies.
I believe that technology can be a very integral tool that can be positively and effectively used to enhance education even among children. However, many parents lack to understand the negative effects that technology can have on their children from the formative years of education. Therefore, it is important that parents and society, in general, are provided with education on how to manage technology so that it does not result in negative impacts. The education sector should also incorporate within the syllabus subjects that will teach children from formative years on the dangers of technology and how to manage the time spent in technological tools. By doing this, there is a possibility that the negative impact of technology on education will be lessened.
Reference
Check, J., & Schutt, R. (2012). Research methods in education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing. ISBN: 9781412940092.
Alghamdi, Y. (2016). Negative Effects of Technology on Children of Today. Oakland University.
0
1310