For this weeks blog, I decided to find an article on how technology is interfering with childhood socialization. The article I found from the nytimes.com is about how recess is no longer just to play, schools all over the country are worried because of the increase in bullying done on the playground. Coaches have been brought in from a national nonprofit called "Playworks" to 170 schools from the East to West coast. A study showed that children aged 6-11 spend more than 28 hours a week on computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. For children in past eras, part of childhood socialization was learning how to settle fights, make or break their own rules, and respect others. An estimation of 16,000 children miss school every day due to bullying. "It seems clear that there is a link among the increase of television and computer games, the decline in peer-peer socialization and the increase of bullying in our schools."
In my own opinion, I believe that technology is both helpful and harmful. It is helpful in the sense that it gives people the chance to discover things they wouldn't without the technological advances we have today. It is also harmful because as seen in the above article, it is tearing children away from going out in the real world and learning how to play with other children instead of virtually playing or watching T.V.
I agree with you Marykate that technology is both helpful and harmful. But when it comes to children, like in the article I think it is harmful. I believe children, including teens like us, spend way too much time on the television. Some say our new technology like Facebook, texting and twitter is good for kids and adults to communicate, but I disagree. I think it actually is harming your socialization skills. Kids need to practice communication in the real world not behind a computer screen, to me that doesn't count. They need to experience and practicing having conversations and telling people how they feel. These are skills kids need to develop, I find today kids and adults have trouble with this. To fix this, I think we should limit children's access to technology, that may be hard but if we did I think we would see an improvement in kid's socialization and communication skills.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you Mary Kate. I think often times technologies have negative effects on kids. It hurts their socialization skills and i feel it does more damage then benefit. My younger brother is only 6 and is always tapping away on his ipod touch and sometimes doesn't want to do his homework because he would rather play with it. I think parents should limit the access children have to the internet and technologies because it can only benefit them.
ReplyDeleteThe statistic that children aged 6-11 spend more than 28 hours a week on computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices is alarming. Where are the parents? Are they monitoring their child’s after school hours? Are these children even completing their homework? Sadly, some parents come home from a long day of work and they do not have the energy to interact with their kids, so they encourage TV watching and the usage of other electronic devices. Some parents even buy a DVD player for the car. The kids are entertained and there is no interaction and communication among the people in it. Hopefully, more parents will begin to get more diligent in monitoring their children’s free time as they become more aware of the harmful effects of technology on social development.
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