Carlton Post

4/16/2013

Are children being exposed to too much technology?
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19870199

Troy Holbrook

4/16/2013 03:09:02 pm

I would have to agree that children are exposed to much screen time, or, as in this case, electronic media time on devices that have screens. The amount of time that children spend in front of computers, gaming devices, TV’s, smart phones, etc. is disturbing. I believe that it hinders children in two ways. First, they do not spend enough time engaged in social interaction, and secondly, the time they spend involved in technology is depriving children of physical exercise. I am fifty something in age. When I was in seventh grade, we came home from school, did our home work, put on play clothes and went out to play for as long as we could before mom would drag us all into the house. Usually that would be well after dark. Childhood obesity was not an issue then.

Mary McGee

4/16/2013 08:53:08 pm

Troy you always say something that I am thinking and I love how your posts add so much to our class! I do agree that our children are exposed to too much screen time. I think that access to TV, computers, video games etc. does decrease appropriate social interactions and you are spot on about obesity!! I too was one that was outside as long as possible, when it was dark we came up with games like shadow tag. I wish there were a way to better integrate the best of both worlds and time periods.

Troy Holbrook

4/18/2013 05:04:39 am

Thanks Mary. I usually approach things with an open mind and very little reservation about speaking my mind.

Melissa Lovette

4/17/2013 11:46:14 am

Yes Sir! I am 40 and my mother would not even let us watch TV after school. It was the same, homework first, change clothes and go outside. If you came in and complained you were bored, you got twice as many chores. We played ball, made forts, played in the creek, you name it. We entertained ourselves. The most time I spend with technology was on Saturday mornings watching cartoons.

Zech Bowman

4/21/2013 12:58:18 pm

I can remember my dad literally picking me up at times and throwing me outside to get off my butt. My brother and I seemed to spend a lot of time playing catch, basketball, or something. The only time I got any time with technology was at school in the library or computer lab playing Oregon Trail.

Dane Frazier

4/21/2013 12:58:36 pm

Thats the way it should be when children get home from school, but while they are in school they should learn how to use technology as that is the way of the future.

Armegis Spearman

5/4/2013 11:06:55 am

I think kids today need the same type of instruction today. I never learned to play video games and own one today but the uses for it doesn't include playing games. The lack of activity from kids of today helps in a tough battle with child obesity in our country today, I think all children should have the responsibility of some type of structured chores and activity period before playing games or surfing the web. This is only after homework is done!!

Heather Carlton

4/18/2013 07:41:05 am

I agree -- children spend so much less time outside or with friends. They come home and get on the computer, watch tv, play video games, play games on their iPad, etc. There are so many different forms of technology -- it surrounds children of today.

Dane Frazier

4/18/2013 02:02:49 pm

I agree that children spend to much time inside playing on the computer and watching movies and stuff like that when they should be outside getting exercise.

Caleb Haynes

4/19/2013 01:09:59 am

I totally agree with you. Children now days lack social skills and are definitely not as active as they once were. Screen time has a lot to do with this in my opinion.

Kayla Yount

4/19/2013 01:56:26 am

I'm just 23 and I too as a child was consistently outside playing with the other children on my block. When I wasn't at home playing outside, I was participating in three different sports. It's crazy to me how in such a short amount of time the technology use by children has increased so dramatically, and they are never outside being active anymore.

Mary McGee

4/16/2013 09:04:24 pm

I found the most disturbing words in this article to be that "a child born today will have spent a full year glued to screens by the time they reach the age of seven." I am astonished and can't really wrap my head around the concept of near 9000 hours of screen time by the age of seven. Further many children are viewing multiple screens at the same time, a handheld game and TV. I always thought I was relatively good at multitasking so i tried to type part of this with the TV on and I could not concentrate on both, I missed what the TV said or I had a major typo. I want to challenge everyone to try.

I'm not sure if this is on topic or not but I have read that our children have a life expectancy shorter than ours and will be the first generation to make less money than their parents. I often wonder how much of this is because of lack of social skills, lack of motivation (why work if I can play on the computer or video games)? Could the medical problems due to lack of movement and the chronic health problems that occur when we have a sedentary lifestyle?

Colie Trawick

4/17/2013 01:15:07 am

I agree with you, our children do have a lack of social skills and public speaking skills. This is a generation where you do what makes you happy and not just work so that you can support yourself or your family. I find your questions are the same as mine. And if their is a correlation between the two, how do we begin to fix it?

Melissa Lovette

4/17/2013 11:54:02 am

I found the same statistics in the article disturbing as well. It is sad really. There are some really talented kids out there who are excellent "gamers" but put them in a situation where they have to interact with a group of peers and they don't know what to do with themselves. I just don't see how spending this much time in front of a screen whether it's a big one or a little one is good for your health either.

Troy Holbrook

4/18/2013 05:14:24 am

Part of the problem the fact our children have slipped from one to number seven overall in academics from a global perspective. This has happened over thepast 20 years or so. The only way that we can maintain a competetive edge these days is to import brain power from other countries. This is known as the "brain drain".Other countries are starting to wise up to this notion and are offering more and more incentives to their scientists, doctors and engineers to stay in their own country. Eventually we will find ourselves at such a deficit, intellectually speaking, that we will lose our technological edge completely.

Colie Trawick

4/17/2013 01:12:46 am

I think that children are being exposed to too much technology. It should be monitored and controlled at home as well as in the classroom since we are determined to bring technology within the classroom. You think about other countries and how they ban certain social media networks and what the direct correlation it is to the successes they have educating their youth.

Wendy Walker

4/17/2013 04:22:01 am

I feel strongly against a lot of the social media usage that students have. That just opens up such a big area for harassment, mistreatment and plain trouble. Parents do not often monitor their kids.
I always think of China and Japan when I think of our students being behind in education. They have still managed to hold on to their core family values while being on the forefront of education. Is it because they work at an earlier age and longer at having their kids be a success by depending on the parents continue their education at home or is it something else? Do they monitor social media and their children's exposure to technology more than we do?

Heather Carlton

4/18/2013 07:48:26 am

I used to work at a summer day camp, and I have 8 and 9 year old kids from there that have tried adding me on Facebook. It's a little strange to me.I don't think I would be comfortable with that as a parent.

Crissina Kemp

4/21/2013 01:02:14 pm

I agree that too much social media is not a good thing for students and distracts them from reading books or learning about other things. You raised some good questions about how other countries have managed to keep family values at the core while being in the forefront of education. I believe it is because parents in those countries hold higher academic expectations of their children and teach from early on that education comes before anything else after family. I recently read an article that students in those countries go to school longer hours in a day than American students, and then when they get home, they are expected to complete homework and study to be prepared for the next day. I'm not sure of their exposure to social media or how much time they have to spend on technology devices. Also, when they do utilize technology, what types of activities are they doing? These would be good things to know and compare to American students and their use of technology.

Cassandra Nappier

4/18/2013 04:21:42 am

I agree, it should be monitored and controlled, but the reality is that it is not. In fact, I have witnessed more and more parents using technology to entertain their kids. It is easier for the parent to turn on a cartoon so that they may work around the house than sit outside and watch their child play.

Wendy Walker

4/17/2013 04:17:56 am

I think it is a fine line we are treading with children. We are propelled to include technology in as much aspects of our lives as we can because that is the society we live in, but children are missing out. I think the time should be monitored and controlled by the parent and teachers. While techonology is great in aiding students in learning and emphasizing ideas, it can become a crutch. If it is used too much, children will develop fewer social and communication skills. I think children should be out playing and exploring more than they are using technology.
My son will become obsessed with MineCraft if I let him use my phone to play on. He can play that game for hours if I let him. I have times when we simply turn everything off and they can color or play outside or draw with chalk. I do let them play pbskids.org or starfall.com for limited amounts of time, when the time is up it is up.
I just wonder sometimes if we are rushing our kids to grow up and be tech savvy to the point where the are missing some of the fun of being a kid.

Melissa Lovette

4/17/2013 11:40:27 am

Yes, children are exposed to too much technology. For one there is too much of it! So many choices from laptops, smartphones, tablets, you name it. It doesn't take much to get your hands on some piece of technology and there's not one student in my classroom that doesn't have a piece of it. Of all the technology listed in the article most of my students have it all or at least half. That's crazy because they are only in the third grade! I actually had a student this week not complete homework because he stayed up late doing chores with his dad. They had to feed the cattle and cut wood. He said they did that till dark, came in, ate supper, took showers then went to bed. He remembered he had homework on the way to school that morning. I just about fell over, usually students don't get homework completed because they were up watching TV or playing video games. I was so proud of him for helping his dad with chores (and I called to check) I allowed him to complete it in class without a homework notice.
I just feel so much technology is a babysitter for many parents and yes I think it needs to be monitored. I have many students who I feel stay up way to late for a school night trying to complete some level on a game and as a result they are falling asleep or didn't get their homework completed. Too much technology can result in health problems plus mental problems. Students also don't even know how to communicate with others, or deal with difficult situations because they aren't exposed to anything but a device. While technology can be benefical it can hlso harmful,

Mary McGee

4/17/2013 09:40:58 pm

I am astonished by your student too, we do not often hear, even in our rural areas about children being outside. I do agree that some parents use technology for babysitters, as a young child I was allowed Mr. Rogers and maybe Sesame Street and that was a rare treat. I often think back to my first computer and never did I think I would be able to do more on my smart phone than on that computer. Social skills are my biggest concern, it drives me crazy seeing students text after school to someone on the other side of the room. Call me old fashioned but I like face to face or using my phone to talk to someone. We have lost so much social conversation it is frightening.

Crissina Kemp

4/21/2013 12:54:03 pm

Wow, it's sad to hear that children as young as third grade are exposed to so much technology. It was good to hear that one of the students was actually outside doing chores with his dad. I work with a lot of non-traditional students with children, and I see how much the students are on technology devices such as their phones or laptops that I often wonder how much it effects the quality time spend with their children or if like you said, technology has become a babysitter for the children. It's unfortunate that our society today feels like we can't function on a daily basis without technology, and I have read articles about technology affecting the physical health of people such as eyesight, causing depression, or affecting their social skills. Technology does have a lot of benefits, but it can also be too much of a good thing.

Crissina Kemp

4/17/2013 01:43:12 pm

Great question! With all of the talk in education and our discussions in this class about using or adding the new, different types of technology, it raises a good question about whether or not children are being exposed to too much technology. In my opinion, I think they are being exposed to too much technology too early. Young children are growing up inside the home using all of this technology during a time when they should be outside exploring and playing with others. They have plenty of time to learn about and use technology as they get older, but should enjoy being a kid learning about the world by experiencing it instead of through the screen on some type of technology device. Not to mention the social skills from learning and playing with other people instead of by themselves on a piece of technology. I can see how young people could get depressed after spending hours with online social media, and I have noticed how some students growing up with the new technology lack social skills because the only way they interact with other people is through technology. So yes, I would say being exposed to too much technology can be a bad things and should be limited and supervised by parents.

Laurel Thornton

4/18/2013 09:40:23 am

So true. I was such an outside kid. I loved getting messy and exploring. This is because I was not allowed to sit in front of a screen for hours at a time. If my parents hadn't set those guidelines, I would have spent that time in front of the TV instead of getting out to explore and learn.

Cassandra Nappier

4/18/2013 04:20:07 am

I believe that children are being exposed to way too much screen time. I look around and see these little kids with smartphones, ipads, and facebook accounts and cannot help but wonder if they have ever experienced playing in the dirt. I also wonder, how many parents use forms of technology to babysit their kids? More and more children are told to hush and watch tv rather than go outside and play. This is both sad and frightening to me.

Heather Carlton

4/18/2013 07:43:37 am

I also wonder how many parents use technology as a babysitter. It's easy to hand a kid an iPad or a video game in an attempt to keep them out of your hair.

Laurel Thornton

4/18/2013 09:37:47 am

Absolutely. Not only are children overly exposed to technology, but adults as well. I see it over and over again with my students. Many times the kids who are not able to focus and get in trouble in class are the ones who spend hours at a time playing video games at home. It alters thier ability to focus on anything less visually stimulating. Personally, since I got an iPhone a year ago, I find it harder to focus on a book for an extended period of time, and I've been an avid reader all my life. If technology can have that affect on a developed adult brain, imagine the impact on a developing mind.

4/18/2013 01:54:13 pm

I mean they make nooks.

T-Party

4/18/2013 01:57:00 pm

and kindles

Armegis Spearman

5/4/2013 11:08:53 am

I agree that the adults are the true over exposed individuals in most situations and they ultimately control the amount of usage by their kids.

Caleb Haynes

4/19/2013 01:08:46 am

I feel like now days kids are in front of screens too much. I think it is important to get use to technology especially in educational ways, but when it is for fun like playing xbox or being on facebook I feel like there should be a limit. Children need to get out and play and be active. This will help them live healthier lives, interact face to face with people and learn social skills. I really feel like kids today lack social skills because they do everything behind a screen.

Kayla Yount

4/19/2013 01:53:58 am

Ever since I was young I have always been an active outdoors person. There's almost nothing I love more than some fresh air. It is disturbing to me how much time children spend inside sitting in front of a screen of some sort of device. And I feel as though that amount of time continues to grow every year. Children are not as active as they used to be, and it is hindering them physically. The obesity rate has grown steadily for a long time now, and I hate when I see obese children. I think that exposure to technology has a lot to do with these problems in children. They are not active, and as well are not socially active with their peers. There is a complete difference between interaction through a screen, and interaction out in the real-world. In order to live the healthiest lifestyle that they can children need to cut back on the time that they spend in front of screens, and get out there and be active and interactive with their world.

Zech Bowman

4/21/2013 12:54:41 pm

Let me be short and sweet about this... YES!!!

It drives me nuts how much time these kids want to spend on the computer, XBOX, playstation, phone, etc. I can remember how my parents had me and my brother outside all the time doing something even when they were not at the house.

The number one question that I despise and banned in my classroom is "CAN WE HAVE OUR ELECTRONICS?!" I hate the question so much so that when it is asked I ban any electronics use for a week at a time. We wonder why our kids act the way that they do, it is because of the amount of time they spend staring at a screen. Seriously, how do you expect them to learn how to interact and behave when they are glued to all that?

Armegis Spearman

5/4/2013 10:54:33 am

I totally believe that kids are being exposed to too much technology today. Not only does almost every kid own a cell phone today, I find that most of them own Iphones and Ipads. I am sure that most of the parents that buy them everything that they want and desire, doesn't know much about safety or proper security. I see kids that my friends have raised that don't want to go outside and get a spec of dirt on them. It is only skype and video games with the kids that I have witnessed or its mass texting at all times of the day and night. Who monitors the conversations and times of calls or computer usage today?

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This blog is for class conversations for ED 514 at Central Methodist University. These post are by the students of ED 514. We invite input form other teachers about how they use technology in their classrooms.

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