In the grand and unfathomed scheme of world development, everything has two kinds of impact, and so is the result in every case. And the one such minutely changing force in world today is Technology, that is effecting every single possible sector of life and have significant impact on the building of the future. And the very building blocks of our future are our children. So, it is worth delving deep into what is likely to be as the result of the constant coexistence of technology and our children. The impact, by the very nature of technology itself, is most likely to be more detrimental than developmental.
The most vital differences that activities through technology offer are an advanced level of complexity through a process mechanism, more in- depth understanding, superior coordination and a kind of logically deductive foresight. Developing technology offers superior need of coordinative activities and multitasking that increase the functional capacity of children today. For example, working through multilayer processes empower them with further depth of understanding of how systems or formats of activities work. Such understanding leads to greater logical predictability or insight into logically deducted outcomes. Be it any entertaining game or serious online options of learning or self development, the above process is more of less the same, and so strong is the positive impact in terms of growth of knowledge and capacity. However, all these are purposeful the impact and motivation of which are often immediate and unsustainable.
As mentioned, it is detrimental by the very nature of technology itself; that is, technology exerts certain harm by simply its very use by children. And understandably enough, it is an inevitable impact that hardly can be avoided if set loose.
Among the numerous developmental elements and forces, the most important ones that impact child development productively are directed and purpose- specific movement, tactile input and interaction, socio- psychological natural sets of human interaction, and daily exposure to nature. Such input corresponds to the development of physical posture, bilateral coordination, natural arousal conditions, and conscious self direction and assessment, all of which assist a normal living pattern; especially a good school admission and natural peer interaction. Such sensory and psychological input and interaction, on daily basis, are crucial to the development of children’s vestibular, perceptive and tactile systems. Input through touch like hugging, kissing or tapping on the back, help develop praxis or planned and purposeful pattern of movements in a very significant manner. Touch also calms the entire neuro- psychological milieu of a child’s psyche by lowering adrenalin, cortisol and patterns of anxiety. This one thing helps develop the self assurance, confidence, empathy, leadership, and intrinsic talents of the child who receives it in the natural course of his or her day. Exposure to the greenery of nature boosts relaxation, rate of identifiability and intake, retention, rate of attention span and consistency, and overall learning of even complex set of knowledge.
In the regular phase of daily involvement with technology; especially on entertainment purpose; a very dangerous juxtaposition occurs as practice. With the constant physical sedentary state, such technology offers a kind of frenzied and chaotic set of stimuli at the occasion of every single activity. Human sensory and motor systems are not adaptive so such disarrayed patterns of input and involvement. This results in sensory impaired condition and disorders, that expand to reflect on motor skills and behavioural disorders. General mechanism of perception if often distorted as a result causing problem in comprehension on the long term. Another natural consequence of such regular physical static state is obesity that leads to hypertension and heart disease on the long run. Such sensory polarity gives rise to the risk of having coordination disharmony, neurological and physical growth obstruction, unaccounted anxiety, overstressed nerves, unintelligible speech, learning complexity and obstruction, sensory and information processing sloth and incapability, and above all, sleep disorder. While on one hand, the advanced nature of technology is empowering our children with rather complex and superior functional and analytic capability, it is; by its very nature; causing such irreversible conditions that affect our child’s future detrimentally and permanently.
As mentioned, everything that serves as an element of development always has a detrimental effect as well. It really is important to focus on the extent of impact that remains over a period of time. Most of the abilities that children develop through being involved with technology are indeed commendable, but most of them are immediate in effect unless they are put to practice always and constantly. However, the detrimental effect is far more sustainable and even irreversible that would not affect any immediate or short term phase of a child, but the entire lifetime. This, in turn, has a permanent consequence at any phase of life, the impact of which would expand beyond the individual and have adverse impact on the national depending on the frequency and intensity; both of which are likely to be extreme considering the present scenario.
References
Castells, Manuel (2009). The Rise of the Network Society (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK. Print.
Mesthene, E.G. (1970). Technological Change: Its Impact on Man and Society. Harvard University Press. Print.
Rowan, Cris. (2013). The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cris-rowan/technology-children-negative-impact_b_3343245.html.
