Ali Prematta

CSIT Homework: Assignment 2

February 21, 2015
Modern Technology and its Effect on the New Generation

Mobile and interactive media use by young children: The good, the bad and the
unknown
This article explains how todays society still does not know much about how
modern technology is affecting todays children. While there are definitely some
benefits of media usage by youth such as learning new vocabulary words and
reading comprehension skills, a lot remains unknown about how these mediated
applications are really affecting a childs brain development as well as the
development of his or her social skills and overall personality. What researchers
have found, however, is that children under the age of thirty months cannot really
register and process what they see on a screen, or click on via mouse or keyboard.
Babies are unable to make valuable learning connections to acquire and retain the
digitized concepts typically illustrated through fun cartoon characters, games, and
videos. Therefore, should it be acceptable for parents to place their young children
in front of a TV screen or computer monitor for hours in order to keep them
occupied and provide a type of coping mechanism for when a child is tired or upset?
If parents continue to only expose their babies and even children 30 months and
older (who may grasp some educational concepts through interactive media usage)
to interactive media and not social, interpersonal interactions, the outcome could
be seriously detrimental. Studies have already found that that children who spend
an disproportionate amount of time with mediated activities whether it be
television, the computer, smart phones, or video games; have more social problems
and have a harder time when it comes to real life interactions and relationships.
Correspondingly, although an immense amount of research has not been done
regarding digitized interactive apps for young children, the outcome of any
mediated learning time chosen primarily to an actual interpersonal connection with
someone such as a family member, teacher, or peer; can ultimately put that child at
more of a risk for developing social issues and communication skills later on in his
or her life.
I typed in the same key words, effects, technology ,media and children into
the search bar for Internet Explorer, the Windows News search bar, and Google
Chrome and I received valuable information on each website. First, when I searched
on internet explorer, I came across the article, "Mobile and Interactive Media Use
by Young Children: The Good, the Bad and the Unknown." Which explained how
interactive application can be a positive influence on a childs development as long
as he or she is above the age of thirty months old and as long as the application or
other form of media use is not taking over real life learning experiences and social
interaction via a childs family, teacher, classmates, etc. Through the Windows

News search engine, I came across the New York Times article, Children and
Technology: How Much Is Best? which focused on how some technology is
beneficial when it comes to a childs educational development but how it can also
be very harmful if too much time is being focused on digitized apps, games, and
videos rather than actual real life education situations, interactions, and concrete
learning devices such as books, drawings, and real life experience. When I typed in
the same four key words into google Chrome, one of the top sites was on an article
called, Smartphones May Derail Social Development of Kids. Which talked about
the same similar issues of child development and technology but focused more on
this the technology via mobile devise rather than computer apps and games like on
the first two web sites found on the two different browsers. Still, however, the same
conclusion was drawn that social interactions should most definitely come before
any type of mediated form of education or entertainment.
In comparing all three search engines, I find that all of the information I received
and on the first two web pages of each browser was credible and informative. Each
website and/ or search engine offered up websites and news articles which related
to the four key words I typed in the search bar and therefore all forms of my
searchers proved to be beneficial. However, one thing I did notice was that the
Windows news search tool displayed more news articles than both internet explorer
and google chrome which is something helpful to know if I am ever simply looking
for a small news article rather than a detailed website regarding a topic. Also the
Windows News search bar provided me with the most recent news articles whereas
Internet explorer included articles and sites in the top 20 searches that were both
very recent and up to five years old. Lastly, google chrome seemed to provide me
with more blogs rather than credible, scholarly websites which is good to know if I
know I am searching information limited to only a professional, credible source
rather than individual opinions.
After evaluating all three sources, I find that the article found on Windows News is
probably the most beneficial, valuable, and overall provides the most reliable
information. The article, Children and Technology: How Much is Best? was written
on February 8, 2015 which is the most recent article out of all the articles I read on
the different search tools. It completely relates to my topic as it discusses the
importance of mediated technology and the important role it plays in todays
technology based society. However, more importantly, it goes very in depth about
the consequences of replacing technology with real life social interactions especially
in a classroom setting where it seems as though technology has taken priority. The
article illustrated how even though mediated learning applications can help
students learn material more efficiently and in a more entertaining way, the need
for student- teacher and student-student discussion and interaction is still vital.
Likewise, in a home life setting, children still need the emotional stability and
affection of family and friends in their lives in order to be emotionally and socially
stable as he or she matures. Moving on from the overall content of the article, I
know that this article is reliable because it provided the author, Susan Pinker, who is
a well- Canadian psychologist, journalist and broadcaster whose newspaper
columns, Problem Solving and The Business Brain, on the psychology and

neuroscience of the business world, appeared weekly in Canadas national

newspaper. Also, the article includes information from other credible authors and
researches as well as universities to support the information given. For example,
the article explains research done by Duke University economists Jacob Vigdor and
Helen Ladd which shows how giving students computers actually had a negative
result in those students academic performance. They said that, Students who
gain access to a home computer between the 5th and 8th grades tend to witness a
persistent decline in reading and math scores. Similarly, Larry Cuban, an emeritus
education professor at Stanford said, Its true that there is often an initial uptick in
students engagement with their studies interactive apps can be fun. But the
novelty wears off after a few months. As you can see, the research is supported by
professors and researchers who all find that yes, technology is beneficial but, no, it
should not replace social interactions. In conclusion, the article is a trustworthy,
unbiased article meant to be informative and objective in order to educate its
readers about the pros and cons of media usage affecting todays generation.
When searching on the CCBC library database and using the keywords of
technology and children and Effects of media on children, I came across some
very helpful sites and information. First of which is the article, The Influence of
Young Children's Use of Technology on Their Learning: A Review. which discusses
the advantages and disadvantages of digitized education but still puts a large
emphasis on the need for a child-adult relationship in order to ensure that the
knowledge demonstrated from technology is being fully understood. This article
was found using the ProQuest Database which is a search engine that I personally
found to be very easy to access reliable information efficiently. I used ProQuest
because I was able to be very specific on the type of information I was looking for
and I was able to ensure that the information I would be receiving would be
scholarly, credible material and not just opinions or blogs written by people who do
not necessarily have knowledge in the matter of the effects of technology on
children. The second article I found using the same key words was the journal,
Examination of the Relationship between Students' Attitudes towards Computer
and Self-Directed Learning with Technology. This article talked about not only
the pros and cons of computer based education but also the students opinion and
overall feeling toward receiving media influenced education as well as education
through teacher and class mates in a traditional setting. When comparing this
article (which I found by simply using the basic search on the library catalog instead
of a very specified search on ProQuest) I found that the material in this article was,
not surprisingly, a little more vague and less detailed and dense than the previous
article regarding childrens attitudes and the research behind the multiple
technology opportunities the new generation has taken full advantage of. This
makes sense that the two articles differed in detail because it makes sense that if
the search is an advanced search rather than a basic key word search, the amount
of results relating to my key words will vary in size. However, both articles still gave
me credible information and provided evidence for their claims via research studies
and statistics drawn from those test surveys. Also, both articles were academic
journals meaning they have been reviewed and written by people of knowledge in
that specific topic such as professors or researchers. Lastly, both websites allowed

me to find information which was proved to be very resourceful and it only took a
couple minute at maximum to find exactly what I was looking for. I found that the
more specific I was on my search (by using the advance search and having specific
key words) the faster I was in finding exactly I was looking for.

Sources (MLA Format)

"Mobile and Interactive Media Use by Young Children: The Good, the Bad and
the Unknown." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.

"Children and Technology: How Much Is Best?" The New York Times. The New
York Times, 08 Feb. 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2015

"Smartphones May Derail Social Development of Kids." - Khaleej Times. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Journal of Educational Technology & Society; Oct2014, Vol. 17 Issue 4, p8599, 15p (retrieved from CCBC ProQuest Database)

Education & Science / Egitim ve Bilim; 2014, Vol. 39 Issue 176, p257-266, 10p
(retrieved from CCBC Basic Search Database)