Istanbul Gelisim University - Technology leads children to lack of contact with their environment

Technology leads children to lack of contact with their environment

Stating that the abuse of technology has many negative effects on children in psychological, physical, cognitive and social areas, Lect. Buse Kerigan emphasizes, “Digital technology usage reduces the frequency of children's use of outdoor playgrounds and causes children to be out of touch with their environment.”

“IT HAS A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON PSYCHOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND SOCIAL AREAS”

Stating that children from all age groups grow together with both traditional and modern technology, Istanbul Gelisim University Department of Child Development Faculty member Buse Kerigan says, “Research shows that there has been an increase in the use of modern technology products such as computers, tablets and phones, which have become widespread in recent years. While the use of these technology products is consciously safe, beneficial when used for beneficial purposes and with a time limit it can be determined as abuse when used unsupervised, aimlessly and for long periods of time. Abuse of technology has many negative effects on children in psychological, physical, cognitive and social areas.”

Indicating that children participate in early literacy activities that are necessary throughout their lives, starting from the pre-school period, Kerigan says, “Today, there are many opportunities for children to develop their skills such as listening, expressing themselves, reading and writing. Technology, which is among these opportunities, provides many opportunities for children to play, explore and learn. These learning opportunities coincide with critical processes in the early stages of children's development since in this period, children's brains are extremely flexible and with each experience they have with a natural sense of discovery and research about their own world, new connections between neurons are formed and existing connections become stronger.”

CAUSES THE CHILD'S DISCONTACT WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

Stating that the use of digital technology is gradually decreasing the frequency of children's use of outdoor playgrounds, Lect. Kerigan says, “Therefore, the decrease in the usage time of outdoor playgrounds and the increase in the time allocated to the games on technological devices lead to a decrease in the face-to-face communication of children with their peers and group games. However, the use of digital technology causes children to spend individual time without requiring much physical energy expenditure, causes children to be passive receivers and causes children to be out of touch with their environment.

Kerigan continues her speech as follows:

“At the same time, children's acquaintance with technological devices at an early age in terms of cognitive level skills, spending too much time during the day, watching low quality and inappropriate content negatively affect their cognitive functions (impulse control, self-regulation, mental flexibility, ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others). According to various studies, excessive use of technological devices not only affects cognitive skills, but also negatively affects the development of cooperation, sharing and empathy skills of children, who are social beings, reduces their motivation in the face of any activity they have done, and affects their emotional development by affecting their ability to take responsibility.”

“FAMILIES SHOULD BE CONSCIOUS”

Emphasizing that families should be aware of their own duties and responsibilities, Kerigan says, “Although families are aware of the problems related to the use of traditional and new technological devices that may adversely affect their children's well-being, social/personal development and academic performance, they do not cooperate with healthcare professionals to address them. They should not forget the necessity of it.”