Why Do Parents Allow Their Children To Have Technological

"Screen time" is a term used for activities done in front of a screen such as watching television, playing video games, working on a computer, using a smartphone, smartwatch, or tablet. It is sedentary activity for entertainment purposes for young children, teenagers, and even adults. There is no doubt that screens have changed our lives over the years—some for the better and some not. These changes affect infants through adulthood. Most American children spend about 3 hours a day watching TV. Children aged 5-16, spend an average of six and a half hours a day in front of a screen (Jane Wakefield).

Kids should not have their own devices because it can lead to health problems, and for the kids it is a big distraction. “Studies show that screen time is tied to health problems. Using computers or phones can lead to being overweight. It also can make it harder for kids to pay attention for long periods of time.”

While some young people utilize technology to create great content such as music, literature, or coding, it has created a budding effect of a generation that is obsessed with consumption. The truth is the majority of youth’s time has been excessively dedicated to passive activities like watching tv or online videos, gaming and scrolling through social media. According to Common Sense Media, when it’s summed up America’s youth is using an average of 6 hours of media daily, not counting for school or homework. That is a massive chunk stolen from a child’s day and the effects can be extremely damaging. It is leading the young generation of today to become overstimulated, over-scheduled and under pressure to perform both academically and beyond

Today children are exposed to a different world than the one their parents grew up in. Consumerism plays a significant influence in children’s lives, including technology. This has led to over usage of technology as a reason for increased health issues in children, and basic building blocks of healthy development being ignored. Children are no longer interested in creative play, which is vital to problem-solving, learning, imagining and thinking. Instead, children can often be found sitting in front of a television, for up to seven hours a day, with their back hunched over and in an almost zombie like state of mind.

Technology has become a part of our daily lives, our entertainment and our main source of information. Every day we use some sort of device, even kids as young as one or two. But giving young children electronic devices, such as phones and tablets, can negatively affect their development as they grow.

"this generation of American kids (ages 3 to 18) is the tech-savviest in history: 27% of them use tablets, 43% use smartphones, and 52% use laptops." This shows that is quite an important subject and it is worth acknowledging. Then he also mentions how the country is also contributing to this issue by starting, "the most tech-saturated school year ever: Los Angeles County alone will spend $30 million on classroom iPads this year, outfitting 640,000 kids by late 2014." Yet only half of the parents in the USA agree that there should be such a prominence of technology in kids' lives, according to findings by, "the research firm Grunwald Associates." As you can notice, we are only though the first couple of paragraphs, yet we have passed through a number of statistics and studies. Then he shifts his concentration to the Parental Adage, "The less time spent with screens, the better." He tries to explain why parents support such a rule and apply it to their kids' lives. He represents some side effects of extensive tech use, such as, "watching too much TV can lead to obesity, violence and attention-deficit/hyperactivity

American children in today’s world spend too much time with electronic devices. Without so much time spent with an electronic device children could have better critical thinking skills, there would be lower childhood obesity rates and there would be fewer behavior problems. Electronic devices can be wonderful forms of entertainment but children in some American families need to spend less time in front of electronic device screens. Since one electronic device is in most households in America that may lead a child into using that as their only form of entertainment, which is not a good habit to grow up on.

Collins and her husband are just one example of parents in the 21st century who have become dependent on technology for their children’s enjoyment and their less stressful lives. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it recommends no “screen time”, from television to smartphones, for ages two and under, and less than two hours a day for children older than two until they are teenagers. The impact of rapidly advancing technology on the developing child has caused an increase of physical, psychological, and behavioral disorders that health and education systems are just beginning to detect and understand. Children have a variety of factors necessary to achieve healthy child development, which includes “movement, touch, human connection, and exposure to nature,” as specified by pediatric occupational therapist, Cris Rowan. Parents rather than hugging, playing, rough housing, and conversing with children, are increasingly resorting to supplying their children with more technological devices, creating drifts from relationships and minds of

Currently, screen time and our nation’s youth go hand-in-hand. “Screen time” is the usage of any type of electrical device that require viewing, listening, or playing. It seems as though children own one or more of: a cell phone, video game console, tablet, television, or “smart device.” These pieces of technology appear to be counterintuitive to the initiative to get C&As more physically active. These types of technologies promote a sedentary life style of “binging” on entertainment. At first, the problem only began with television. In the average American home, the television is on for 6 hours a day, even if no one is watching (Vandewater, Bickman, Lee, Cummings, Wartella & Rideout, 2005). The problem has shifted to the other devices

According to a New York Times article this January, the average kid, ages 8-18, spends over 7 ½ hours a day using technology gadgets equaling 2 ½ hours of music, almost 5 hours of tv and movies, three hours of internet and video games, and just 38 minutes of old fashioned reading according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which adds up to 75 hours a week! These statistics are not just mere numbers; they are a reflection of the way our society is heading. There is a direct correlation of amount of hours spent with gadgets and obesity, poor grades, impatience, violence, and a loss of family interest.

Living in a world of technology, media use is always increasing. Cell phones, tablets, televisions, and video games can be found in nearly every US home. Children of this generation are exposed to a variety of media and most incorporate it into their everyday lives. “A national survey in the US found that children aged 8 to 18 years had an average media usage time of 7 hours and 38 minutes every day” (Agarwal & Dhanasekaran, 2012). With this much media use, a child is sure to be influenced in some way by the excessive screen time. Studies show that too much screen time can have harmful effects on a child’s emotional, social, and physical capabilities.

Most of the time when parents give an electronic device to a child is just to entertain them, not to educate them. Now days children develop many disorders before they enter school; some of these disorders can be obesity, lack of self-control, and poor ability to speak, and the reason is the technology overuse. If parents keep using electronics to raise their children, our society will be doomed. We will have isolated teenagers with no interest in being outside in nature, just sitting in front of a big screen, playing online with long distance players whom they will never meet, and others who immerse themselves in Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, seeking “friends” and looking for social approval, but never making a real relationship with anyone.

The amount of time spent with the family has been reduced due to technology. Children are spending more time on the media and playing video games than with their family members. Meal times have also been cut short as most children hurry to finish their foods so that they can continue watching their favorite movies or play video games. Additionally, in families that spend their mealtimes while the TVs are on, the children focus their attention to the television ignoring their parents (Clinton, & Steyer, 2012). They might not respond to the critical questions their parents are asking them. In the past, families used to visit parks where children could play physical games with their friends, but today they visit movie and entertainment sports to play video games. The time spent doing homework and conducting home studies has also been affected by the technology. Children are spending more time on technology than they study at their homes.

Children are spending too much time on technology, causing impatience and excessive boredom in their everyday lives. Heidi, who is a mom of 2 kids, has noticed an increase of impatience with her kids ever since she started allowing them to have technology access (Croatt). Also, the more exposed kids are to technology, the more they’re exposed to bullying on the Internet. Young kids shouldn't have to worry about bullying at such a young age (“How Young is too Young for an iPhone?”)

Technology is used in every part of daily life. In recent decades, electronic devices have become a common part of the American home. It is common to see children using technology by playing on cell phones and tablets. Parents may be surprised at how quickly children learn to use technology. A study done in 2013 by Common Sense Media, showed that “seventy-two percent of children under the age of eight have used a mobile device, and 38% of children under two have used one.” Another study completed by Kaiser Foundation in 2010 and published in The Huffington Post, showed “that elementary aged children use on average 7.5 hours per day of entertainment technology, 75 percent of these children have TV’s in their bedrooms, and 50 percent of North American homes have the TV on all day.” Technology is changing how children act and also changing the relationships between parents and their children. With all