Children In The Digital Age

Emily Glaenzer

July 28, 2011

I babysit my neighbor every Thursday night. Her name is Sydney, she is three, has short blond hair tied back in a bow and classic baby fat cheeks with big blue eyes. I’ve babysat Sydney for only a year or so, but already am noticing some major differences in how her childhood is beginning than how mine began. I’ve noticed how TV instantly soothes her regardless of the problem (scrapes, bruises, crying for her parents). I’ve noticed how much she loves her plastic pink cell phone and her Dora the Explorer cell phone and her baby blue toy laptop. I’ve noticed how much she hates playing with her blocks, the only simple toy in the house.

Sydney is not alone. Children around the world are tuning into the digital age (or are becoming part of what Don Tapscott calls the “Net Generation”). Research originally done by the Seattle Research Institute shows that 30-50% of preschoolers have a TV in their bedroom. I find this statistic startling, while many kid’s shows are educational, I worry that they may be hooking themselves onto this media too soon. I’m worried that one day these kids may wake up to find that without their technology around they will not be able to function. I’m worried that this day has already passed.

We as a society are addicted to the Internet, to our smartphones even to our TV shows. And this is only within the past ten years. Larry Rosen states in “Teaching the iGeneration”, “Just as we don’t think about the existence of air, kids don’t question the existence of technology and media”. I speak from personal experience when I say I am regularly in communication with others and incessantly surrounded people using their computers, smartphones, and ipods. It has become a constant in my life.

However, regardless of the obvious flaws that technology has brought, it must be said that there are some pros to this ever-growing digital universe. Using our new technology we are able to help children with learning to read, write, even talk. A study by The Pearson Foundation shows that children are learning to read at a faster rate than ever before and that the new technology for learning is a way of communicating directly with their work leading to a more positive experience. Honestly, I could go on and on about the pros of the Internet for childhood education. From education consortiums to What To Expect When Expecting websites, there are many researchers and doctors claiming that the Internet is a fantastic source for teaching a child. However, there are cons.

Don Tapscott delves into more negative views of digital children in his book Grown Up Digital. He discusses the addiction to the screen, the loss of social skills and the lack of activities (why play soccer when you can play Wii Soccer), and that the Net Generation has become dumbed down. Tapscott is not the only one with claims to the ugly side of the Internet. People like Richard Carr (author of “Is Google Making Us Dumber?”) and Maryanne Wolf (author of Proust and the Squid: the Story and Science of the Reading Brain) claim that the Internet is harming us, preventing us from deep reading (and consequently in depth thinking).

I must agree with these facts. The Internet is harming us. Not only do I believe it is making us more impatient, but I believe it is keeping us in a sort of bubble. Preventing bad experiences, keeping us a little too clean.

My cousin, Tom, an app addict, was bragging to me about his new iPhone app where he can plug in his current location and his iPhone will tell him the nearest, cleanest bathrooms. I don’t know whether to think this is impressive and something to be envious (goodbye gross bathrooms!) or something to be shocked by. I find myself leaning towards the latter. As my mom said, “Tom needs to get a little dirty here and there”. The Internet is keeping us away from that gross hotel, making it easier for us to meet new people or finish our homework. But is there a point when things become too easy?

As Sydney plays with her toys, I come to realize that she is no different than Tom. She too is never going to get dirty; she plays with her toy laptops and cell phones. She is learning how to use them because for the rest of her life she will be around them. In fact, she even teaches me how to use them. Sydney at age three is more tech-savvy than me at age seventeen. However, when I was younger my parents taught me how to spell my own name. Leapfrog was only a crutch. My worry is that Sydney is too clean; she uses technology as something more than a crutch.

On the contrary, I can’t help but make myself see the pros to Sydney’s technological advances. I do cringe when she reaches for her laptop and I do feel guilty when I turn the TV on to prevent those incessant tears, however, it is because of that leapfrog machine that she could spell, talk and read at an earlier age than I could. Sydney is a smart child and some of the credit must be attributed to her gadgets. I will admit that Sydney needs to learn to use technology to grow up with her generation and I will admit that it has brought her miles in her education. However, it is how often it is used and the way it is used that brings me to a halt.

It is because I’ve seen the kids addicted to their iPhones and Nintendos. It is because preschoolers spend three times more time in front of a screen than they do reading (the Kaiser Foundation). Sydney is not to blame for playing with her electronic toys. Nor are her parents, nor are the companies that make them. I believe that adults are struggling with this new idea of technology because it is something that they are not involved in. It’s like learning a new language: children pick up new languages within weeks, it can take adults years. When their child can learn something faster, be able to do something before they can, any adult will want to promote that. Even beyond educational reasons, digital media is an easy distraction, an easy way out for many stressed parents. What must be learned is pacing. If the Internet continues, it must be continued at a slower pace. Kids and adults need to learn the values of the Internet, but also what it can do to us. They need to learn that sometimes playing a game outside may be better than playing a game inside, even if it is educational. It’s not the Internet that’s bad; it’s the way that it’s been used.