Children and Technology

The seasons have changed, which means that people and their needs have changed as well. These changes seem to try to portray the ads of our times, in some of which appears the woman as a wife or a mother who is trying to bring all of its obligations to an end, without leaving behind the developments of the times and technology. Usually in ads they make an ideal setting, where, for example, a woman puts her child in the car, tied at the special seat while using a navigator to lead her way and talking on the phone to arrange the final details of her work, having her laptop in her handbag. Of course everything is done with a smile on her face, because everything comes out easily, effortlessly, without considerable effort and fatigue, being a modern woman, fully harmonized with the lifestyle of her time and of course, the ads do not show anywhere that the mother speaks with her ​​child, trying to communicate with him.

Kids and gadgets

Kids and gadgets

According to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children 8 to 18 years old now spend more than seven and a half hours a day in screen devices such as computers, TVs and other gadgets. In these hours it is not included the time spent sending text messages or talking on their mobile phone. Meanwhile, research shows that working parents spend infinitesimal quality time with their children, for just a few minutes! So, you understand that children spend much more time with their computers than with their family. The fact is that computers are in our lives and is now an integral part of it, as it is now unthinkable a child growing up in a home where there’s no computer. Also more and more teachers and professors assign students tasks that require research on the Internet or work on the computer, assuming that all children have access to a computer.

Kids and technology

Kids and technology

On the other hand, there are mobile phones that have drastically changed the lives of children not contemplate anymore their daily lives without a mobile. Sometimes mobiles have been useful, as they provide a some form of security to the children that are home alone or when they go out constantly and must be able to communicate with their family. Even though we are told that when we surf in the internet, we are connected with the entire world, there are far more people with us who seek and want to connect with us on every level. More specifically, children need role models from real life, not from the TV. They need parents to show them the proper way of growing, maturing, come of age, get relationships with other people, share feelings. Children are in need of real care, not a nanny that will give them milk or to be careful not to hit themselves. Instead they are looking for parents who really care about their development, their progress in school, their behavior and social skills.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has dealt with this issue and experts suggest parents to make room in the house where there are no screens devices. This means that there should be no televisions and computers in children’s bedrooms and the time they spend in front of the computer should be reduced to two hours a day or less. Finally, the researchers found out  that it does not really matter how the parents manage to come with their children and what activities they do with them, as long as there’s enough time for communication, affectionate physical contact, expression of emotions and information transmission, principles and beliefs. Whether this is done with a walk in the park or on the couch in the house laughing and talking, it doesn’t matter, because what counts is done.

By Nicole P.