“More kids know how to use smartphones than to tie their shoelaces.”
This is according to a study made by AVG Technologies among 6,000 mothers in 10 countries. Based on this study, 66% of children between three to five years old can operate smartphones and only 14% can tie their shoelaces. In such an early age, we can say that children are very exposed in using digital technology.
By just looking around, we can notice that children of today prefer to play with their smartphones or tablets rather than playing outside. This could be a negative effect of the digital technology on kids. In order to avoid this, parents and teachers should encourage and teach kids the responsible use of digital technology.
At home, parents should monitor the use of smartphones and tablets. They can screen the channels their kids are watching. In this way, you can avoid your kids from watching violent and explicit content that can be accessed freely through the internet. Parents should also monitor the amount of time their kids spent on playing computer games. Family bonding is one way to encourage children to spend less time on their smartphones.
Looking at the bright side, parents can use digital technology to their advantage. Since their kids know how to use digital technology, they can download e-books or learning apps that will enable their kids to learn and at the same time have fun.
Aside from their home environment, school plays a vital role in kid’s character development. This is where their social skills are enhanced. Too much technology in their environment can affect how they interact with other people. With this, schools should consider using the familiarity of kids on technology as an opportunity to create better learning process. They can integrate technology with learning.
It’s a good thing that in Singapore, primary schools include digital technology in their learning system. Given this opportunity, schools should acquire the type of technology that is beneficial for both the learning and social skills of their students. They should consider the learning tools with features that enable the teachers and students to share information in real time so that they can focus more in class. More importantly, digital learning tools which allow collaboration will help the kids to develop their social skills by working together in problem solving activities.
This kind of technology will help children to develop a sense of responsibility at an early age. They could use their knowledge on digital technology as their advantage in the society. Kids with responsible use of technology will surely be great team players and leaders in the future.