Technology and media’s impact on children today is very widespread. Like Tekeuchi and Levine state, technology is more powerful, affordable, and flexible than ever before. My generation was playing with Leap-pads and Nintendo 64s while today’s generation of kids play with objects like iPads, much more versatile and mobile. This generation of youth differs from previous ones, according to Takeuchi and Levine, because of the quick rate at which these technologies are created, adopted, and then routinized into daily lives.
I believe that the nature of childhood has not overwhelmingly changed. It remains a period when kids interact with their surrounding environments and increase their understanding of people, places, emotions, and ideas. It involves playing, growing, and loving, and the curious and inquisitive qualities of this time period endure. Despite this, some differences must be acknowledged. Because of technology, children seem to participate in less tactile, hands-on experiences. My fun with my three-foot, ten-piece Blue’s Clues floor puzzle and purple Easy-Bake oven kitchen may be things of the past, replaced by apps and virtual games instead. Some people might argue that this describes a decrease in imagination-geared activities, but I believe kids are still developing and using this brain function just in an altered, unique way. Children are also growing up more unaware of the media’s pervading presence. This inescapability can be negative, especially when confronted with certain media messages that may not be accurate, healthy, or positive. On the positive side, media and technology are cultivating a culture of “anytime anywhere learning,” described by Tekeuchi and Levine. The old paper-pencil (or chalk-chalkboard like my Kindergarten days) is no longer the only learning method which benefits a broader, more diverse range of learning styles.
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I fear that today’s children will have more anti-social tendencies and habits. Sure, they can use Instagram and Snapchat and Facebook to interact with their friends, but there is something essential about face-to-face interaction. Today’s children’s social skills, as basic as eye contact when having a conversation or reading a person’s body language cues, suffer because of their disproportional screen time. Media friendships are not a good replacement to actual quality social time, whether at the playground, in the classroom, or on the soccer field.
I hope that this quarter teaches me how to be a kid again. And not just a revisit to my own childhood but immersion into this new media, technology-rich youth environment. I fondly remember receiving my first cell phone (the cool, sliding keyboard kind) after graduating eighth grade, and nowadays, it’s not uncommon for kids to get theirs on their eighth birthday! I hope this blog opens my mind into truly understanding the dimensions of this issue: these kids are neither infinitely more blessed nor infinitely more cursed than me as a child. I want to learn both what challenges and opportunities they face, and how this can impact my interactions with and attitudes toward children that I might work with in my career or raise as my own someday.