A Generation of Digital Dwellers

Fortunately, a typically evening or weekend in the Sanders’ household does not involve children obsessively glued to the technology gadgets of today’s age, such as smartphones, tablets, video game systems, or any of the other popular digital technologies. I say “fortunately” because a national survey conducted in 2009 shows that children 8 to 18 years old interact with technology for entertainment purposes more than seven hours a day, according to the Kaiser Foundation survey. This takes away from their ability to learn, dream and be creative. This statistic does not include the media that they use for learning. Our children seem to be plugged into the digital world and slowly disengaging from the real world. Are we raising a “generation of digital dwellers?”

Technology and Learning

It was not until last year that my oldest received his first cell phone (with none of the high-tech features), and it was for security reasons; whereas, most of his friends and peers have owned multiple mobile phones. A few months after receiving his first phone, we decided to purchase the Kindle Reader for his birthday, and that was only because he is an avid book reader. We are advocates for utilizing technology when it promotes our children’s learning.

That brings me to this week’s topic. This week we discussed the collaborative topics of children, technology, and learning. Children are innovators, and they seem to have an intuitive instinct in their interactions with digital technology. A study headed by Jessica Reinis, an analysis at Latitude, revealed that "38% of children’s innovations called for more immersive content experiences than are commonly available now, with features like 3-D effects or seamless integration of digital technology into the physical world” (2010). This generation of children are surrounded by and immersed in the influences of digital media; after all, they have been birthed into a digital world. We seem to be raising digital natives.

Because technology is so intuitive and influential to our children, it has been integrated into all areas of their lives, and it comes with advantages and disadvantages. We love that it can enable our children’s dreaming, encourage their expression and creativity, nurture their development and inspiration, and the like. On the other hand, we hate that it can lessen their attention spans, interfere with academics, discourage physical activity, and expose them to inappropriate content, among other effects.

Children need to be educated on the safeties and dangers of technology. Technology is a tool, "not a learning outcome." It is a “means to an end." A means for educating, for communicating socially, for recreational purposes, and so much more. It can motivate our children and promote teamwork. To ensure they receive the benefits of technology, it is important that we as parents and educators are aware of the positive and negative effects of its use.

Digital citizenship is an effective way to promote safety and awareness with technology. During Week 5, we discussed digital citizenship (Read Week 5’s blog post, “Citizen Journalism: In Blogs We Trust?” here). Digital citizenship helps us as parents, teachers, and technology leaders to understand the appropriate use of technology. It can be used as a creative tool to teach and prepare technology users.

Children need real-time social interactions. The passive use of technology can be problematic for children, even more so than adults, because their brains are twice as active. Brain activity drops when we become adolescents (DOE, 1997). During childhood, the brain cells that we are born with are being “linked with the complex networks that are needed for mature thought processes to take place.” Passively sitting and watching television for hours can lead to social, emotional, and cognitive development issues. Children need to be engaging and interacting. It is those engagements and interactions that stimulate the brain “causing new connections to form neural pathways (which we might think of as "learning pathways") and strengthening existing ones” (DOE, 1997).

Children need to be monitored. Once you feel your children are “of age” to use technology, they should be carefully monitored of their activities to lessen and eliminate any harmful effects. As they are on the internet, they are making digital footprints, which are visible to not only us, but also to others in the digital world. A great way to monitor your children and encourage digital learning is to do it together. 

As I mentioned, children are intuitive when it comes to using digital devices. One of our readings this week stated that “young people report a growing dependency on the internet for activities ranging from managing their daily lives to building and maintaining virtual communities.” This growing dependency can result in growing concerns.

While in some cases technology can be used to solve social concerns, it can also be the cause of them. It can inspire creative communication in a generation of digital dwellers or it can weaken communication. A room full of people lost in their digital devices is not an uncommon scene. More and more, both kids and adults are disconnecting from people and turning to their devices. It seems as if face to face communication is becoming a legend. This is why it is so important for us to facilitate the appropriate use of technology. 

Technology has extended our thinking, and at the same time it has proven to hinder it. Cognition involves the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding. Unfortunately, some uses of technology put limitations on our level of thinking.

Regardless of its disadvantages, technology is here to stay! Its benefits are just as extensive as its pitfalls. Technology has advanced the ways in which communicate and interact, and has paved the way for innovative practices. With careful attention, it inspires a generation of digital dwellers to dream and be creative. It inspires our children to learn. We are a generation of digital dwellers.

References

Department of Education. (1997).Making connections: how children learn. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/ReadWithMe/makconn.html.

References

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2010). Generation m2: media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Retrieved from http://kff.org/other/event/generation-m2-media-in-the-lives-of/.