Thesis Statement Technology has taken centre stage in the current world and has therefore contributed to both positively and negatively to the bringing up of the kids in the society. Such technological innovations can only become useful to the children in the current society if their parents offer parental guidance on which technologies such should be adhered to. For example the world is embracing the concept of computerization which has led to global dealing between nations.
Introduction The advancement in technology has always affected the social aspects of peoplei??s life especially that of child nurturing and childhood has been set off by new technologies. We find that the first technology to affect child nurturing was material technologies such as innovation of wheel, boat and steam, which was thereafter followed by information technologies which include the broadcast and the print media, including the internet. Child rearing tradition has changed since it depends on what the children learn from the global associations together with what they learn from their parents. Material technology is found to have improved the childreni??s social life and taken away tribal life they earlier had.
This in itself improved child rearing in the countries and changed the way parents brought up their children. (Bransford, Goldman, and Hasselbring, 1996) Discussion Research indicates that, children are the most affected by the advancement in technology; this technology includes the use of computers with various search engines e.g. google and softwarei??s which when accessed they give out various information on the particular issues that are of interest to the children. We find that the children are always interested in experimenting what is always done on the computers and other programs. In the beginning of new technology parents had high hopes that their computers will enable the children to raise the learning standards and also for the preparation of their future lives, since both computer and media technologies were always ranked as the most significant in the provision of the knowledge that the children should be introduced to.
However, it has impacted negatively too the kids especially those who get access to the internet without their parents permission of knowledge. Computers are also regarded to be the leading factor in the motivating of these children in attaining better performances in schools whereby many people claim that the many talking and explanations done by the childreni??si?? teachers is always tedious and boring to the children. We can therefore say that the advancement in technology has made the learning, teaching and the experimentations done in schools become more interesting and enjoyable. This has brought about the motivation of many children through better learning techniques which are computerized thus better understanding. (Collis, Miyashita, Pelgrum, Plomp and Sakamoto, 1996) The advancement in technology has also enabled the children to have a better access to good education contents; research indicates that by the use of computer technologies, preferable learning contents such as journals, newspapers, books and many academic articles is normally obtained through the internet.
This access to information is found to be the most important factor in many schools. Children can store the retrieved materials using devices of storage such flash disks and diskettes which enable them to retrieve and use the data easily. When in stored in such devices it is said to be in soft copy and the children can also print the material which is said to in hard copies. Flash disks, diskettes and CD-ROMS are also referred to as hardwarei??s which facilitates this technology advances.
The other advantage of the technology on the school children is that they are provided with learning materials on the electronic formats that has proved to be easy to get, revise, read and understand. Also the information is put in large quantities thus making it cheap and simple for the children to get more information at once, than going to libraries and reading a whole lot of books to get the required information. Children can also utilize the data in the computers using the operating systems installed in the machines. But on the contrary we find that the technology has brought about negative implication on the childreni??s lives, this includes the physical problems which arise as a result improper computer use, these problems includes those of the visual, hands and even back pains according to the report given by medical doctors. It has also been stated that computer use also affects the growth of the children whereby we find the emotional and language development is impaired by the learning process.
(Muffoletto and Knupfer, 1993) One of the negative impacts is that of moral deterioration which comes up as result of unlimited access of information on the internet at schools and even at home. In this case we find that the information that is found on the internet usually comprise pornographic materials which brings in the ruin awaiting for the future of the young children who get access to this immoral information. Such information is found to be decaying morally; the children are therefore found to be immoral as a result of the advancement of the technology through which they adopt behaviors that are said to be unique this behaviors include: Premarital sex and other related behaviors; in this case we find that the children are found to be engaging in premarital sex which is considered as an effect of the moral decay which comes from the engagement of the children watching pornographic materials on the internet. They therefore tend to practice the act before they reach the right age to indulge in such activities.
Therefore we find that the childreni??s education system has been reduced to a low standard where many children are failing to meet their educational targets since it is believed that most parents have abandoned their children and that they are given the freedom to access this information at their disposal. This also goes hand in hand with homosexuality which is the other moral decay that the children are likely to be facing in the society as a result of advancement in technology particularly through the internet. There is the enabling of people to watch television or other wanting programs through the internet. Such programs are always subjected to various vices that will definitely make the children be interested in practicing them at home and in the community too leading to an indication of moral decay of the children, these vices include: Violence and Murder, in this case violence is always considered in children as a way of expressing themselves since they always feel that their needs are not always fulfilled by their parents. It is also reported that by the children watching a number of celebrities and prominent people engaging in murder activities, they are meant to understand that for one to be famous or prominent then he or she should commit murder so that he can be featured in many mediums of communication. Under this the children may also be tempted to engage in deceptive activities such as fraud and deceit.
They view such programs using softwarei??s like windows media player and power DVD among others. (Pine and Nash, 2002) The internet being one of the media in the society which plays a major role in advertising where many business organizations utilize it in getting their products to the target market has also impacted the kids too in the society. We find that the media make the advertisement in a manner that is enticing to the children to use the product. Research indicates that advertisements such as the alcohol advertising is said to be a leading factor to the consumption of alcohol and other related problems to the children in the society. This is always said to be influencing the children who then actually believe that the consumption of alcohol is not bad to the young and their health.
Research indicates that many arguments have been brought up concerning this topic of advertising alcohol brands and other products like tobacco products in the media. Children under the age of fifteen have the desire to spend more of their time watching television and playing games on the internet during prime hours and this is when most of such adverts are aired. It is also reported that children watch television two hours each day which enhances the chances of them engaging in uncompromising activities. (Muffoletto and Knupfer, 1993) Most of these children not only have television sets and computers in their bedroom but also there are no rules concerning the use of alcohol in their families. Such advertisements lead to extensive moral decay especially among the children in the society. However, it should be noted that not all advertisements in the technology industry carry a negative impact on a child since many advertisers usually take children to be their target audiences they also produce advertisements that are beneficial such as those selling educational and academic materials to the children through which the parents are always asked to be aware of so that they allow their children to use them.
Conclusion Since the internet has become a popular gadget in the media industry that provide a number of services such as entertainment, games and chatting it is found to be addictive and reducing the concentration of the children at school and other institutions and therefore the technology industry has come up with the policy of access restrictions. Which will include the information policy which is to indicate who is to access particular sites and how this practice should be done There should also be the implementation of a copyright intellectual property which is to sure that children are restricted and know their limits. This may only be made successful by the use of additional software and hardware. An example of this software is the Gopher which is to be used as a menu driven program that allows the user to access all the available information in the other computers. This policy will also need a hardware which requires an external access vendor which is crucial in the provision of necessary guidance and system applications which will also definitely require software configurations such as the system password applications and facilities that will provide adequate security which will therefore allow the limits for the access of information by the children.
(Muffoletto and Knupfer, 1993) Reference Bransford, J. Goldman, S. and Hasselbring, T. (1996): Looking at technology in context: A framework for understanding technology and education research. Macmillan, New York: Collis, B., Miyashita, K.
, Pelgrum, W., Plomp, T., and Sakamoto, T. (1996): Children and computers in school.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London Muffoletto, R., and Knupfer, N. (1993): Computers in education- Social, political, and historical perspectives. Hampton Press. Cresskill Pine, K.
and Nash, A. (2002): Dear Santa; the Effects of Television Advertising on Young Children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, Vol 6, NewYork
