As technology greatly grows and advances with the years, this generation and the next to come will certainly be more technologically connected.
According to the National Purchase Diary Group, a market research company, 91% of Americans aged 2-17 play video games, and it's also stated that gaming amongst children aged 2-5 has increased the most. According to Jules Henry-Smith, a primary school teacher and a parent who I personally interviewed, states that pads and computers are very popular in the classroom, and the device polarities can also be seen on the graph o the left.Source: American Academy of Pediatrics One of their main negative impacts that parents worry about is if their children are substituting healthy physical play for video games, and if that's consequently causing obesity due to the lack of exercise. Eric Loop, who has a master's degree in applied Developmental Psychology and is also a parent, states that "playing video games can play a part in your child developing a weight problem".In her article "Do Video Games Contribute to Childhood Obesity' (2013) she explains that video games might not be the sole culprit o childhood obesity, but children who do play them have a greater risk of becoming overweight than those who don't.
However, an article by the Children's Health Team that consists of several experts specialized on health and physical wellbeing, "Managing Video Game and TV Time for Children"(2012) claims that even though technological forms of entertainment are everywhere it doesn't mean they have to ruin your child's life.They say that even though it can indeed have negative effects such as leading to a sedentary lifestyle, there is nothing that proper time management can't do in this matter. If parents use screen time and video game time as a reward and limit their children's usage of electronics, lack of exercise and any other negative outcomes of such can be avoided. For example, Jules explained that even though technology is available to schoolchildren most of the time, their rules do not allow them to use it at recess and lunch.
Another fact that concerns parents about their children and technology is the physical damage it can cause.Daniel Angora, Health and Lifestyle expert and journalist for the Daily Telegraph warns that children who use tablets and phones o often are at greater risk of eye damage due to the blue light emissions from such devices. As stated in her article, mirror child's phone and tablet could be harming their eyes, expert warns"(2014) Dry Jim Soakings, a leading Sydney optometrist, explains their witnesses of child patients complaining about eye irritations and dry eyes caused by long period exposures to electronic devices.Although physical damage might be an outcome of excessive use of technology, according to Jim Taylor, specialist in psychology of business, sports and parenting, children can get a range of costive outcomes from technology as he explains that it has the potential to strengthen a child's ability to efficiently and rapidly scan information. He also shows that such devices can increase important physical aspects like reaction times and attention ability.
