Children & Tech Blogs

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TEENAGERS VS CHILDREN

I recently went out with one of my closest friends to the mall last week. While we were together I tried telling her a personal experience that happened to me just a few days before. What happened had me very emotional and I felt I should share it with someone so that I could get advice from her. As I started telling her my story, she was listening. However as I continued, I saw her go on her phone. I kept talking even though her head was down on her phone the entire time. At the end when I was ready for her opinion she raised her head backed up and asked me a question that had absolutely nothing to do with what I was talking about. I answered her and then she looked back down at her phone. I did not bother to retell my story or bring it back up as I realized she had more important things to do on her phone. 

I went home and retold the entire story to my brother (who is 13 years old) and felt a lot more satisfied that he gave me his attention and put his phone away to listen to me. The point of my story is that I believe as people grow older, they become more dependent on their phones. My younger brother who was introduced and limited to technology is not as dependent on his phone as others may be. My friend who was exposed to technology without limit clearly has no interest in anything else but her phone and social media. In my opinion, it is up to parents to control their children when it comes to technological devices and not the device itself that is the problem. Technology has been around for a long time and there is nothing we can do to decrease its existence. If parents were to implement lesser use of technology, with something such as a contract (as shown in my other blog), at a young age, children would realize that they can do without it during important times. Starting and practicing this at a younger age is important as we do not want our children to grow up to be dependent on technology like a lot of teens from this generation. 

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Smart Board vs Projector

Many teachers believe that they do not need or use technology as much in the classroom as “when they were growing up they did not use any technology.” I know that when I was in school, the type of technological device that we were exposed to was a projector. I also know that many generations ago used projectors in their classrooms. When some teachers at my co-op placement learned that they would be using smart boards in the classroom, many were not happy. When I asked why they did not want one in their classroom, they said it was because “they did not have one when they were growing up, so they do not need it.” This puzzled me as I was pretty sure they grew up using projectors which is very much so the same thing as a smart board. 

Smart board features include being a large tablet with a LCD screen and touch sensitive whiteboard that you use with a projector. The LCD display and whiteboard are interactive and allow users to touch their surfaces to access software such as Internet browsers, email programs, word processors and multimedia programs. By using hand gestures, you can rotate objects on the screen, scroll through pages and perform zoom functions.

A projector has similar features as you can show movies, slideshows and websites on it. In order to use it, the person must hook it up to a DVD player or computer. 

When comparing both, they are typically the same device. However, the smart board is much more advanced and easier to use. When doing my research on the smart board, I realized how unaware some people are as to what can make their lives easier. Instead of teaching children through a projector, a smart board can be accessible to them. If people did their research and were more open to trying technology and allowing children to use it, it would be a new resource for parents, teachers and students. 

[blogtechnologychildren-blog]

What’s the problem?

About a month ago my thirteen year old brother was gifted with a cell phone. As a child in grade 8, many people would say he is too young and irresponsible to have a cell phone but having an iPod or iPad is okay. I am not a tech expert, but to me the only difference between a cell phone and iPod is that with a phone you can make calls and with an iPod you cannot. I’m a bit puzzled as to why it’s acceptable for a young child to have an iPod but not cellphone when they are basically the same thing.

A week after my brother got the phone we went over to some family’s house. They were shocked to see the phone in my brother’s hand when we were altogether. I saw the looks they gave each other when my brother passed his phone around for everyone to see, however I stayed quiet. I went home and complained to my parents about the ignorance of some adults. It’s weird to know that some parents do not see that technology is the future of our generation and that many jobs will require these future teenagers to be tech savvy. Many jobs now require people to have a company cell phone, work on a computer or laptop and manage events and meetings on smart boards. I understand that my brother is a young kid, but myself and older brother were gifted with phones at the age of 15. The main reason my parents gave my 13 year old brother a phone was for emergencies and so that if something happened to him they could make contact with him faster. 

I really believe people need to grow up and realize that children are being exposed to technology much more than when they were in school. It is important to be aware of all the new advancements and upgrades as they are a vital part of individuals’s daily lives now. 

[blogtechnologychildren-blog]

Raz-Kids

I came across this educational website one day when my brother and I were looking for a resource to help develop his reading and writing skills. I decided to look into the effectiveness of the website by signing up for a free trial. I left my brother to do a quiz where they tested what reading level he was at. When I came back, he was able to begin by reading stories and answering questions. I was surprised by how the website was able to correctly test the reading level he was at as he isn’t as weak in that subject. We went through a few examples together and I left him on his own. I spoke to a teacher about the website a few months after and she said teachers are now encouraging many young children to look into the website. Raz Kids is now a part of homework, where teachers know how long students spend on the website as they sign the children up as a class.

I found this website and idea a great one as teachers were able to monitor their students work and progress. They were able to see which reading comprehensions were selected and what the scores were. This, as an example of technology and education, is an effective way to allow children to expand their reading comprehension and writing skills through the computer. It also helps children learn how to type and navigate on a computer which can be very beneficial for them as they grow older. Even though some see technology as a distraction, it is important to realize that using technology can have a positive, knowledgeable impact on children.

[blogtechnologychildren-blog]

Personal Experiment!

As I listened through class discussions and different perspective on technology, I decided to test if technology has any negative effect on me. By doing so, I decided not to use my phone one night before bed. My usual routine is to go to bed, lay there, and watch shows or browse social media for about an hour and a half. I do this many nights and I usually think of it as a relaxation time where I get time with myself to do what I want.

On March 2, I decided to go in bed and turn off my phone. That night I was very tired and did not feel like spending extra time watching my Netflix shows like Scandal or How to get Away with Murder. I put my phone to charge and left it on my vanity. It did take a while for me to fall asleep but I kept thinking about different things that happened throughout the day. I felt the need to check the time or see if I had any notifications many time but really tried hard not to. I got up to get some water and clicked the home button on my iPhone once to check the time. I saw that I had two texts but did not check what they said because I was really trying hard not to go on it. After about what I thought was twenty minutes, I fell asleep.

I remember waking up once because of the garbage truck. Other than that, when I woke up I felt well rested. I did feel groggy but that was probably because I was very tired and did not sleep well the night before. That same night, I did not try the experiment again and went to bed until 1:45am watching Scandal. I realized that when I spend more time on my phone, I go to bed later. This is not healthy for me as I have work and school some days really early. I need to try to get as many hours of sleep as I can because taking naps during the day is going to mess up my sleep cycle. Personally, I do not believe technology is a bad thing. Sure, it may have some negative effects on me like lack of sleep and a distraction, but I do believe I can control myself.

[blogtechnologychildren-blog]

               Parents have many concerns as to how much of an impact technology has on their child’s life. As some believe that technology benefits children as it expands their knowledge and makes them more technologically aware, others believe that technology is a distraction. In order to come to a fair agreement, families should create a technology contract where there are set rules and consequences for the use of technology. A mock example is attached above!

In this family contract, a new tablet is presented. However, the parents have created rules for which websites they are able to visit, time limit and how many apps they are allowed to download. There are also benefits as what will happen if the children follow the rules. The only important section that is missing is the consequences. I will list a few consequences that I feel are effective to children including:

-          decrease in time limit

-          no games are allowed to be played (just for homework use only)

-          can only use tablet with parent supervision

It is always important to implement consequences as children will take advantage if no punishments are set. For example, I have an aunt that does not formally have contract, but has many rules for her four children when it comes to the use of technology. She does not allow her children to go on their device for more than half hour a day, and when they go on it they must be supervised. She does not let the children know the passwords for the devices either, that way she knows when they are on and off of it. The kids have to go to her every time they want to use the device. This situation is the perfect example of a family contract!

[blogtechnologychildren-blog]

Computer time at Co-op!

Children from much younger ages are beginning to use technology more and more. I personally believe that allowing children to occupy their time with technology as of early ages such as two and three can be beneficial for children. There are many new apps that are accessible on IPads, iPods, IPhones and Androids such as Busy Shapes, Five Little Monkeys and Sound Touch. These apps are targeted for infants/toddlers and help with numbers, counting and letters. Children can gain sense of instruction as the app tells the children what to do and emotion as the monkeys are happy and sad.

In the kindergarten class that I am completing my placement at, the children are allowed to go to the computer lab twice a week. When they go, IPads and computers are available to all children. The children have supervised time on these devices and are able to access a limited amount of games and activities. After observing the children, I believe there was an equal amount of children that preferred to play between educational games and games for fun. I was surprised to know that some children wanted to spend their time playing activities that required them to count, tell the different between colors, and spell words. It was the complete opposite of how many people portray computer time to be – a time for children to waste and play games.