Technology and its Impact on Children
Technology makes a huge contribution to people's happiness. The majority of adults around the world use technical applications for socialization at work and at home. Furthermore, a large number of households around the world own different devices including smartphones and computers. This function increases the probability of young children engaging with technology. Additionally, these devices are becoming increasingly cheaper, more powerful, and portable, making them more available to children.
Negative Effects of Technology on Children
While technology makes life easier, it has a variety of negative effects on children. As such, the discussion examines the adverse effects of technology on the youngest.
Body Paragraph
Claim: Technology damages the social skills of children.
1. Evidence:
They spend much time watching cartoons and playing video games on the various technological devices. Although the gadgets keep the kids busy and enable their parents to carry on with their daily engagements, they have adverse effects on the growing children (Jordan, 2014). They impair the social skills of kids making them unable to practice healthy behaviors, make friends, practice the polite language, and to take responsibility. Furthermore, the various technological applications affect the ability of children to observe verbal instructions and empathize with others.
2. Evidence:
Consequently, they make kids isolate themselves affecting their capacity to master essential communication skills and language learning techniques (Flewitt, Messer, & Kucirkova, 2014).
3. Discussion:
This topic relates to the thesis statement because it addresses the negative effects of technology on the social skills of children.
Body Paragraph
Claim: Technology has potential emotional harm on children.
1. Evidence:
Although the applications on the various technological devices are entertaining, they result in addiction and over-stimulation resulting in emotional harm on kids (Clements & Sarama, 2003). They spend much of their time on digital gaming denying themselves other activities that help in promoting psychological development.
2. Evidence:
Moreover, parents spend time chatting instead of having face-to-face discussions with their children. Such dialogues assist in identifying and solving the emotional problems of kids (Flewitt, Messer, & Kucirkova, 2014). This subtopic is related to the thesis statement in that it explains the psychological effects of technology on children.
Counterargument
A. Counterargument: On the other hand, technology facilitates educational programs for young children. Computers play an integral role in educating kids (Bell & Crawford, 2001). Children who access computer literacy at an early age set a good foundation for their educational careers. As such, teachers should plan and set computer facilities in an organized manner to enable students to explore their new worlds quickly. Educators should ensure that the young children are comfortable with their professional roles as they use computers. Moreover, they should possess the correct instructional and methodological technologies to improve their service delivery. Costley (2014) also argues that technology helps in improving the academic achievement among young learners.
B. Rebuttal: However, teachers should remember that technology is a health issue among children (Haughton, Aiken, & Cheevers, 2015). The sub-topic relates to the thesis statement since it offers a counter argument.
Conclusion
Call to action: Parents and teachers should understand the adverse effects of technology on their children. Using devices is inevitable in the current world; hence, parents should aim at minimizing the influence of technology on children. This facilitates the learning process. As such, parents and teachers should adopt measures that regulate the use of technology among children to enjoy the benefits of it. They should also encourage kids to respect the family and play time, especially outdoor activities.
Concluding statement: Although technology is an integral aspect of the lives of human beings, it influences children negatively.
References
Bell, M., & Crawford, C. (2001, January 1). Young Children and Technology: Building Computer Literacy.
Clements, D., & Sarama, J. (2003, November 1). Young Children and Technology: What does the research say? Young Children, 58(6), 34-40.
Costley, K. (2014). The Positive Effects of Technology on Teaching and Student Learning. 1-10.
Flewitt, R., Messer, D., & Kucirkova, N. (2014). New Directions for Early Literacy in a Digital Age: The iPad. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 1-22.
Jordan, A. (2014). Media and the Well-being of Children and Adolescents.
