We are constantly told by the press that in today’s day and age family life is in the decline and that our parents are career focused and too busy to offer the support, motivation and encouragement that is needed to bring up happy, intelligent and self motivated children. We are told that parents damage their children’s brains by sitting them in front of the TV or computers every evening and weekend. With this, we are led to believe that we have intolerant, celebrity obsessed, social network crazed , violent children in the modern world!! But lets turn this around, lets paint a different picture, one which I believe to be much more promising for our children’s future.
I still see children playing and laughing in the parks, I still see children being ambitious, trying new things, joining classes , interacting at school, socializing in the ‘real world’ , surely the internet just adds to the many bows to our children’s strings. Lets give tour children and our parents some credit – the internet andcomputers etc are in our culture now. I suggest maybe some people anti-internet do not like change. Ofcourse like most things related to children – a safety aspect and a need for ground rules is paramount. The internet has a wealth of information – much that is not suitable for a child. As long as this is monitered the internet has a wealth of positivity to offer children, opportunities that we adults didn’t have the fortune of having.
The internet gives children access to information that will improve educational attainment . It also helps children socially! There is no evidence that children REPLACE actual socialization with virtual. On the internet children have the opportunity to engage with a larger group of people both virtually and in real life. The internet can also provide entertainment – the internet offers a world of possibilities to a child at their finger tips – it can offer inspiration, can stimulate imagination , help children explore the world in a second , they can gain new experiences, learn new things and learn about themselves – what they like, etc. When children are online they are thinking, reading, analyzing, creating opinions and using their brains. None of this is ever documented as the media like to portray all the negatives!!
According to http://www.verdick.org there are other positive factors for children using the internet; Physical development, cognitive development and social development. They suggest the use of the internet offers better hand to eye co-ordination, and improvement of fine motor skills due to using the mouse and keyboard. They also say “Children who use the Internet show gains in cognitive abilities such as memory, spatial and logical problem solving, critical thinking, concentration, abstraction and comprehension. The Internet exposes children to information to improve the quality of learning that they can transform into knowledge. Through the use of the Internet, children’s language and literacy development is often promoted, allowing for greater gains in verbal and nonverbal skills.”
Ofcourse there are other risks with the internet , it can be a minefield with spams, spontaneous pop-ups, cyber bullying etc. But as long as these things are monitored and parental restrictions put in place these issues can be controlled.
A recent survey conducted by consumer research firm Intersperience suggested that 60% of children aged between 12 and 16 would be "sad" without a web connection, while 48% said they would be lonely.
A poll conducted for Safer Internet Day by BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat found that only 6% of 13-19-year-olds were likely to accept a friends request from someone they did not know, while 69% said that they understood how to change their Facebook privacy settings. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16836318
Maybe we are not giving our children enough credit, children have internet in their lives and it is only going to develop, lets embrace it with care but be open to the opportunities it gives our children that is beneficial to their development – far beyond what we had.
We could always help our children by choosing a good website for them to view. Try the Magic Sunglasses if you are looking for a good positive start . www.themagicsunglasses.com
Written by Kaley Herrick ,researcher of child development related to the creative arts.
No comments:
Post a Comment