"The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child" By Cris Rowan
This article explores the growing topic of debate concerning technology use by impressionable, growing children. In the past, kids have grown up playing outdoors with just their imagination to entertain them, but now childhood is filled with screens and apps. As the Huffington Post puts it, "The impact of rapidly advancing technology on the developing child has seen an increase of physical, psychological and behavior disorders that the health and education systems are just beginning to detect, much less understand." Technology is limiting creativity and imagination and causing the underdevelopment of sensory and motor skills. Teachers are seeing the effects of over-exposure to screens as more and more kids are coming into the education system with behavior management problems. Movement, touch, human connection, and exposure to nature are all crucial to human development yet we have let technology push these things aside. This over-use of technology that today's youth is experiencing not only negatively affects all aspects of health, but also their ability to learn and form meaningful relationships.
What this article can show us is just exactly how essential nature is to the human lifestyle. Our society has evolved to prefer technology over the great outdoors. Although in many ways technology does advance us, when it comes to the human body and it's development, overuse only sets us back. A 10 year old kid doesn't need a cellphone, much less an iPhone, yet that seems to be normal these days. This overexposure to technology at such a young age is causing numerous problems both physically and mentally. On the other hand, nature is proven to promote learning, restore attention, and have a calming effect on children. So why do we choose to supply kids with expensive gadgets that are only harmful to them in the end, when nature provides free essential benefits to human development? Nature seems to be "going out of style" but that doesn't mean it's experience is any less important.
The benefits of nature on the mind and body that were mentioned in this article are explored more in depth by the following artifact, "How Nature Resets Our Minds and Bodies" By Adam Alter.
What this article can show us is just exactly how essential nature is to the human lifestyle. Our society has evolved to prefer technology over the great outdoors. Although in many ways technology does advance us, when it comes to the human body and it's development, overuse only sets us back. A 10 year old kid doesn't need a cellphone, much less an iPhone, yet that seems to be normal these days. This overexposure to technology at such a young age is causing numerous problems both physically and mentally. On the other hand, nature is proven to promote learning, restore attention, and have a calming effect on children. So why do we choose to supply kids with expensive gadgets that are only harmful to them in the end, when nature provides free essential benefits to human development? Nature seems to be "going out of style" but that doesn't mean it's experience is any less important.
The benefits of nature on the mind and body that were mentioned in this article are explored more in depth by the following artifact, "How Nature Resets Our Minds and Bodies" By Adam Alter.