Catherine Steiner-Adair is talking to a group of people about how technology affects child development. In the video, she starts off by saying, ” In 1998 when Windows 98 was launched it changed my life horribly as a parent it changed our family life horribly this thing comes into our house called Windows 98.” She goes on to say how her 13-year-old child won’t come down to dinner and acted differently similar to when he was four. As you can see if you watched the video she views technology in a negative way. In addition at the 4:19 mark of the video, shes says, ” You are raising the first generator of kids who can text and one of the things we also see in this generation kids is that the more they text we see declines in some of their conversational capabilities empathy and sometimes ability to read social cues.” Throughout the video, Catherine repeats herself mainly because she’s only talking about the negatives and not talking about the positives.
https://www.idtech.com/blog/benefits-of-technology-for-children (Blog)
In this blog, “Benefits of Technology & the Right Kind of Screen Time for Children” Ryan the writer talks about the positives of how technology helps child development. He starts off by saying technology gives kids to become creative and have freedom of expression. Some will say there are markers, crayons, and colored pencils but those materials can only do so much. With new technology coming out every day kids can go beyond drawing on paper with color. They can create a 3D animation and if they want to go beyond that they can send that 3D animation to a 3D printer which allows their drawing to turn into a physical form. In addition to being creative, technology can help kids build relationships and help with their communication skills. For example, video games, social media, mobile apps are all hobbies just like any normal hobbies any kid would have. With these hobbies, it gives the kids something to relate with other people which is, their both interested in video games, social media, etc. My personal experience with connecting with other people online over video games has helped me a lot with my communication skills. The way we would connect would be over gaming lobby sessions and there’s a lot of times we would talk about real life situation and growing up I didn’t have anyone to talk to about real-life situations and being able to talk to someone that wouldn’t judge me was just relaxation for me. To add on, technology helps improve problem-solving and perseverance. I find this important. Many adults view video games as a waste of time but little do they know it can help their child in certain areas where they need improvement in. In a popular game called Minecraft, “Survival mode” is a place where a player is all alone and has to do what they need to do to be able to survive and that is a way to sharpen their problem solving and quick thinking. Minecraft survival mode is where the player is dropped into new and different environments, and must immediately build shelter, and collect items like weapons and food in order to survive. The survival mode lasts about 10 minutes of real-world time and with that amount of time, it’s forcing the player to make fast and good decisions in order to stay alive.
If someone was to listen to Catherine talking about the negatives effects of child development involving technology I think they would be on her side right away. However, I believe if someone was to then read the blog by Ryan they would imminently change their mind because Ryan talked about a lot of important developments that every parent would want with their child.
Artist Statement
Technology in today’s society plays a major role in the upbringing of our future generations. From late Generation Z to Generation Alpha, smartphones, laptops, television, and smartboards, have all become a tool in the development of education and social networking. Personally, I have taken these tools to my advantage on a daily basis and needed to reflect upon how technology is not only beneficial to me as a college student, but also to society as a whole.
The audience that I am targeting is also the same people that I am researching which consists of kids and adults between the ages of 10-20. This age range is most known for being tech-savvy and comfortable with navigating through programs, social media, smart devices, and more technology-based items. It has been incorporated into their daily lives as many things have now become accessible through a screen rather than traditionally in person. For example, due to the pandemic, students have adjusted to learning online indifference to the in-classroom school days. This also goes beyond education and reaches the economy as well. More advanced technology has been putting itself to use in drug stores, grocery stores, retail stores, and more. There has been an increase in contactless thermometers and meetings held through sites such as zoom, skype, and other facetime sites. I am also targeting those who aren’t aware of the many benefits technology has granted our society. These people are more typically prone to stick to their traditional ways of getting tasks done without considering the efficiency and effectiveness technology can have. They believe things are meant to be done using the process they are already used to rather than trying to adjust to a seemingly better way. Either because technology is seen as an overcomplication to them or as a way of “cheating”. For example, parents that believe all forms of screen time will put their child at a disadvantage fail to see that exposure to the internet can also result in knowledge and awareness picked up along the way. The internet is more than just entertainment. It can also serve as a tool for education. IPads that are seen as toys for Generation Alpha can also be used as an easier way to obtain reading material, communicate with teachers/other students, and more online resources in relation to a child’s learning growth. As long as technology is used appropriately, it can be extremely powerful. Informative helps to emphasize each point using fact instead of opinion.
Expressing this idea through an informative essay is the most effective way to get my point across because it delivers facts over opinions. These opinions about technology being solely damaging can easily be shut down when it is presented by all the benefits that technology can offer. Through an informative essay, it is much easier to pinpoint the exact people that are affected and exactly how they are affected. In addition, I’ve used a youtube video about a woman talking about the negatives of how technology affects child development and I’ve also included a blog where Ryan writes about the positives effects of technology and child development.
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