Technology: Do we control it or does IT control us?

Parents of young kids who have been using technology in order to entertain them have realized a basic truth: they lost the battle. Their kids are now dependent on the screens to be entertained. 

It is a fact that we live on a new technological era, in which our technological devices have become fundamental in our lives. However, as far as I am concerned, there should be a limit of its use, especially when it comes to young children.

Imagine this scenario: You have a 2-year-old child and you are going to the restaurant for dinner. Your kid starts crying and making a big hysterical scene. What should you do?

You look around and see that there is another family sitting on the table right next to yours, and you see that, while the parents are having a quiet, pacific meal, their kid is watching a video on his mother’s tablet. 

Should you do the same thing, let your child watch a video on your phone so he is entertained and you can enjoy a nice dinner with your partner?

The way I see it, young children shouldn’t use technological devices. Nowadays, this situation is very common. Parents give kids their phones or tablets so they can be able to work peacefully or to enjoy some quiet time. However, children may easily become addicted to the use of these technological devices. 

Too busy or too addicted?

Children’s parents sometimes argue that their kids have access to their phone or Ipad because they are always too busy working. Sometimes they are too busy using other kinds of electronic devices and they don’t spend enough time with their children.

That is dangerous because kids can become addicted to using these types of technology and it could affect not only their social life since it decreases their frequency of interacting with other kids in the future but also on their mental and emotional health at such a young age.

Furthermore, by using technological devices to entertain children when they are stressing their parents, it becomes an easy way for them to do it whenever they want. Because they start to realize that whenever they upset their parents, they will be given a tool to play. As far as I am concerned, that is not a good style of education, especially if we don’t want to raise our kids to be spoiled and to do whatever they want, whenever they want.

Going back to the good old times

I am not saying that there are absolutely no positive effects of children using technology, because it can also provide a source of educational entertainment for them and they have access to more information nowadays. 

However, I think there are many other ways of educating children without the excessive use of technology.

What happened to the time when kids would go outside and play together with a ball? What happened to the street games?

There are more and more children each day who prefer to stay at home playing video games or watching YouTube videos instead of going to the street and having fun together while enjoying nature. For me, that is sad because it promotes a sedentary lifestyle for those kids and reduces their imagination and perception of life.

In short, what I think is that parents of young children shouldn’t use technological devices to distract them when they need to work or to be alone for some time. I think kids could start using those devices when they are old enough to understand its consequences and parents should control the time they spend on technology.