Hey Habr! I bring to your attention the translation of the article "by Kim Flaherty and Kate Moran.
While parents in America are making sure that their children enjoy technological progress, parents in China are thinking about how to protect their children from technological madness.
How does technology affect today's children and their lives?
In the Life Online study, we interviewed over 100 parents from 6 different cities in different parts of the world. We listened to all their concerns and fears and asked: how do their children join the modern technological environment?
Today, our children grow up in the digital universe, among smartphones, tablets, computers, quadrocopters, virtual and augmented realities, one way or another, we all encounter technology every day. In a short period of time, we have invented many incredible devices, but we do not know at all how they will affect the future, including the lives of our children.
What are the parents worried about?
Parents worry about everything from health to social-cognitive skills and the future social status of their child. They don't know if the Internet will harm the child or help them succeed in learning among their peers and become a little more successful in life.
They fear that a world of digital screens and electrical devices will reduce people's physical activity.
And finally, they fear that allowing children to use digital devices, they stop taking part in the process of raising a child and shift this burden to soulless machines and algorithms.
In the US and Canada, the focus is not on banning, but on minimizing the negative effects of technology on children, for example:
- Decreased Social Skills
- Decreased alertness and concentration
- Decreased adaptability to society
- Loss of identity
The mother of a child in Toronto is concerned that her boy looks like an autistic child when he looks at his cell phone.
“If you need to puzzle a child and you don’t want to invent something, you can just give him an iPad in his hands, but do you really think that this method should be used all the time? Yes, there are definitely cases where you can use this method and give the child a tablet for 30-60 minutes ... but in such cases, try to ask questions about what was watched or include educational programs for the child.
Usually, another root of the problem lies in the control of time. Some people do not control their own time spent on a computer or other digital device, but they try to limit this to children (of course, unsuccessfully).
The mother of two first graders says: “If I can’t control how much time I spend on the computer, then how can my daughter do it?”
Another not unimportant concern of parents: “A child who is used to a dynamic show that a tablet shows him, then will not want to listen to any school teacher, because it will be more boring than constantly changing pictures and images on the screen.”
Some parents are concerned that online gaming and watching videos is destroying their children's social skills, making them outcasts, so they ban YouTube and Twitch for their children.
Many parents are concerned about the relationship between the virtual and real lives of their children.
Classes, circles or physical exercises can be more beneficial than sitting in front of a computer screen after returning from school.
Some parents deliberately force their children to use the tablet only as an electronic primer or encyclopedia, setting restrictions on all other services and applications.
Golden mean
“On the one hand, tablets make us closed off, steal our time and attention, on the other hand ... My daughter, who is two years old, already knows the alphabet! When our friends ask us: how did you do it!? I answer - it's all a tablet. My six-year-old child already knows everything about the structure of the Earth, about many other planets, such as Mars, and can tell how many rings each has. We didn't teach him that... it's all a tablet. But sometimes, we arrange days of rest and go to the country to pick apples, refusing any electronic devices.
A young mom from Toronto decided to limit the amount of time her child spends in front of a screen after a toddler crawled up to the TV in a supermarket and started swiping across a normal screen, hoping to change the picture.
Parents in China are of the following opinion:
“Technology is a boon and a big responsibility. We must act as guides and guardians for our children, help them find new and interesting things, but also remember to monitor the time they spend in front of the screen.
Control and influence strategies
Parents who make the decision to limit the use of gadgets to their children use a variety of options ...
“I don't want my child to carry a phone and play with it. The phone is only needed for emergency calls.
Some parents give their kids restricted devices and only let them play as a reward for some other activity (like doing homework or cleaning the house).
Another Mom gave her daughter an iPhone that wasn't connected to the internet so her child could listen to music, use offline language learning apps, and make basic phone calls.
Nowadays, most modern smartphones and tablets already have a “children's mode”, this is no surprise to anyone.
In China, some parents forbid their children from using gadgets and playing computer games before they enter high school.
The Chinese government also monitors the gaming industry.
One of the mandatory requirements for a product to enter the Chinese market is the presence of time controls built into the game that the player spends in the game.
Some games in China require a personal user ID to control the total playing time and content that can be shown in the game to a child of a certain age.
In America and Canada, children are usually technology experts and very often the children themselves provide technical advice to their parents.
Some parents ask their children to help them connect to Wi-Fi at home. One mother needed the help of a six-year-old child to project her computer screen onto a TV using Apple TV. That same mom said, “They have to be tech-savvy, obviously. And my 9-year-old daughter just seems to know how to figure these things out, she just has something to solve these kinds of problems [with devices and technologies]. It amazes me, I honestly don't know where it comes from."
Conclusion
We live in a hyper-technological time.
We achieved this in a super short time frame, and while we enjoyed the delights of progress, it formed a new vector of life and created many contradictions that need to be addressed as soon as possible.
Funnel: The feeling of enjoyment we get when a couple of swipes separate us from food, groceries, and clothes ordered to take home, instead of the possible physical exertion we had to go through in order to get food or clothes for ourselves.
filling the silence: people started using gadgets to fill free time and "empty" moments in their lives.
On trains, trains, planes, waiting rooms, at work, at school… the telephone has become an everyday distraction for our attention. Rattle against boredom.
Digital life sometimes takes over everyday life, plunging us and our children into the abyss of loneliness and an imaginary society (chats, communities, groups).
We are getting closer virtually, but further apart physically. It changes the way we and our children live, affects our health and productivity. Communication via the Internet is more like business communication, it does not at all convey the emotional reactions and experiences of the interlocutor, which we are able to capture in a personal meeting.
Please note that our study does not prove whether digital overuse actually harms children. To answer this question, it is necessary to carry out long and serious studies, since any negative effects appear over time, and not during one moment of observation. []
Our research has shown how children use gadgets today, and this causes conflicting feelings and suspicions among many parents on different continents.
Therefore, it is very important to understand the concerns of parents when you develop technologies or products for children.
A few key points to keep in mind:
- Restrictions
Try to think through and minimize the transition from content to a restricted screen. Let it be less intrusive.
- Help your parents
Help parents complete and set up the app for their kids. You will make life easier for people and save them from the need for constant monitoring.
- We are all children
When you enter the mall, you will surely see children's corners and playrooms.
Many children, just like us, use the Internet, watch cartoons and listen to music, why not consider a separate children's design for your product, website or application.
This is a very important topic and if you are interested, check out about the differences in adult and children's interfaces and their patterns.
Finally, remember that children in everything take an example from adults.
What an example we set for children when their parents smile at the screen of a mobile phone more often than at each other.
Source: habr.com