Don’t let technology manipulate us
of the effects of the overuse of gadgets in children is that if affects speech development, which is crucial for children especially between the age of 9 months to 2 years old because this period is known as the golden age for the development of every child.
Overuse of gadgets can lead to language delay also known as alalia where a child finds it difficult to understand what others say or what they read. Too much gadget exposure means people talk or communicate less, reducing their vocabulary as they hear less.
It can also lead to unclear articulation and pronunciation. In one study that had been conducted recently, the researcher found that one of the participants that they interviewed stated that her child was almost 3 years old, but he still had difficulty speaking.
She also said that if the kid needs anything, he indicates by pulling his mum’s clothing and speaking gibberish, and this creates confusion regarding what the mum has to do.
Other negative effects include attention disorder, slow cognitive development and unclear articulation in children below 5 years old.
Also, they may have a do not care attitude, do not know how to convey emotion, and do not listen to parents.
Another is children’s eyesight quality or computer vision syndrome, referring to eye and vision-related problems that result from prolonged use of computer, tablet, e-reader, and cell phone.
The children can also experience dry eyes problem or ocular fatigue. When using gadgets, the blinking rate is decreased and the exposed ocular surface area is increased causing desiccation of the eyes. It may lead to blurred vision, poor focusing change, double vision tired eyes, and others.
Social-emotional development is also an aspect that can be influenced by the overuse of gadgets towards children. When children spend too much time on gadgets, they rarely interact with peers surrounding them as well as their families.
This can lead to behavioural problems and emotional disorders. Children tend to imitate what they see from their environment as they do not know what is good and what is bad, and they also do not know the limits of right and wrong.
When children are preoccupied with gadgets, they tend to act aggressively and unable to control their emotions when they felt disturbed.
In conclusion, too much gadget exposure is certainly unhealthy to children as it can affect many aspects including speech development, eyesight quality, and social-emotional development.
To change, a child’s education begins at home so parents play a vital role to avoid gadget addiction in children. Be the one to set the example. If the parents themselves cannot control the usage of gadgets on a daily basis, how do you expect the kids to do so?
Give attention to children. Make sure they respond or interact with others. Let them meet other kids so they can develop social skills, make friends, improve communication skills and expand their vocabulary. The most important thing is to set a limit for gadget usage.
Gadgets do indeed make life easier but to make people reduce use of gadgets is something that is difficult to do. Technology that once had been manipulated by humans, has now become the one that manipulates humans.