Your child’s face is lit from the glow of a tablet – and her rapture at its instantaneous response to her commands.
The Covid-19 restrictions over the past year left you little option but to allow her more screen time and, like her peers, she is revelling in it. But your anxiety levels are increasing.
What is all this technology doing to her brain? Will she become emotionally stunted, unable to hold down relationships that require empathy and grit?
Will she become a cruel narcissist, accustomed and inured to causing harm with the flick of a finger?
At Dolphin Bay, we have all been wondering about the impact of technology on future generations’ minds, and how this will change the character of our future society. Technology is here to stay, integrated into the way we work, communicate, and play. Shunning it is no option.
But how will this change our children? What is the evidence for its effects, negative or positive and, given this evidence, what should parents do?
When futurist Alvin Toffler wrote ‘Future Shock’ in 1970 he envisaged a super-industrialised society where rapid technological advances leave society disconnected and disorientated – in a state of shock. While modern technology may not have had the socially disastrous effect he suggested, what he called a ‘fear of the future’ is a persistent theme.
Despite the increase in personal digital gadgets, Derine feels young people are becoming less materialistic – “seeking a dee`per connection and quality time than ever before”.
The problem with the future, and even the present, is that we can analyse it only according to our previous experiences and knowledge. It is natural that we observe our children’s experiences with technology from a standpoint of unease because it is increasingly different to our own childhoods where the bulky TV was practically the only technological equipment in the house.
Some of us might find it difficult to understand why the young are constantly glued to their gadgets and communicating through apps, instead of talking on a phone – as our parents begged us not to do so much.
Dr Derine Louw, a Cape-Town-based clinical psychologist working with children, adolescents and adults, who focuses on therapeutic interventions for mood and anxiety disorders, advises that despite the generation gap, “parents have the responsibility to be informed in the digital age”. This means being informed about the pressures, risks, and challenges facing children and youths.
A large amount of research has been conducted on the impact of media technology, since the advent of TV in the US in the 1950s. Unfortunately, much of this research has focused on the negative impact, producing shock headlines that worry parents.
However, in research published by UNICEF in 2017, it was reported that social media often stimulates greater social relationships which are largely positive at all age groups. Interestingly, youths spend much less time on Facebook than in previous years, and it is now largely used by the older generations. Instead, youths prefer quicker social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, which encourage greater opportunities for positive feedback as friends acknowledge their pictures or comments.
The ground is constantly shifting.
Communicating in a virtual world and being anonymous could lead to more cruelty among young people, doing things they would never do if standing face-to-face with the object of their actions, says Derine. Nevertheless, the virtual world also “provides a platform where kindness can be promoted and celebrated”.
Derine, who has a broad range of child psychology experience and qualifications, says: “In certain instances it is true that youths are better able to respond to threats these days because of the quicker access to information.” However, she also notes this does not mean they will be better equipped to manage the threats of the business world when they enter it, because “access to information does not necessarily equate to integration and understanding of threat.”
This is where adult wisdom and guidance must come in.
Access to information about a threat does not equate to understanding it. This is where adult guidance comes in.
Derine warns that Covid-19 has also “pushed in-person contact even further into the background, and this is taking its toll”.
Ofcom, the UK’s government communications regulator which monitors communications trends and research, reports that media technology use is increasing in all age groups in the UK, but most rapidly in the three- to four-year-old age group as more children are given smart phones and tablets. Research reported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows many children are also increasingly exposed to digital devices, before books.
How much is too much? Recent studies by the US Pew Research Centre show 8-18 years olds spend an average of seven hours a day engaging with media content, and 24% of them say they are online almost constantly.
The fast pace of modern life and how information is multifaceted may lead to youths becoming anxious. Derine says they suffer from FOMO, (a fear of missing out) and a fear of not being worthy that pushes them to be in constant contact with their peers via technology.
In the past, quantity-based research has driven policy makers and advisors towards a limit-focused approach where hours of media use are limited, instead of focusing on the quality. More research is now being conducted that focuses on the positives of media use and differentiates between sedentary and interactive, educational uses.
One positive study conducted in South Korea in 2017, builds on similar studies about the idea of media use to ‘scaffold’ mental development. This area of research has led the American Association of Paediatrics to suggest that where parents ‘co-view’ and engage with infants using digital media, asking questions and showing how technology works, infants may benefit from higher cognitive and linguistic development.
The term ‘digital natives’ has been used to describe the youngest generation who appear to have an early ease with technology, and this may give them an advantage in later years. But a study conducted on preschool children in Scotland shows children only learn from being shown how to interact with digital interfaces and that technology use is not instinctive.
Despite an increase in personal technological items, Derine feels young people are becoming less materialistic – “seeking a deeper connection and quality time than ever before”.
She adds that “unfortunately the older generation often found a huge part of their identity in accumulation of material goods, and thus often show love accordingly.” Thus the “younger generation can feel unseen and unheard, as what is important to them is quality time, and being more service and positive-experience driven,” she explains.
Many of us question if the values that serve us as humans are being diluted and undermined by tech and social media, but Derine says she wants to believe these values are enduring. “The same platforms that dilute and undermine our basic human values can be just as uplifting to our human needs… I guess it depends in whose hands we trust the vehicle.”
“If you don’t have a trusting relationship with them when they are younger, you won’t be their go-to person when they are older. You need to cherish that relationship now.”
Derine warns parents that children can easily get involved in challenging situations. “They can get pulled into the digital world in a heartbeat if the correct precautions haven’t been taken on their devices”.
She emphasises that parents should have the latest child-protection software and could attend workshops and training that speak to these important issues.
There has been much negative research on excessive gaming, especially leading to a lack of sleep and anti-social behaviour, but there are some positives too. Even modest amounts of gaming can lessen stress levels, aid spatial and memory development, improve attention spans as well as increase motor response times and an ability to make quicker decisions.
However, biological studies have also been conducted that found that exposure to digital screens does physically affect sleep by reducing melatonin levels. Children, in particular, can have higher levels of the fight-or-flight hormone cortisol, and this can increase anxiety.
The US Bureau of Labour Statistics last year suggested that 80% of jobs will soon require technology skills, specifically the ability to use computer interfaces. But they also predict that as technology takes up more predictive and analytical tasks at almost any level of work, it will be social skills that will become more in demand – emotional intelligence, the ability to communicate and to teach others.
For parents, the majority of research and professional advice suggests it is all about balance – making a concerted effort to choose quality over quantity in a media diet.
Derine advises to “never stop having fun with your children and talking to them about their everyday experiences.
“If you don’t have a trusting relationship with them when they are younger, you won’t be their go-to person when they are older. You need to cherish that relationship now.”
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