The creation of digital media for adolescent children should take into consideration the importance of “the three C’s”: the child, the context of use, and the content. According to Lisa Guernsey, director of the New America Foundation's Early Education Initiative, all three of these terms must be reflected in the purposeful choice, application, and development of digital media for children. One could consider that the foundation of children’s digital media content must account for the four stages of child development as stated by, social constructivist, Jean Piaget.
By employing active mediation and co-viewing a child’s parents and peers can participate in a child’s experiences; using digital media in the context of learning can facilitate the understanding and processing of content in programming and advertisements.
When establishing the formation of digital media content for a child, one must account for the cognitive abilities, intelligence, and social-emotional needs that progress at different developmental stages. Jean Piaget theorized that children move through four specific stages of learning: sensori-motor (birth to two years), pre-operational (two to seven years), concrete operational (seven to twelve years), and formal operational (twelve years and up) (Marzzarella 65). The application of the Piagetian theory, in regards to the creation of children’s digital media, primarily focuses on the cognitive limitations of preoperational thinking in children under the age of five. Children in the preoperational stage have difficulty understanding the content of television (Marzzarella 66). When media producers develop a show for an audience of toddlers and preschoolers, they must take into account the child’s inability to ...
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...ge of development, to distinguish the transition from programming to commercials. Differentiating the transition from programming to commercials is simply the first step in understanding advertising. Without understanding this concept, a child in this developmental stage is far from comprehending an advertisings persuasive intent.
Producers of children’s digital media should attempt to create age appropriate content by thoroughly understanding the Piagetian theory and its stages of development. If a child is unable to understand the content, a parent or peer should enforce co-viewing and aid in the child’s comprehension of the media programming. The use of co-viewing may also establish a child’s understanding to differentiate commercials from programming, thus removing the child from the clutches of salient and formal features displayed in advertisements.
In the passionate article, “The Digital Parent Trap” by the renowned Eliana Dockterman, the author convincingly portrays that there are benefits to early exposure to technology and that this viewpoint needs to be more pervasive or else there would be a severe problem with broad consequences. The author effectively and concisely builds the argument by using a variety of persuasive and argumentative rhetorical techniques including but not limited to the usage of ethos, evidence, and pathos.
Television is a distraction for children and can hurt their cognitive abilities if they watch too much because it is non interactive. In the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Helena Duch and colleagues mentioned that the American Academy of Pediatrics advises, “parents avoid exposing children 2 and under to screen media, a nationally representative survey found that 68% of children under the age of 2 use screen media in a typical day, and that average screen time was 2.05 hours per day” (Dutch et al 2). Children live in a world full of screens, ranging from iPhones, TVs, to tablets and computers. Drastic brain development occurs during the ages of 1-3 and exposing them to too much screen time of any kind can have negative effects on them (Hopkins 27). Putting them in front of a screen also steals away from times they could be talking, playing, and interacting with their surroundings. Pediatrician Dr. Michael Rich claims that shows d...
In the article, “The Digital Parent Trap”, author Eliana Dockterman reveals the benefits of introducing technology to the youth. Dockterman’s purpose for this is to expose to parents that it is beneficial to expose technology to the early age. She utilizes a formal tone in order to effectively persuade her readers to believe in the pros more than the cons of screen time. Throughout the article, Dockterman successfully builds her argument by utilizing evidence, appealing to the emotions of her audience, and inductive reasoning.
Using the internet as an easy shortcut for things lacks the experiences that children need to develop correctly. There must be a balance of internet and the real life, hard copy form of things for people to really form independent ideas and feelings based on the vast experiences of going to a concert or reading a heavy, worn out, and loved book under a tree that the online version cannot provide. It is experiences like these that help develop motor and sensory skills that are crucial to child development. According to Cris Rowan, the author of “The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child,” the “four critical factors necessary to achieve healthy child development are movement, touch, human connection, and exposure to nature. These types of sensory inputs ensure normal development of posture, bilateral coordination, optimal arousal states and self-regulation necessary for achieving foundation skills” (Rowan). In other words, too much time spent on digital devices instead of playing outside and interacting face-to-face with people can cause some detrimental developmental issues that would affect someone's quality of life. Although technology advancements have created the biggest storage database ever and a world wide web of information and resources, like digital books, that overall improve how society functions, it is still essential for young children to have the experiences that do not involve a screen so that they can develop into healthy young adults who have a understanding of the world, empathy, and their self. Thompson believes that, “We need a new way to talk clearly about the rewards and pleasures of our digital experiences- one that’s rooted in our lived experiences and also detangled from the hype of Silicon Valley.” (353) Individuals cannot appreciate the benefits of technology without the real life
Children in their adolescents years watch a great amount of TV each week and it is almost inevitable that they will start to be influenced by what they see on their television. They will see diffe...
Television has become a big part in children’s day-to-day lives especially in the 20th century. Children in this century rely on television to keep them entertained and educated instead of entertaining and educating themselves by participating in activities, which will teach them a lot more in life then the actual television. There is no doubt that children are most easily influenced by television because of the different content that they watch as well as the amount of time consumed watching TV. The television does have an emotional and intellectual development on children but this all depends on the content that they’re watching and the way that they absorb the information that the show is trying to send out. Different programs will portray
Technologies such as television and computer games have long been a controversial point in regards to young children’s learning and education. Mental stimulation for children aged three to seven using technology during the brains developmental stage can be used as somewhat of a benefit, as there are now educational television programmes and computer games. Technology can be of benefit for children’s brain health by educational television shows, such as Dora the Explorer and Little Einstein’s. These television shows are recommended for children aged 3 and over. The shows teach children from counting and spelling skills to simple scientific facts. Learning these skills can benefit children by increasing their mental capacity, vocabulary and memory as their brains are growing. Several computer games ca...
In today’s society we are overwhelmed with technology. Technology is changing everyday, and will forever be a staple in our lives. The effect that technology has on our children has brought on some concerns and some praises. Children these days have no choice but to some how be influenced by the ever growing technology in our societies. Our common concern has been that although digital technology has boosted children’s talent for multitasking, their ability to process information deeply may be deteriorating (Carpenter, 2010). Many people have a wide range of opinions on if technology is having a positive influence on our children or a negative, there is a vast amount of evidence to support both of these arguments. Technology can refer to so many things, but there are three main parts of technology that are having the greatest effects on our children: video games, television/media, and computers. The modern technologies we have today are so powerful because they attract our genetic biases, that the human brain has a tremendous love for visually presented information. Video games, television, movies and computer programs are all very visually oriented and therefore they attract and keep the attention of children easily.
The 21st century is the century of digital media and new technology. Technology gives us many learning opportunities. However, it can be very addicting if not used wisely. Everyone uses online networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and online games. People seem to be addicted to such networks and tend to stay indoors to ‘‘keep up’’ with them. A research project called digital media youth research was conducted from 2005-2008. The project focused on the correlation between youth, new media, and learning. The following statement was extracted directly from the
This world has become immersed in online media from socializing on networking sites to seeking information on search engines. People of all ages have become reliant on online media, but the most engaged users are the younger, more easily impacted generations. Although there are many positive uses for online media, there are many negative uses as well. Unfortunately, it is all too easy for these negative effects to impede upon the perceptions of adolescents. Some countries have been trying to reduce this effect by expelling the inappropriate content of online media ("Influence on Children Media...”). However, in the United States, children are thrown in the waves, expected to stay afloat in this massive sea, but many are being dragged under the surface by the nefarious temptations media creates. Content that is not appropriate for the young, growing minds of children are easily accessible; a myriad of devices may be used to access this material, all at the click of a button. Without adult content filters on online media, adolescents of various ages are exposed to dangerous conceptions. A world of pornography, violence, and public humiliation lay in the user’s fingertips.
Piaget would believe that technology could benefit children in different stages of cognitive development. In the sensorimotor stage, children can use visually and auditorily stimulating technology and applications to provide the child with sensory input. In the preoperational stage, technology could be used to exercise the child’s representational thought processing because using games on technology involves them being able to understand that if they are playing a game on an ipad that there might also be a physical version of the
This article addresses how children have mastered the art of technology from a very early age. The internet allows for faster learning than textbooks because it helps children choose an avenue of learning that suits them best. Research has proven that vocabulary expands at a quicker rate with the use of technology. This article provides information from a variety of news sources and a professional writer. Harsh Wardhan Dave is a media and communications specialist. Harsh Wardhan has a passion for finding the right blend of technology and creativity in his writings. This source is relevant to the thesis statement because it also validates that we need to make the most of technology and the internet while still providing a healthy balance as well as ensuring a safe environment so that we can provide our children the best of both worlds.
Parents need to know when their child is exposed to media parent involvement that includes positive guidance on appropriate use of all media that includes internet, music, television, and video games. All media has the possibility to develop positive and negative effects on children and adolescents. Depending on the child’s developmental stage determines if the effect will be
Imagine someone born in the early 1900’s entering a modern-day classroom. They would likely be confused as to what televisions, computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices are. It is also likely that they would be overwhelmed by the instant access to information that the internet provides. Digital media has become a large part of people’s everyday lives especially with the rise of digital media in classrooms. Digital media is growing so rapidly that people who are not adapting to this shift in culture are falling behind and becoming victims of the “digital divide”, this is leaving people misinformed. Digital media has a large effect on the way that people communicate, this is especially evident in the way that students interact with
These important questions on the topic of children’s television viewing in its early beginnings continue to be debated in society. The creation of children’s television shows in the 1940s and 1950s offered children pure entertainment and very little smart education. According to Palmer, “there were a few shows that did teach children values and morals, but the true educational television shows for children did not appear until the late 1960s(28). Not only educational shows, but public television shows, dialogue, help in increasing a child’s vocabulary and in improving he/she speaking skills. Therefore, parents should encourage their children to watch more public television today because public television helps children to read.