THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET USAGE ON CHILDREN

Naing Win Aung (Nelson)

JOUR 2

Professor Dada

December 5, 2016

Abstract

With the improvement of the technologies and the public release of the Internet, most of the individuals are indirectly influenced by the adjustments in the mass communications and also the social practices and communication between the groups and education. Subsequently, this enormously affects the development of young children particularly on the use of the Internet as they are interacting with this innovation at incredibly young age. Hence, the parental intervention ought to be issued and examined among parent guardians so they can control or limit the utilization of the Internet by children if necessary. This paper will take a look at the studies led by the scientists concentrating on the Internet and online networking use among the young kids. Besides, the development issue will also be discussed.

The impact of the Internet usage on children age 3-12

With the Internet release to the public in the 1990s, not only does it affect the way the media works, but it additionally has a huge influence on the development of the children mentally and socially. Despite the fact that the millennial had various media when they were growing up, they did not need to manage the issue with the advanced innovation and technology like the Internet. As indicated by the textbook, “Secret 5 – New media are always scary.” (Hanson, 2016) My hypothesis is that the early adoption of the Internet and the technology can impact children’s development issue, such as their communication behaviors, social skills, and the psychological effects.

Communication

Communication plays a huge role in the development of children. According to the article “Web Sites for Young Children: Gateway to Online Social Networking?” Children are beginning to adapt to the Internet and web-based social networking, thus, they have the tendency to communicate differently. Interacting face-to-face with other people have the “most emotionally maturing experiences” (Cordes & Miller, 2000) that children should experience before they interact and socialize with the Internet or technology even though the improved technology has several useful contributions (Derbyshire). However, social networking sites become abundant as it continues to grow along with the expanding social network users in the United States especially teens (Bauman, 2009). Despite the fact that children are safe to use the social networks that are targeted among particularly younger children, there have been worries about the development of the children concerning their physical behavior, the psychological impacts, and the interaction with individuals, for instance, their family and friends. Thus, Bauman stated that children who have invested a predominance of their time with social networking would be liable to experience issues when interpreting the content within an actual communication due to the absence of learning of nonverbal gestures and facial expressions.

As technology is changing how education functions, and the way the communities communicate with one another, it is essential that children should adapt to the usage of the Internet in this technological era. However, alongside the websites that have many components and necessary technology skills for young children, there have been several issues with them. Children can easily misuse a site. (Bauman, 2009) Therefore, school counselors are somewhat required to acknowledge the fact that these web sites may harm or influence children’s education as well as the communication behaviors as mentioned above. (Bauman, 2009)

Development Issue of Children with The Internet

Children may/may not completely comprehend and cannot interpret the way technology has impacted the relationships and communication between family and friends. Early access to the Internet can desensitize children’s abilities to have normal social collaborations to promote appropriate developing skills. (Greenfield, 2009)

Professor Susan Greenfield mentioned that young children need to learn the subtle elements and understand the necessary context of an image or an object to evaluate the meaning. Greenfield observed that sites that are specifically for young children have a tendency to engage children by utilizing both sounds and lights. As a result, Greenfield worried that children’s brains might have developed differently due to the over usage of short attention getters like this. Furthermore, Davidson (2007) has described “Neuroplasticity,” the process that the brain can rewire itself and change its functionality as a response to experience.

Baumgarten noticed that elementary school students are creating positive social behavior by using the Internet and the social networking sites. However, opposite effects such as being solitary and distressing on the Web sites can damage this development among the children (Baumgarten, 2003).

Parental Mediation

As the technology is rapidly increasing, the media that children use have gone to a few changes. Parents are highly encouraged to figure out how to adjust in controlling children’s media use and their uses of technologies using the literature on parental mediation, which is known as media education (Zaman, 2016).

With the public release of the Internet in the 1990s, some constraints and limitations are required to control Internet access specifically among the children. In the article, “A Qualitative Inquiry into the Contextualized Parental Mediation Practices of Young Children’s Digital Media Use at Home,” the studies of various parental mediation on digital media usage including the Internet have been conducted by several researchers.

Restrictive mediation is a method where parents have rules and guidelines for controlling children’s media usage (Nikken & Jansz, 2006). It comprises various classifications such as the amount of time, media content and age restrictions. This technique of mediation is likely to occur to the household where parents are concerned about the detrimental effects of video gaming (Nikken & Jansz, 2006).

Active mediation is the second method where parents usually tend to participate in

conversations to share experiences and clarify the media content so that children can comprehend the materials. Parents who are concerned about the risks of social networking, and additionally gaming (Nikken & Jansz, 2006), is likely to use this procedure. 

            Co-viewing is a third strategy that shares media contents and activities between parents and children. It is conceivable to help children’s usage of the Internet easier for the parents to closely associate using this method of parental mediation (Nikken & Jansz, 2006).

            Nikken and Jansz (2006) established two new extra strategies to parental mediation; “Technical safety guidance” and “Supervision.” Technical safety guidance consists of safety usage material of technology such as the application that ensures children’s safety and filters out the inappropriate content on the computer. Supervision, on the other hand, permits children to be alone for their online sessions. Parents can assist and control while keeping track on the children’s activities. “Supervision” strategy is common in families with children younger than 12.

Conclusion

Even though technology has helped us with many different things, there have been concerns about the effect of the Internet. The usage of the Internet needs to have some restrictions and limitations, in particular among the young children. The social networking sites that are kids friendly could somehow affect their social behaviors and communication. Thus, the development of the children can be distinctive and could prompt to undesirable impacts in their future. Therefore, researchers have been studying the literature of parental mediation to help shape the children’s development.

References:

Bauman, S., & Tatum, T. (2009). Web Sites for Young Children: Gateway to Online Social Networking?. Professional School Counseling. Retrieved November 12, 2016 from http://ezproxy.fhda.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=45383698&site=ehost-live

Baumgarten, M. (2003). Kids and the Internet: A developmental summary.ACM Computers in Entertainment, 1, 1-10.

Cordes, C., & Miller, E. (Eds.). (2000). Fool's gold: A critical look at computers in childhood. College Park, MD: Alliance for Childhood.

Davidson, R. (2007, December 10). The heart-brain connection: The neuroscience of social, emotional, and academic learning. Presentation at a meeting of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, New York.

Derbyshire, D. (2009, February 24). Social websites harm children's brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist. Mail Online. Retrieved November 15, 2016, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/ Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents‐ neuroscientist.html

Hanson, Ralph E.. (2016). Mass Communication Living in a Media World. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Nikken, P., & Jansz, J. (2006). Parental mediation of children’s videogame playing: A comparison of the reports by parents and children. Learning, Media and Technology, 31, 181–202.

Sandvig, C. (2003). Public Internet Access for Young Children in the Inner City: Evidence to Inform Access Subsidy and Content Regulation. Information Society. Retrieved November 16, 2016 from http://ezproxy.fhda.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=10039727&site=ehost-live

Zaman, B., Nouwen, M., Vanattenhoven, J., de Ferrerre, E., & Looy, J. V. (2016). A Qualitative Inquiry into the Contextualized Parental Mediation Practices of Young Children’s Digital Media Use at Home. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Retrieved November 16, 2016 from http://ezproxy.fhda.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=113745087&site=ehost-live