Name : Sari Mardiana

NIM : 160511100018
Course : Psycholinguistics

The negative effect of technology (gadget) for children : Speech delay

What is the problem? What are the effects? The problem or the effect is actually a lot, well
the modern technology has a positive impact and there is a negative impact. This paper will
be centered on the negative effects of Technology on toddlers, precisely age 3 and more
precisely my own cousin. And the impact is that my cousin is currently experiencing speech
delay.
Introduction :
Technology has a lot of impact on everyone who uses it, from children to parents, all ages
can be affected by technology. Nowadays, there hardly anyone that does not use modern
technology. Technology has a positive impact and a negative impact, and technology impacts
positively if we use it well and not excessively but if we are too dependent on it and it
becomes an addiction it will affect us negatively. And parents also play a very important role
in monitoring their children, maintaining a safe perimeter for their children when it comes to
technology, this helps to keep them away from the negative impacts of modern technology.
While some parents believe technology will help with the development of their children's
brain, it is not always true. They also believe that their children will develop better cognitive
skills and speech through YouTube videos. In reality, it's not always the way they think, they
are basically placing their children in a position where they are vulnerable to the negative
impacts of modern technology. And here i will discuss the negative effects by modern
technology on children, well like my cousin, my cousin has been negatively affected by
modern technology and he has speech delay, and many other children also battling this
problem, and at his age he should be able to speak more than a few words, some of which he
learned from watching too many YouTube videos. Even though it may seem like he learned
from YouTube, it has actually delayed the speed in which he learns.
Disscussion :
Firstly, this paper will talk about speech delay, in that it occurs because of the over use of
Technology which replaces the need for verbal expression. Basically, children who
experience speech delay due to the negative effects of modern technology must be limited to
seeing videos on YouTube, because they are already dependent and it will be difficult to
change them. My cousin is a perfect example, he is 3 years old and he is still unable to speak.
If he is not given food he will not eat and will not ask for food, and if he is not taken to the
bathroom he will not take a shower. This is because he does not say anything except the
words from the video he watches on youtube. Actually a child's power to remember in their
brain and their capture power is very good, they are very smart so if we do not limit their time
to seeing videos on youtube then they will not know how to express something or what
language they should use to express something.
Secondly, it's a pity for children who suffer or experience speech delay because they can't
express something properly, so we don't know what they are feeling and what they want to
say. I think my cousin, if he has a tendency to see videos on youtube, he will only know to
express himself by crying because for him crying is how he asks for something but he cannot
express it properly. So for him crying is an expression of everything, this means that the
expression of crying for him is how he expresses various needs and it is used for any
circumstance. It is difficult for him to express something, for example he is given a gadget by
his parents and is shown video youtube 20 minutes later, he is watching or throwing the
gadget. We do not know what he means by throwing or slamming the gadget, he gets angry
because he is bored seeing the video on youtube or he would ask to replace it with another
video on youtube, so we don't know what he meant by the way he is expressing it.
Thirdly, some parents try to think better for your child, while other parents thinks that giving
a gadget to their children or allowing them to watch a video on youtube, is good for the
children, they do not consider the negative impact it has on their child. My cousin has been
negatively impacted by modern technology and he experienced speech delay, what if later
when he is an adolescent or when he becomes an adult he still has speech delay; he would not
be able to communicate properly and clearly with the community. As a result it is very
difficult to talk to him and to teach him a few words because he would say them in rigid
tones. So if i’am with him i always invite to speak, even though he is very stiff to say
something. The negative effects of modern technology greatly affects the development of
language in the brain of young children, because their brains are less developed than adults
and they cannot absorb words that are difficult to pronounce or to comprehend. This is
because of slow language development or the development of words in their brain cannot be
absorb perfectly can result in the lack of words in their brains because they are already
addicted to watching videos on youtube.