EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGY ON EARLY CHILDREN

Nowadays, technological developments are becoming increasingly fast and affordable

to all levels of society. It's not the same as before, where only people with high incomes had
computers. Today, both people from developed and developing countries, people who come
from high and low social classes, are almost entirely exposed to sophisticated devices known
as laptops and smartphones. Changes in human civilization today have had a very large
positive impact where people carry out their daily activities more quickly and easily, different
from civilizations decades ago. However, behind the convenience offered by technology,
there are also negative impacts that cannot be avoided by every individual. One of the
negative impacts is addiction to applications installed on smartphones, such as social media
and games. In this paper, the author will focus on the negative effect of technology on early
childhood then the author describe briefly how to control children's addiction to smartphones
by teaching children how to use smartphones properly. The writer will present the
implementation of smartphones in support of children's learning process.
The existence of smartphones as a communication tool is a must for every individual.
However, not only does it function to communicate between one party and another, this
sophisticated tool also provides a variety of very innovative applications ranging from social
media as an interaction platform, cameras, recorders, calculators, to games available with
various options. There are almost no individuals who do not own smartphones, except in
remote areas that do not reach the internet network. It is no wonder that children born in the
2000s are highly likely to be exposed to smartphones owned by their parents. Especially in an
era where women and men have equality and have careers and activities, giving children
smartphones with the aim of entertaining children has become a necessity for parents.
However, without realizing it, it turns out that the dangers that early childhood get if exposed
to smartphones too often are very fatal. Work disorders in the brain experienced by children
due to playing too often on smartphones hinder children in the process of thinking and
speaking. The light released by smartphones will also slowly damage the child's visual
system and cause health problems such as insomnia.
As reported in an article written by Ward et al., 1 the easy access to information from
smartphones is one of the causes of decreased children's thinking ability. This can be related
to the learning habits of children in the era before the introduction of smartphones. Where if
they are given a question or a problem, they will search from various sources to find the
desired answer. Starting from looking at textbooks, newspapers, asking people they think
they know better, even doing simple experiments with nature. However, with the presence of
smartphones in our lives today, only by using sophisticated cellphones, we will find all the
answers to the problems we want, even life's problems. Although it is more time-saving and
the answers obtained will be more accurate, if children go through this process their brains
will get used to receiving information compared to processing and associating information.
As we know that the brain is a part of the human body that does not stop growing and aging,
if it is not honed, brain growth will slow down and result in a shrinking brain volume.
Smartphones basically emit light which is called blue light because it has the same
wavelength as blue light in the light spectrum. Riaz, et al, 2 explained that blue light is the
light released by the sun where the brain adapts to work when it is exposed to blue light and
signals rest at night. Similarly, smartphones emit blue light so they can be seen even in the
sun. However, its existence confuses the brain where it should be after 13-16 hours of rest.
However, children play on smartphones without knowing the time. This clearly causes the
brain's work processes to be interrupted by exposure to blue light at night. So that the brain
stops producing melatonin, the hormone in the body that signals "sleep time". As a result,
children who are addicted to smartphones will experience sleep disturbances or insomnia. Of
course it is very bad for children who certainly need nutrition and adequate sleep time to help
their physical growth and physiology.
Regarding communication, in a study conducted by Cerit et al., 3 there is a direct
relationship between addiction to using smartphones and speaking ability. They argued that
the effect of excessive smartphone use negatively affects the ability of effective listening,
expression, and non-verbal communication. Research conducted on nursing students
indirectly shows that there needs to be special attention for parents to limit their children in
using smartphones, especially children who are still in the stage of learning to speak,
compose vocabulary. At this stage, if children are not paid attention to the use of smartphones
it will result in the child's inability to speak as previously explained. Then, what is the
process experienced by children when using smartphones so that it hinders the development
of their communication. The following is an illustration, When children put their focus on
smartphones, be it watching YouTube or social media and games, their brains will try to
work only on what they focus on. When parents call them, or when there are sounds with less
intensity than the sound of smartphones, the brain tends to ignore them. Furthermore, when
children are accustomed to holding cellphones and rarely interacting with their surroundings,
their chances of being exposed to the environment will be smaller. For example, rarely
socializing and rarely talking to parents because the fun of playing smartphones results in

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very limited opportunities to learn to communicate using body styles. This is mainly because
the brain learns generally by means of mimicry or imitation. And to carry out the imitation
process, there must be something that becomes a role model that can be felt by the child's
senses.
To keep children from becoming addicted to smartphones, there are a number of things
that parents can do and should be done by parents. The reason is simple, because parents are
examples for their children. If you have children under 2 years of age, make sure parents
don't give them smartphones because all of their physiological organs are still in the early
stages of development, which are very sensitive to exposure to sound, electromagnetic and
light waves. Parents are advised to avoid using smartphones in front of their children. If the
child is a toddler (2-5 years old), limit the time the child plays with a smartphone, for
example, one hour per day. We recommend that parents be careful when using smartphones
in front of children. It is also recommended not to lure children with smartphones. At this
age, parents can accompany their children to play outside or take them out to see the
neighborhood. At an older age, parents can increase their child's smartphone usage time, but
it should be no more than two hours. It is very important for parents to monitor their children
so that children do not get addicted.
In addition, banning children would increase their curiosity. Therefore, it would be
better if parents provide knowledge of the pros and cons of smartphone use, turn on the
parent's mode, regulate daily internet usage, uninstall unnecessary applications if parents plan
to buy children's smartphones. This is especially so for early childhood. If the children have
reached adulthood, parents should pay more attention to the children. This can create a
harmonious atmosphere between children and parents. Because as has been said before,
parents are the first example, the first school for their children. In some countries, the use of
social media in children under 5-8 years of age is prohibited by the government. If there is a
social media account for a public figure who is a child, the account is usually held by their
parents. Even in some countries, children under 12 years of age are even prohibited from
using social media. However, in most developing countries, children's activities using social
media sometimes escape their parents' supervision or neglect. This has a bad impact,
especially the psychological state of the children.
The dangers caused by technology are sometimes not realized by parents. But on the
other hand, the existence of technology can certainly help children learn. What parents need
to do is instill a culture in children from an early age that technology is used not only for
playing and communicating. However, a lot of information and applications are offered to
support the child's growth process. Parents should understand this. Basically, technology
supports the learning process on various sides. However, for early childhood, the use of
smartphones without the assistance of parents will lead to addiction as previously described.
The implementation of smartphones to help children learn can be grouped into 3 based on
their objectives, namely (1) to enable participation and collaboration, (2) to share learning
with parents, and (3) to demonstrate learning in different ways. The following is a review
regarding how technology, especially smartphones, can support children's learning.
Through smartphones, young children can participate and collaborate with their peers
who live in or around different provinces or countries. Zoom application, for example, is
currently booming because of the need to overcome social distancing or self-quarantine
problems. Early childhood children can learn or participate in an activity that involves
children of their age to interact with each other. Of course, children must be under the
supervision of parents. Not only independent learning by communicating, getting to know
each other, participating in online activities, early childhood children can also share learning
activities with their parents. Websites like mind mapping, for example, can be accessed via a
smartphone or tablet, where children tend to scribble on layers and parents will guide them.
Drawing is one of the activities that is very suitable to do with this method. So that children
will get used to learning with their parents as well as from early childhood education teachers
and their peers. In addition, the use of smartphones is also very useful as a medium to support
learning in different ways. For example, learning through movies, educational games,
podcasts with materials suitable for early childhood, and special learning applications
designed to educate children. However, still get children used to reading, because early age is
the beginning of character building for children. Some developing countries have low reading
interest due to limited literacy so that it has become a habit and culture. Therefore,
technology generally only helps support the learning process, not as the main source.
From the description above, we know that smartphones have a negative and positive
impact. The negative impact is mainly directly related to the ability to see, speak and
cognitive brain. The positive impacts include enabling participation and collaboration, to
share learning with parents, and to demonstrate learning in different ways. The bad effect of
smartphones on early childhood can be prevented by using wisely in terms of time and
activities that children do using smartphones. Monitoring the use of smartphones in early
childhood can prevent unwanted things from happening. Apart from that, parents can also
help their children learn by using smartphones.

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 References

1. Ward, A. F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. W. (2017). Brain drain: The mere presence of one’s own
smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2),
140-154.
2. Riaz, Z., Hassan, S., PH, Q. R. M. P., & Mobeen, R. (2018, April). Vision Problems in Smart Phone Users
amongst the Students of Isra University. In Ophthalmology update welcomes the participants of Islamabad
Congress of Ophthalmology. Bhurban at (Murree) (Vol. 16, No. 2, p. 621).
3. Cerit, B., Çıtak Bilgin, N., & Ak, B. (2018). Relationship between smartphone addiction of nursing
department students and their communication skills. Contemporary Nurse, 54(4-5), 532-542.
 About the author
Name : Tya Ulfah
Address : 43 Hamley Cres, Mansfield Park, South Australia, Australia 5012
Sex : Female
Nationality : Indonesia
Occupation : Student at The University of Adelaide, South Australia
Major : Entrepreneurship
The author is willing to contribute and share her idea by writing. The purpose is to
reach people’s thought and make a positive change to the world. The author has practised
writing since 2 years ago where she won a national essay competition in agriculture context
as the first Runner Up. Therefore, she tried to write a short story for several competition
afterward, while there was no longer placement for her. She hopes by entering bigger scope
with much more participant in the contest, particularly can deepen her understanding and
sharpen her writing to be able to make thing happen. Back to her country, writers are rarely
appreciated by society. The percentage of literacy is very low. Another dream she has is to
get some acknowledge by the world so she can encourage people in her country to build
reading habit and accelerate the literacy ability in all levels of society.