It’s no surprise to everyone that we live in a digital world. It doesn’t matter where you go; screens and technology are all around us. Everyone now-a-days owns cellphones, tablets, TV’s and laptops.
Technology controls every single generation. From babies playing on tablets, to kids in elementary schools owning their own chrome books, and our grandparents stealing the show on Facebook, everyone has this digital connection. But, what is the cost of technology being such a huge part of lives? And where does the line get drawn from too much screen exposure?
Charity Born is a Parent Educator at Childreach. She explains why parents have a habit of giving their baby electronics.
“There is a tendency to turn on the TV, or hand them a phone. A lot of kids in shopping carts when they’re getting groceries, hand them the phone. When they’re in the car, hand them the tablet. So it’s hard to say if it’s too much. But then there’s those cases where mom needs that for survival, she needs to take a shower, she needs to cook dinner. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but, you need that balance.”
The Canadian Pediatric Society did a study in 2017, with shocking numbers at how much screen time your child should have:
- Ages 2 and under: Zero screen time
- Ages 2 to 5: 1 hour maximum of screen time
- Ages 5 and up: 2 hours maximum of screen time
Although these guidelines are in place, there can be circumstances where technology can be extremely beneficial for children, especially at a toddler age. Melissa Deschamps is a Registered Early Childhood Educator at Simply Kids Daycare. She says the daycare doesn’t allow the children to play with electronics, but that it can be helpful in certain situations.
“If you’re doing an activity and you’re talking about places around the world, we can’t see places around the world. We could look at maps and atlases but how cool is it when we can open an app and we can hear children’s stories from around the world. We can see their homes, and where they live. We can go to Google Earth even and see all of those areas that you can’t even imagine, or a child can’t imagine. That to me, you’re amplifying their learning experience through technology, but it’s positive.”
And although you can use technology with children for the positive, not everyone believes in these changes being a solution for our society. Children in grade schools, for example, are being shown technology in ways that previous generations were not. Many children in elementary schools are now given their own Chromebooks for their work. But Christine Morgan, a recently retired school teacher, is not on board with this new technology.
“It’s misdirected. What is the purpose of the Chromebook? What is the purpose of having classes to that? There are so many other ways of transferring information that might be better for students in the long-run.”
But then, there is the flip side of Morgan’s opinion. Tim Evadeen is a high school teacher at Westminister Secondary School. His school is completely behind the idea of Chromebooks, and in fact, his school has been selected for a pilot project called Chromebook 1 to 1.
“Every student in grade 9, and this year every student in grade 10, has been given a Chromebook for their personal learning. So, they bring their Chromebook to school, and they’re used in the classroom. They’re being integrated into the classroom, so teachers have been given training to show them how to integrate the Chromebooks into their everyday lessons.”
Aside from the teen generation being highly on board with the digital world. The middle and senior generations are also trying to become more technologically advanced. And Colleen Amatruda does just that at the Central library.
A program was started to give assistance to anyone who needs it when it comes to their electronics. From not even knowing how to turn an iPad on, to helping set up a Facebook account, the day is never the same. Amatruda said she noticed something very upsetting about the senior generation.
“A lot of the time, they just want to connect with their family. So, things like Skype, our tech tutors have helped with that and helped them set that up. So, it’s really to keep people connected, so of course we want to be able to help with that as much as we can, so that’s really where this program comes in.”
From the day we’re born, until the day we die, technology as of now will always play a key part in our generations. Everyone needs to be on board with where our electronics are going to go, and how fast things will change from now on.
It can be crazy and stressful in this digital world, but judge technology and screen time as you see fits, not others.
