Family and Technology
Family and Technology
The internet is affecting the way modern families interact with each other in negative ways. Experts are saying that there is a connection between a recent increase in childhood injury and parents being distracted by technology (Worthen). Additionally, young children have to compete with technology for their parent’s attention. Children are lacking the important interaction that should be taking place between parent and child. Consequently since children grow up seeing mom and dad glued to some form of technology, they learn to do the same and inevitably technology becomes the center of the family. The family is together physically, but mentally and emotionally they are stretched thin between all of their gadgets.
From the beginning of a child’s life they are likely to be surrounded by people using Smartphones with cameras, capturing their very first moments. Little do they know that devices like these are going to have a profound effect on their lives maybe sooner than later. According to the Centers for disease control and prevention nonfatal accidental injury rates for children ages zero to five had been steadily declining since the 1970’s, based on emergency room records. Suddenly from 2007 to 2010 these rates went up 12%. Ironically Apple introduced its IPhone in mid-2007 and according to research firm Comscore 9 million Americans owned smart phones at that time. By the end of 2010 that number soared to 63 million. Factors, such as riskier behavior among children and an increase in parents taking children to emergency rooms have been mentioned by child injury experts as the cause for these increases (Worthen). Although the Wall Street Journal interviewed dozens of pediatricians, emergency-room physicians, academic researchers and law enforcement who all agree that using a smart phone while supervising a child could increase the risk of an accident (Worthen). Students, at Temple University observed 30 parents and their
The internet is affecting the way modern families interact with each other in negative ways. Experts are saying that there is a connection between a recent increase in childhood injury and parents being distracted by technology (Worthen). Additionally, young children have to compete with technology for their parent’s attention. Children are lacking the important interaction that should be taking place between parent and child. Consequently since children grow up seeing mom and dad glued to some form of technology, they learn to do the same and inevitably technology becomes the center of the family. The family is together physically, but mentally and emotionally they are stretched thin between all of their gadgets.
From the beginning of a child’s life they are likely to be surrounded by people using Smartphones with cameras, capturing their very first moments. Little do they know that devices like these are going to have a profound effect on their lives maybe sooner than later. According to the Centers for disease control and prevention nonfatal accidental injury rates for children ages zero to five had been steadily declining since the 1970’s, based on emergency room records. Suddenly from 2007 to 2010 these rates went up 12%. Ironically Apple introduced its IPhone in mid-2007 and according to research firm Comscore 9 million Americans owned smart phones at that time. By the end of 2010 that number soared to 63 million. Factors, such as riskier behavior among children and an increase in parents taking children to emergency rooms have been mentioned by child injury experts as the cause for these increases (Worthen). Although the Wall Street Journal interviewed dozens of pediatricians, emergency-room physicians, academic researchers and law enforcement who all agree that using a smart phone while supervising a child could increase the risk of an accident (Worthen). Students, at Temple University observed 30 parents and their
Cited: Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid” The Atlantic Magazine July/Aug. 2008. Theatlantic.com. Web Conger, Cristen. “Should your Kid Get A Cell Phone?.” Discovery News 16 Apr. 2011. ABCnews.go.com Greenblat, Alan. “Impact of the Internet on Thinking.” The CQ Researcher 24 Sept. 2010. The CQ Researcher Dizikes, Peter. “The Lonely Crowd.” MITnews 18 Jan. 2011. MIT.edu. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. “Anybody: Parents are ignoring their children for their Blackberry.” The Washington Post 11 Jan. 2011