New study: affects of technology on children

Many parents remember being entertained with toys and books when they were younger.

Now that technology has taken the world by storm, many parents are relying on smartphones, tablets, television or video games to entertain their children.

In April of 2018, the American Speech Language Hearing Association and Read Aloud 15 minutes program conducted a national campaign survey observing device usage among children, as well as parents’ opinions of the amount of time children spend on their devices.

Most importantly, these two groups focused on how technology has an affect on fostering brain and communication development at a young age.

Technology is a very common staple in households . According to the study with children ages 0-8, over eight in ten children are in a household with smartphones, TV , and computers.

With that in mind, one in three parents say their child does not spend enough time being read aloud to.

According to the study: “the percentage who say devices take away reading time for their child increases from 26% among parents with children ages 0-2 to 40% among parents of children ages 6-8.”

The largest percentage in the study? “87% of parents say that being talked to and having verbal interactions and conversations with others is important to early brain development.”

Reliance on technology as opposed to reading physical books interferes with a child’s receptive and expressive language skills.

Abby Pemberton, director of curriculum and instruction for Crane school district said, “they’re in their own isolated world.”

Pemberton believes that books allow tactile communication and allows children to have a closer relationship with parents or teachers.

In order to encourage reading and discourage children from relying on technology for entertainment, “make it something positive and fun…give it value…ask them about it. Kids want to be valued…by showing them that what they’re reading is valuable to you, it makes it valuable to them,” Pemberton said.

For more information on the study, visit https://communicationandtech.org/ or https://s3.amazonaws.com/asha-website/Read_Aloud_Report_+ASHA_Report+6-18-18.pdf