Children in the 21st century are avid users of technology – more so than generations past. This rise in use has led to much attention on the consequences of technology use, and how this impacts children’s brains and their socio-emotional, cognitive and physical development. – Gottschalk, OECD, 2019
As new technologies arrive and make themselves at home in our lives, I am not alone in wondering about the impact they have on children’s development. How should we negotiate a place for these technologies in early childhood, particularly infancy?
I am interested in exploring how digital technologies impact very young children’s development and finding a balance between gaining important digital and media literacy skills and potential negative developmental outcomes. The focus of my inquiry is the age range from birth through two years.
Through the master’s of education program in Early Childhood Education at the University of Victoria, and more specifically through the Interactive and Multimedia Learning Theories course, I expect to begin my journey toward answering some of my questions about young children and technology, and most likely, finding new questions I hadn’t considered.
Very interested in following your research on this topic. Understanding the impact of technology on human development is of paramount importance, and yet we have very little data and research on the subject thus far.
I realize what a challenging journey can be to attempt to make sense and understand the impact of technology on human development with the particular focus on children’s experiences at a very young age (0 – 2yr.) It is because as our instructor points out, and after myself giving a quick try to search for publications, the reality is that there is not many comprehensive and in-depth research paper or book can be found in this subject matter.
I wonder if this book or the appropriate chapter from it would be interesting to you?
Heider, K. L., & Jalongo, M. R. (Eds.). (2014). Young children and families in the information age: Applications of technology in early childhood (Vol. 10). Springer.