Does technology help children’s development? The short answer is: yes. With all the great toys, educational games and technological goodies available in today’s market, it seems that any child who can get his hands on a toy will likely be playing with some form of technology. However, many parents wonder whether these toys are helping their kids to develop at all.
For a long time, the consensus has been that technology doesn’t help with children’s development. The research on this was done a long time ago, during the 1970s. However, there have been more recent studies that question this theory. These studies show that children do indeed use technology to create and enhance their learning experiences. This may help explain why kids of parents who are already using computer equipment or game consoles tend to perform worse in school compared to children whose parents have stayed away from these media and gadgets.
Of course, technology helps with children’s learning when used properly. It is not necessarily a good thing when parents let their children depend on video games, for example. In fact, some experts point out that gaming may even lead to the destruction of the family unit. Playing too much video games can cause your children to lose interest in other activities such as sports and physical education. While it might seem that technology might hurt the development of our children, there are times when it actually helps them grow and become better people.
Many experts agree that children benefit from educational games that teach them basic math, reading and language skills. Even experts who support technology believe that there is still plenty of space for educational games that are developed on computer and played on a TV set. The argument over whether or not educational games are helpful dates back to the earliest days of the human civilization. Back then, fire has been looked at as a tool for teaching youngsters.
In today’s world, do you really need video games or gadgets like the Nintendo Wii to educate your children? Well, if your kids are not old enough to go outside or play sports, then video games or gadgets are simply not necessary. But does technology help with children’s development? The answer is definitely yes. Here are some ways how:
Video Games Help Learning Has been proven again that educational games help kids learn. In fact, many educational games are developed for this very reason. Learning helps children learn by engaging them in problem solving activities. By watching others solve problems, children develop their ability to solve problems themselves. The more they see others solving problems, the more they are apt to pick up these skills themselves.
But does technology actually help with children’s development? Well, technology does help in many ways. Today’s world offers endless possibilities that a child can pursue. Some of the video games today even allow a child to use hand-held controllers that let him or her interact with characters in the game. These kinds of interactive educational games can be fun, but technology also works in other ways as well.
Educational video games can encourage children to pay attention. As we all know, children lack focus when they are tired and have been doing nothing but playing games all day. But technology helps to alleviate this lack of concentration. It allows children to stay focused on educational activities. Also, technology helps to keep them from becoming bored and having them do things they may not want to do, but need to do in order to pass tests or learn.
