Technology Balance for Kids

Only a few years ago, children were playing outside all day, playing sports, building forts and riding bikes. Children use to create their own form of play, that didn’t require costly equipment or adult supervision. Today, children are spending an increasing amount of their time using technology, sometimes without realizing the effects. While some argue that technology can greatly benefit to a child’s learning and education, others argue that overuse of electronic media can cause an unbalance in a child’s daily life, and can be harmful to those who don’t have access to digital devices and the internet.

It is hotly contested whether children should be encouraged to use technology, as it can expose them to inappropriate and harmful content. However, technology can be a great benefit to a child’s life, as new technology “opens up new worlds to them” says Nancy Jennings in her article called ‘Children and Computer Technology’. (Jennings, 2013) This is important to notice, as children who are using technology have a wider range of resources for school projects and research, as well as new platforms that are exposing them to new learning methods and education systems. Technology can also encourage children to capture, create and share memories, increase instant communication and enhance learning abilities. According to an article ‘10 Benefits of Exposing Young Children to Modern Technology’, (DigiParenthood, 2013) “Technology presents opportunities to present different activities children may eventually engage in.” An example that they mentioned was children get the idea of what sports such as gymnastics look like, or even race car driving. All in all, this suggests that technology can also lead and engage children to their biggest interests and passions for their future. Relating to sports, I personally find that technology can really spread the news about sports competitions such as swim meets, soccer tournaments, marathons etc. I also know useful apps for both swimming and gymnastics created for parents, coaches and athletes to get access to updated scores, times and points for competitions all around the world. Overall, technology can have great benefits to a child’s but also a parent's daily life.

A reason technology can be harmful to children is that they can lead to an unbalance in their daily life, sleep and screen time. Some parents take an active role in their kid’s lives and set limits on technology. According to an article titled ‘Balancing Screen Time’, poor sleeping patterns are related to the overuse of electronic media, and concluded that technology “raise a public health concern regarding lifestyle and functioning in young individuals”. (Ikeepsafeorg, 2016) This means that children who are using electronic devices regularly may not be balancing their important tasks with their screen time. I personally find that I feel more enriched and satisfied when I get enough sleep, while still accomplishing other important tasks.  An article on Huffington Post titled ‘The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child’ stated that “The truth is, no matter how engaging and educational certain technologies may be, if a child is sitting in front of a screen they are generally not being physically active or learning social skills.” (Cris, 2013) This brings up my point of technology balance, as many children are spending time on screens rather than balancing their daily lives with being physically active and learning new social skills. This also shows that being engaged in sports and other hands on activities can teach more skills to children than when they are sitting on their laptop. However, some argue that children should be independently choosing the appropriate platforms to be learning and entertaining themselves for their own benefits, rather than their parents. From personal experience, this can be very difficult because you can become very attached to what you are doing on the screen, and it can become a habit. With parent supervision, children will know the restrictions better, and it is more likely that they will listen to them. In an article named ‘The Truth About Kids and Tech’ by Heather Jones, it refers to Common Sense Media saying that “tweens from 8 to 12 years of age spend an average of four-and-a-half hours each day watching TV or using a digital device. (Jones, 2015) For teens 13 to 18, the average is six-and-a-half hours.” This is showing that as kids are becoming older, they are spending more time on digital devices. Making sure that you are not spending too much time on digital devices is important, therefore making parent supervision necessary.

Another reason technology can be harmful to a child is that most digital devices are expensive. Children who are living in lower income and lower educational household families are less likely to have access to the internet. Others may feel that this can benefit to the children, as they are not exposed to harmful content and are not distracted by what is on their screens nevertheless, I contend that children who can’t afford digital devices may feel left behind. I think this because these children won’t have access to the internet for homework, school projects and for their own entertainment. A recently published article by Terrance F. Ross stated that “Currently, 99 percent of America's K-12 public schools and libraries are somehow connected to the web.” (Ross, 2015) This is relevant as the small number of children or schools that don’t have access to the internet are not using the same resources as the majority of other children, which may be making them feel like they are not part of this new technology world. In the same article, they also mention that “In today's schools, having a dial-up connection is far from sufficient when measuring adaptation to modern times.” The part that seems relevant is the mention of modern times. As society will eventually grow, technology will grow with it, and it is therefore important to know and possibly have access to the internet and other digital devices.

As technology will grow and surround us, it is important to know the benefits but also the negatives of electronic devices. Technology can improve and build upon our education systems, giving access to more tools and resources than ever before. However,  it is clear that overuse of electronic devices can have serious negative effects. In order to prevent these effects, parents need to make sure their children are improving their self control and limiting their use of technology in their daily lives, and also making sure they get enough exercise and sleep.  

Resources:

Ross, Terrance F. "When Students Can't Go Online." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 13 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"10 Benefits of Exposing Young Children to Modern Technology." DigiParenthood. N.p., 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Cohen, Katherine. "Kids Spend Too Much Time with Technology." Newsworks.org. N.p., 16 June 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"Balancing Screen Time." Ikeepsafeorg RSS. N.p., 26 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

Jones, Heather, and Belinda Luscombe. "News." The Truth About Kids and Tech. N.p., 4 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

Rowan, Cris. "The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 May 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

Wartella, Ellen, and Nancy Jennings. "Children and Computer Technology - The Future of Children -." Princeton University. Trustees of Princeton University © 2014, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

Homework vs Videogames

The idea of homework has been debated as good or bad for many years, however till very recently, the concept of video games has not been a factor in such debates. In some cases, homework can help children further consolidate their knowledge and understanding about topics learnt in school. However, homework more often than not is a negative use of time and time that instead could be devoted to video games because despite cliche stereotypes, many video games provide psychological and academic advantages. This paper will explain why parents should allow children to play video games in moderation alongside homework as it can provide many psychological and academic benefits.

Homework has been adopted by many schools all over the world, it is now almost a tradition. However as it has grown more and more popular, no one has had the motivation to challenge it. But is homework really worth the time? The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia decided to look into homework and how much it really benefits children. These researchers reported no “substantive difference” in the grades of students related to homework completion, (Fuglei, 2016). This means homework plays little if any role in a child’s academic success. Another study by Penn State’s Education Policy Studies department found that “Pages and pages of homework that is simply marked and handed back have less effect than short assignments that are marked individually and discussed later in class, (Fuglei, 2016). This shows that the quantity of homework is not related to its benefits. Akshat Jain, an extremely academically successful middle school student, says “The reason I do well does not lie in the homework provided by school, I would be better off without the stress and pressure of homework.” (Jain, 2016). This represents two things. Firstly children do not appreciate homework as it build stress and wastes time. And secondly, homework does not blossom into success, success is found in other factors of a child's life.

Many people think that video games lead to a drop in grades. There are countless studies that have formulated theories putting video games down. However recent research and studies show that video game can provide many academic benefits. Drew Guarini (an experienced and active contributor to the huffington post) says “your mother was wrong. Video games aren't bad for you. They're actually making your life better.” (Guarini, 2013). Studies conducted in england, provide strong evidence that video game, especially strategy games, massively develop skills that they believe to be key factors to learning, like brain flexibility (Guarini, 2013). This not only proves all the olden day research to be horribly wrong, but also proves there is a positive side to video games. However this study wasn’t the only of its kind, a study, based on a set of psychological test done before and after the 72 patients play video game for 40 hours over the course of 6 weeks, conducted by the Queen Mary University of London, found there to be an improvement from the first test to the second test taken after videogame play, patients were also able to complete cognitive flexibility task faster after playing video games. This is fact based proof that video games can have a positive effect on a child's academic life.

However, video games are not only good for academics, despite many stereotypes that video games damage eyes and make people violent, video games can actually help prevent problems like bad eye sight and depression. Depression, a problem faced by many of our youth, depression can lead to bullying, aggression and worst of all, suicide. It is obvious it is an itch that needs scratching. Researchers in New Zealand, tested a new way to treat depression. Instead of using traditional counseling techniques, they experimented with video games. They experimented on over 150 teenagers with depression problems, most of which had already attempted the classic counselling treatments and saw no effect. Half were given the usual one on one counselor, the second half were given video games. 44% of the second half recovered completely, while only 25% of the first group recovered, (Guarini, 2013). This means video games could be the answer to one of the biggest problems faced by today's society. However videogames aren’t only good for curing depression. Researchers at the University of Rochester, found a significant improvement on people’s eyes after playing video games. The results for first person shooters like Call of Duty and Halo, were especially encouraging. Scientist found that they improved the players contrast sensitivity function. This allows people to pick out small changes in light and color, an important skill for common task like driving at night.

So why keep children from playing video games. Would you ever prevent your child from doing their homework? Focusing too much on homework can lead to stress and ultimately waist time. Homework in large quantities does not benefit a child any more than a solid 50 minutes a night. Success comes from developing skills like adapting, learning and flexibility, not pages of repetition. Video games provide the specific skills one needs to be successful in school like the three mentioned earlier. Video games can also decrease stress and allow children to focus harder at school. Video games also provide a variety of benefits outside of school as well like better eyesight and curing depression. So as the age old debates about homework continue, it is time to throw video games into the mix and give it a chance. Society moved past the old stereotypes about social media, children having mobile phones and even LGBT, so why can’t we do the same about video games.



Fuglei, Monica. "The Homework Debate: The Case Against Homework."Concordia Portland Online. Concordia Online Education, 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Pilgrim, Trevor. "Homework: Harmful or Helpful?" Eduflow. Eduflow, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Guarini, Drew. "9 Ways Video Games Can Actually Be Good For You." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Technology Balance for Children

Every day children use technology without knowing the effects and influences of screens on their actions, moods, and bodies. This topic is hotly contested as parents often don’t know what is too much screen time and when to set limits. Yes, I know screens are fun and they most definitely pass the time easily, but many children do spend way too much time on them every day. While technology has a lot of positive effects, it is also important to ensure there is supervision and management put in place.

By now you are probably wondering what those negative effects of not supervising your child are. That is the focus of this letter. First of all, no screen supervision and letting your child have a lot of screen time creates addiction and emotional instability. The New York Times article Can Students Have Too Much Technology Time? says that video games are building anxiety that then turns into anger. This suggests that children, especially in their teen years, tend to have mood swings, and screens have a high risk of triggering them. Yes, some may argue that their children are not in their teen years yet and they won’t be for a while. However the article Video Game Rage by Victoria L. Dunckley, an adolescent and adult psychiatrist, quotes that “Mood swings may happen in the child's teen years, but headaches and possibly migraines happen to children of all ages.” (Dunckley, 2015). In conclusion, it is essential that parents need to know when the screens are harming their child mentally and physically, and they need to know when to put a stop to it.

Furthermore, many kids are just too young. Going out to dinner with my family, and looking around, I see babies even under the age of two on iPads and iPhones. They’re not learning to socialize. I feel very strongly about this as my parents grew up not using technology and they have taught me to manage my time on devices so that I learn many skills needed for the big world. The article Kids Spend Too Much Time on Technology quotes “68% of children under the age of two are on media every day.” (Cohen, 2016). This is significant and impacts self-regulation and attention skills necessary for learning. The article also says that many children in struggling families tend to have higher grades at the end of high school as they learn how to self-manage better and learn better time management skills. Children learning how to use technology, even before they have learned how to talk, brings attention to the point that screens are changing the next generation's social skills and everyday skills. This will harm the next society and change the way people communicate forever.

Finally, my last reason why supervision needs to be put into place is because technology limits the child’s creativity and imagination. Just think back to your childhood when you would walk outside and see children playing hopscotch and tag. Without technology supervision, the next society will be different as there is a likely chance you might not see any children outside playing those fun old games anymore. The article The Impact of Technology on Developing Children says that 75% of children have a television in their room, and 50% of North American households have their television on all day. One personal example of this is when I didn’t have a computer. I would always find something to do outside or inside depending on the weather. However now I’m often on my laptop, I feel that I have lost a bit of my imagination as sometimes I can’t think of anything to do. The article also quotes, “Technology limits necessary challenges that the body needs to learn how to handle.” (Wakefield, 2014). This idea is crucial as, even if we don’t want to admit it, we know that nothing good comes out of being couch potatoes.

In this day and age, technology is all around us and it seems impossible to avoid. However, it is clear that the overuse of technology can have serious negative effects, and supervision will help children avoid them for the long term.


"Technology in Schools: Future Changes in Classrooms - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"Kids Spend Too Much Time with Technology." Newsworks.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Pinker, Susan. "Can Students Have Too Much Tech?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"Five Ways Teachers Can Use Technology to Help Students." The Brookings Institution. N.p., 07 May 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Rowan, Cris. "The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Homework Balance

In a world where students are receiving increasing pressure to perform well academically, one of the biggest points of arguments that this pressure shows up is in homework. For many students, this drudgery seems like a torturous repetition of the already long school day. But even the students who hate homework most seem to acknowledge that there is some benefit to doing homework. In fact, for many students homework is a necessary reinforcement of concepts learnt at school through practice. But what is really going on? Is homework a great tool for students to continue learning even at home, or is it just an enormous time sink in the lives of already busy students? The evidence seems to say that schools should not give too much homework to students as this can cause stress, lack of personal time, and lessened interest in academics. Instead, schools should occasionally assign a small amount of balanced and relevant homework based on the individual student’s needs. This paper will argue in favour of a balanced and differentiated approach to homework, that hones in on the needs of individual students without overwhelming others with the unnecessary workload.

The first reason students should not receive too much homework is that it can cause stress. According to Youki Terada, a research trend tracker who holds a Master’s in Education and has studied educational research, one of the biggest drawbacks of homework is the fact that it can cause “...physical and emotional fatigue…” (Terada, 2015). He also mentions that homework “...can cut into sleep time…” and “...can increase pressure from parents to perform well…” The fact that we see homework causing fatigue and actually cutting into sleep time for students shows that there is a problem here. What is most important to see is that the homework that causes the most stress is rote memorisation homework - similar repeated exercises with only small amounts of changes. These repeated exercises tend to be, from my and other students’ experiences, very tedious and long tasks that are unhelpful to learning reinforcement. All this kind of homework does is cause stress without benefit. Instead, what should happen is a small but focused amount of homework - for example, according to Monica Fuglei, an adjunct faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, effective mathematics homework “...should have a small number of varied exercises.” (Fuglei, 2013). The small amount prevents any possibility of stress while the varied exercises are even more effective for students to reinforce understanding and make analytical connections between concepts.

The second reason students should not receive too much homework is that it takes away from personal time. According to Trevor Pilgrim, a retired Principal of The Lodge School (a secondary/high school in Barbados), homework often “...disturbs family life…” and “...keeps them [students] up late at night…” (Pilgrim, 2013). He also says that it is important for students to “...relax, play and pursue sports and hobbies…”. These are major issues with homework, and how much time students have to spend on them. According to Terada, the average High School Student spends almost seven hours a week doing homework. Doing the calculations (not including weekends, which under most normal circumstances should be free for all students) that means students spend 1.4 hours a day doing homework. After a long, seven hour school day and co-curricular activities or sports for most students, 1.4 hours can often be the 1.4 hours before bed. There isn’t even time for them to go talk with their family or relax! This can often contribute again to feelings of fatigue, tiredness and stress in students - according to Antranik, a personal health trainer, “Stress and the lack of time go hand in hand. When we feel we don’t have enough time, we often panic!” (Antranik, 2013). One of the contributors to this problem is the fact that many teachers, especially in Middle and High schools underestimate what they call a “twenty minute task”. After a school day, student’s minds are tired and this task can take up to thirty minutes. Multiply that by four and we get two hours of homework. This is way too much - some teachers may not completely understand the busy lives of students. However, this can be fixed - homework that is set with outside activities, extra time and the three other pieces of homework from in mind, combined with effective homework practices like varied exercises and relevant work can make homework less of a time sink and more of a helpful tool to foster student learning.

The third reason students should receive less homework is because it can decrease interest in academics. Already mentioned is the problem of most homework being tedious rote memorisation. No student enjoys these kinds of tasks and might end up viewing academical knowledge as mostly just memorised information of no relevance to their own lives. Akshat Jain, a student from UWCSEA has mentioned that with regards to rote math practice, he “...feels frustrated, annoyed and angry with this kind of homework. I think this kind of homework is quite useless for my personal learning.” And it isn’t just him. Many students cry out similar complaints, and the evidence backing up these complaints is definitely stable - many students forget things within a summer of learning them because they have no interest in committing these things to memory. While some skeptics will say that learning to do things that are unenjoyable is an inevitable part of life, this is only true up to a certain extent, and after that, it can, in fact, be a detriment to student learning. Academics on their own in school already seem irrelevant and detached - according to a survey conducted on LiveScience.com, two out of three High School students report that they are bored in class every day, and 75% reporting that they do not find the material they are learning interesting (Bryner, 2007) - and homework is definitely not helping to correct this image.

So what can be done to fix this? Eliminating homework is not an option. John Bishop, author of the book Goal Setting for Students mentioned many important benefits of homework in his article entitled Ten Benefits of Homework. The most prominent include how homework “...teaches students about time management...how to set priorities...how to problem solve...how to work independently…” (Bishop, n.d.). These are things that can’t be learned elsewhere but are important life skills that students must eventually understand one way or the other. By eliminating homework, we throw the baby out with the bathwater. What is important for homework is that we don’t set too much of it, and what we do set is “...engaging, relevant, and supports learning…” (Terada, 2015). The best way to do this lies in several answers. Fuglei lists these examples: the flipped classroom - “...where students engage the lecture material outside of the classroom and then classroom time is dedicated to what would have been homework under the traditional setup. Teachers are then free to allow students to work in groups or individually, visiting each group and testing their mastery along the way.”, spaced repetition - “Spaced repetition covers and revisits material over time in ways that traditional homework has not, revisiting material that has been covered in the recent and distant past to reinforce a student’s knowledge base.”, and retrieval practice - “Retrieval practice can lead to interesting assignments like the role-playing homework described in “How to Create Effective Homework,” in which students adopted a historical persona. Their drive to maintain their character extended into their motivation for completing homework.” The flipped classroom is the most effective way to do this but requires a lot of logistical changes to happen. On the other hand, spaced repetition is something that can be easily implemented into the current homework regiment. Retrieval practice is something that can be done both in and out of class - one example being that of our school, where in Humanities Class, we engage with history through role-playing, like acting out the various parts of the Feudal System, exploring the differences between the English Longbow and the French Crossbow during the Hundred Years’ War by having a simulated battle, and learning about the Age of Exploration by role-playing a selected explorer. These are examples which many students can attest to enjoying, myself included, but yet we learn so much from them. Critics will argue that much of the benefit of homework has been lost by changing its format, and while this may be true in some scenarios, such as standardised testing where rote learning is what is most necessary, for other types of learning like skill development, this type of homework is much more effective. When it comes to assigning effective homework, there is no excuse - teachers are spoilt for choices.

In conclusion, homework is a widely but incorrectly used tool. While there are many benefits and positives to be derived from it, right now, it is overused, as can be seen through its damaging effects on students - effects like stress, detraction of time and boredom. But homework is at the same time a tool with great potential for improving student learning - it has many benefits for rote learning and things which cannot be done in class, as well as providing teachers with a progress chart for viewing their students on. While others claim that the only solution to this problem is to eliminate homework, I contend that that is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and that the true solution for most cases is to instead change the amount of homework quantitatively, and change how it is done qualitatively - so that there is less homework that is more relevant, personalised and interesting for students. This is something that must be done - homework can only be most effective when assigned in a differentiated and balanced manner and it is important for students to get their learning in the most effective manner, so this must be implemented in whatever way possible.

Bibliography

1. Bishop, John. "10 Benefits of Homework." HotChalk Lesson Plans Page. HotChalk Lesson Plans Page, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
2. Fuglei, Monica. "Ending the Homework Debate: Expert Advice on What Works." Concordia Portland Online. Concordia Online Education, 28 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016
3. Pilgrim, Trevor. "Homework: Harmful or Helpful?" Eduflow. Eduflow, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
4. Terada, Youki. "Research Trends: Why Homework Should Be Balanced."Edutopia. Edutopia, 31 July 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
5. Bryner, Jeanna. "Most Students Bored at School." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 28 Feb. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
6. Antranik. "Time and Stress." Antranikorg. N.p., 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.