Gone are the days when kids came home from school and on adventures of bike riding, going to the beach or playing outside with their friends until the street lights came on. Or anything that involved interaction with other people, for that matter. Kids had genuine friendships interacting with peers and forming lasting relationships...
Fast forward to 2020, and it's more likely that you will find kids coming home after school to spend time on devices. Whether that is indulging in hours of gaming, or social media, there is a high possibility, that your child is participating in one of these activities.
In a report compiled by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, titled Kids and Mobiles: How Australian children are using mobile phones, results showed, that by December 2018, 48% of children aged between 6, and13 years of age, either owned or had access to a mobile phone.
Data shows that by 12 to13 years of age, 80% of children have access to a mobile phone. A key reason for this may be that many are starting high school around this age, and therefore, are given more freedom and independence, and to negate their own fears, parents provide mobile phones to their children, ensuring that they are always contactable, with some parents even going as far as to add tracking apps to their children's phones.
Having my own 12-year-old daughter starting high school this year, I was definitely the parent wanting to ensure that I could contact her whenever I wanted or needed too. It was my own fears of the unknown; a feeling of throwing my firstborn into an abyss where I wasn’t around to save her, and therefore, having that line of connection, lulled me into a completely false sense of security, of which I am well aware... though, right now, that’s working quite well for me.
Children are brought into a world today, where often the case is, that their parents are addicted to technology... spending hours on devices themselves. With this being the case, the behaviour that the child is witnessing is seen as typical and appropriate. Consequently, the children see mobile phones as a lifeline that is never out of reach, seeming to become an organic part of the body.
Macquarie University cognitive neuroscientist Professor, Mark Williams, says that devices are deliberately designed to be addictive. The games that kids and adults are playing are purposefully designed not to have an end, thus providing ‘intermittent reinforcement’ technology. This is a technology that casinos have been using for years, in order to bring users back, time and again, for another hit of dopamine (the feel-good neurotransmitter). This, bringing feelings of pleasure and gratification, ultimately resulting in addiction.
Professor Williams found that Australian schools lead the world in countries that are putting technology like iPad’s and other devices, into schools. And in doing so, statistics are now showing a direct correlation between technology in schools, the students overuse of it, and Australia slipping dramatically in literacy, maths and English.
Schools across the country are imposing bans on phones and devices, as evidence of poor social interaction, reduced cognitive ability, poor sleep patterns, depression and general decreased ability to navigate successfully through the real world.
Devices and increased screen time are undeniable in today’s digital age, however, awareness of their benefits, and also their detriments is essential to ensuring balance in this new world.