Importance of Technology in Children's Lives Today
I read an article recently that talked about how
comfortable kids are with the use of technology these days. The survey of 500
children stressed how important technology has become in the life of children
nowadays.
Well, I knew that much since I have two kids of my own
but what I found interesting was that most six to fifteen year olds turn to
Google to ask questions rather than their parents.
It was somewhat surprising. Don’t get me wrong. I
definitely want my nine-year-old to be more independent and do at least some of
the research himself, but it never occurred to me that even six-year-olds are
turning to technology first and parents second. Do I like it? Not sure, still
trying to figure that one out. Teachers
also didn’t do too well in the research conducted by Birmingham Science City.
Only three percent of children would ask their teacher for an answer.
What’s more astonishing is the fact that most kids don’t
know what an Encyclopedia is. Almost half of the children surveyed (45%) have
never used a print encyclopaedia and nearly a fifth (19%) have never used a
print dictionary.
Now here’s the clincher: “Guesses as to the strange
'encyclopedia' device’s function included that an ‘encyclopedia’ might be
something you travel on or use to perform an operation.“
Hmmm. Not sure how to express my feelings on this one. This
definitely made me bolt to my kids’ room. I really needed to know how my kids
will fare, and I’m happy to say that my 9-year-old knows what an encyclopedia
is and what it’s used for. BUT I certainly don’t have a print dictionary at
home. Have been planning on buying one for a while but you know how busy our
lives are today so haven’t gotten around to buying one. They definitely know
how to use Webster online. I know this because I’ve shown them how to use it
instead of coming to me all the time. So, I asked my older son thinking I
already know the answer but I was pleasantly surprised, “Yes, Mom I know how to
use a dictionary.”
Really! But how? I never showed him.
“I learned it in school.”
Then he went on to explain how to look up a word. He’s
even used a print Thesaurus in school. My feelings: Bless The School!
Even my six-year-old knows what a dictionary is. He has
one in his classroom. It’s entirely a different matter that he just flips
through it; doesn’t really know how to use it. No worries. Flipping through
pages is a good start. We’ll take it to the next level when I buy one or I’m
sure school will come to the rescue.
The article went on to say that children regardless of
the generation they grow up in are inquisitive by nature. Since technology has
become so commonplace today, kids are comfortable using it. Use of technology
and their comfort level may not be a bad thing.
I certainly don’t disagree that use of technology in
itself is not a bad thing. But I do limit its use. I don’t want them spending
too much time on iPad, laptop, and other electronic devices. I worry about the
adverse impact it could have on their eyes. I also want them to write things down
on paper rather than typing everything. There are clear advantages of longhand
writing over typing for kids and adults. Having said all this, I know there’s a place
for technology. What’s important I believe is the safe use of technology.
So, I did my own research in this area and I found out
that there are safe search engines for kids. May be you already know about them but I was
not aware.
Google’s Safe Search for Kids is
a child friendly search engine. The safe browsing feature on this website
overrides your computer search settings to help remove potentially explicit
material when searching Google. I did use the tool and entered a few search
terms to see if it really works. I’m not going to mention the terms here.
You’ll have to come up with your own search terms. But happy to report it really
works.
Quintura for Kids is
powered by Yahoo. It gives a more visual way of searching using a keyword cloud.
Quintura for Kids filters undesirable adult content. I typed in the word
"dinosaurs" and related topics such as "types of
dinosaurs", "prehistoric animals", “Science & Nature” etc. appeared
in a cloud surrounding the original search term. You can click any of those
results to narrow the search further.
Searchy Pants is another search engine that allows
children, parents & schools to create a custom search home page for their
children to use. You can customize your custom search page by adding background
themes, links to your page, and post messages. Searchy Pants uses School Safe
Search technology to prioritize delivering safe and suitable content.
Recently, Microsoft also launched a search engine for
school students to search with ad-free and adult free content, through a
program called “Bing for Schools”.
Armed with my research findings, I called my older son to show him which search engines he
should use. I had only started to say that there are search engines that are
safe for kids to use. He nodded his head and told me that he already knows, and mentioned KidRex.
I had thought that I was introducing something new to him,
but again school had beaten me to it!
Shabana Muhajir
Would you like to share your thoughts on this topic? Leave your comments below.
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