Everyone says that the effects of digital broadcasts have a negative effect on school studies. The screen time turns into many hours and takes away the time that should be devoted to preparing lessons, reading a book or playing a social game in the garden. Because digital broadcasts rely on short-term gratification, they create a negative attitude to studies that rely on the long term.
Brain researchers claim that watching encourages mental passivity and affects the way information is processed in the brain.
But, we live in a digital age and as witnesses we meet creative, quick-thinking and even sociable children. These facts led the researchers to check whether there are benefits to screen time. The digital broadcasts arouse curiosity and the acquisition of additional knowledge, and it is possible to mobilize them for supplementary learning.
In a study on the TV program "Sesame Street" a positive correlation was found between watching a children's program adapted to age and language and a developed vocabulary, and a positive attitude to studies was also created. You can say that the program was like a "talking book" that played a positive role in the child's development alongside the mediation of the parents and its effect is long-term.
There are two approaches to interpreting screen time and digital broadcasts: the protective approach and the interpretive approach.
The protective approach claims that children should be protected from the screen and kept away from it as much as possible. The main claims are based on the assumption that the digital broadcasts have a negative effect on the viewers and especially on children who are a favorable audience for influence. Starting with a passive expectation that keeps them away from active and social activities and easily encouraging them to study laziness.
Watching long hours a day harms the development of the brain, the ability to sleep and the cognitive development. According to Neil Postman in his book "The End of Childhood", television or digital broadcasting affects the child's understanding of reality, builds behavior patterns in him that do not correspond to the reality of life and causes an increase in the violence and passivity of the adolescent child.
The interpretive approach, coined by the researcher Buckingham, is more liberal and claims that we must understand that the child understands the contents in a different way and different from the adults. And that there are other factors that affect the cognitive and behavioral development of the children, such as: the family, social background, socioeconomic background, social experience, the ability of the parents to contain emotions and more.
According to Buckingham, media reports are exaggerated about the effect of television on children. The majority is not affected by it and the child's socio-cultural environment must also be examined.
And yet both approaches agree that the digital broadcasts are a source of messages and are a significant source in the construction of reality, in the internalization of culture, values, worldviews and expectations. The impact on children is gradual and cumulative, so we must mediate for them the viewing of constructive activity, without violence and with messages that are compatible with our culture and our values.
The influence of Google and social networks on children
In July 2020, the CEOs of the four giant companies of the social authority: Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook, gathered for a hearing in the American Congress. Beyond the claims of monopoly, these companies have an influence on the opinions and beliefs of millions of people in the world to the point of political and social influence. One of the ways to influence is the algorithms that analyze people's preferences and show them what they want and on the other hand, they hide other information from them. Thus the person receives selective information about reality and not the whole full picture. It can be said that the child today is exposed to the construction of a reality built on exposure to consumption that suits advertising companies - more than the construction of a cultural belief system that belongs to his parents, his family and the society in which he was born.
What digital content is chosen to show children
For young children it is important to have a clear presentation of the educational content, a clear and easy plot structure that fits the educational message, simple formal features and a simple and clear vocabulary.
Some recommendations
- Content that motivates mental effort to understand it.
- A plot that is not too complex in order to direct resources to the educational message.
- The complexity of the educational message is simple and clear.
- An effective combination of the plot and the educational message.
- Encouraging the child to show interest in the content through the involvement of parents and educators.
Which videos will we choose to watch with the child in kindergarten
- Educational orientation videos in order to cultivate an active and critical discerning viewer.
- Knowledge videos to reduce knowledge gaps between different children
- Informational videos on a wide range of subjects: math, language, poetry, movement, thinking.
- Videos to promote values of cooperation and attitude to exceptions.
- Videos to promote emotional and social development of children.
In conclusion
The screen and digital broadcasts are part of our lives. If we know how to mobilize them for the proper growth and development of the child, we can get the best out of them. We must educate our children from the beginning of their lives to be able to watch critically, to watch for development and give them tools to stand against the addiction to the screen. We can do this by mediating the parents and also within the educational institutions. If we know how to mobilize the digital capabilities for active, educational and empowering viewing - we may also have a long-term effect on the growth of children who control the screen and are not addicted to it.
The outbreak of the Corona led the screen to also be a substitute for a meeting in an educational institution since kindergarten. The need arose to prepare the kindergarten teacher and the children for these situations. Digital broadcasts should enter the kindergarten by mediating the kindergarten teacher and providing tools for proper active viewing inside the kindergarten that will affect the alternative during closure. The goal is to cultivate a discerning, active and critical viewer.
sources
- Lamish Dafna. (2002) The small screen in the lives of children and teenagers, volume 1 . Tel Aviv: The Open University.
- Moner Ofer. (2019) https://ux.haifa.ac.il/elementor-1480/
- (2020) Smoke screens, the digital trap. Netflix
- Postman Neil. (1982) The loss of childhood. USA. Translated (1986)
- my Orben. (2019) Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Andrew K. Przybylski (2014) The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use Amy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1
