In these days, there is a growing concern that children are increasingly habitual to immoderate amount of screen-time. In this essay, the possible issues arising from this phenomenon, that is, the lower concentration level and the threat of inappropriate contents on children will be discussed while providing suggestions how these can be remedied.
One major problem related to children having frequent exposure to electronic screen is the considerable decline in the concentration level. This could be driven by the remote contact with the reality world compared to the broader contact with the virtual one where children can be familiarized to constant stream of various pieces of information within a mere time, loosening the ability to control the focus for a certain amount of time. This drawback can be seen vividly in the majority of children from the Alpha generation, that were brought up in the technological era.
Nevertheless, this can be tackled by the cooperation between parents and teachers with the purpose of positively reinforcing children to limit their screen-time. Instead of banning the electronic gadgets, parents and teachers should create environments, such as school projects and volunteering programs, to encourage children’s involvement in social activities so that the latter would gradually regain their connection with the real world.
Another problem resulting from spending a considerable amount of screen-time is that they are at high risk of being exposed to virtual contents unsuitable for their age. Mature content such as pornography, violence and bloodsheds, that can have detrimental impact on children’s mentality, are becoming easily accessible on the internet. The answer could be for the government to allocate more investment in inventing advanced technology that can filter such kinds of contents in children’s devices. If attempts to implement this were successful, the threat of adverse psychological impact on children due to inappropriate contents would be minimized to a large extent.
To sum up, there is no doubt that declining concentration and being prone to restricted online material are the problematic outcomes of children’s excessive screen use, while these can be handled by the collaboration between parents, teachers and the government by encouraging children to experience more human connection and using advanced technology to restrict adult-only online resources in children’s devices. If these could be successfully implemented, the virtual world for future generations would hopefully become a healthy environement.