Should Technology Play a Role in Early Childhood Education?
According to Common Sense Media, children 0–8 are spending an average of 2 hours and 19 minutes on screens. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that until age 5, children should only have 1 hour of screen time each day.
What role should technology play in early childhood education?
Most parents and educators want the children in their care to be prepared for the future. There is no question that technology is poised to shape the lives of our children in ways we can’t predict. When used appropriately, technology can enhance learning and interpersonal connection in early childhood.
So how can we give children the healthy childhood they deserve and prepare them for the future?
There are two ways.
Balance and Mindfulness.
Balance
We’re addicted to our devices. For millenials and older generations, we were completely unprepared for how smart phones and social media would change our lives. They put our primal instinct for human connection into overdrive.
Now we’re aware of the addictive quality of our devices. We can prepare our children to handle technology with more responsibility and balance.
Let’s teach our children how we have access to any information we could ever want. Let’s show them how technology can connect us with family members we rarely see in person.
Download the educational apps. Listen to the children’s podcasts. Let your children witness the storytelling and craftsmanship that goes into their favorite Netflix show.
At the same time, let’s help our children get a restful night’s sleep by putting the tablet away an hour before bedtime. Let them turn the page of your favorite childhood book. And let them get a little bored when they don’t have access to your phone.
Mindfulness
Imagine that feeling of panic when you lose your phone. We’ve all been there. In a moment of boredom you open Facebook just one more time to see if you have a notification. Again. We’ve all been there.
What if we not only adopted a mindfulness practice that helped us with our screen addiction, but also modeled responsible screen use for our children?
We were unprepared for the internet, smart phones, and social media. And although mindfulness is a practice with ancient heritage, its benefits have only recently been included in the dialogue of the western world. As adults we’re new at this. But if we give our children the tools they need, they can master mindfulness in ways we might not.
Mindfulness resources for children and adults are abundant on the internet. The very devices we may be afraid are hurting our children can, once again, be used to give them the tools they need.
Instead of decrying the role of technology in early childhood, let’s take a step back. Understand that while we may have been unprepared for its hold on our life, we aren’t beyond saving, and our children aren’t either. Children are resilient and adaptable.
When we help them navigate a technology-filled world, we prepare them for a future of balanced and mindful technology use.
Rose Waldeier is a writer and teacher.
Find her on Instagram.
