A Glimpse into My Project: Social and Psychological Impact of Technology

The Social and Psychological Impact of Technology

I was researching about the social and psychological effects of technology on people for my project and I have encountered some very interesting things. Some of them were very obvious things that I "always" knew but now it was presented in a more concrete fashion.

When I was growing up, my parents would play with me often. We would go out as a family frequently. In my early years, I was never glued to a t.v., it wasn't part of our routine. This is essentially how most people today have spent their time as children.  Their daily activities were full of movement and numerous learning experiences. This, I always believed, was something that children did because they were privileged and allowed to do so, not because it was necessary to do so.

Here is a glimpse of my research findings:

I have learnt that it is absolutely necessary for children to play with adults, real live adults as they are growing up. This helps them learn key social skills which they will use in the future. Moreover, it is crucial for them to play with "toys" by physically touching them and learning about them. This action helps them build their motor skills. It helps their brain wire itself correctly. Furthermore, when children are watching television and having that experience as a substitute for their "natural" experience, hence they are enduring a massive sensory overload. They experience a massive amount of visual and audio signals, which their brains are trying to cope with and learn. In addition to that, they are not using their bodies as much. This forces their brain to wire itself and adapt to that artificial environment.  Unfortunately, the skills that young children learn are crucial, and they have a very short amount of time to master them, otherwise, they will "never" learn those skills.

Older children suffer from a wave of psychological effects which include anxiety, depression and narcissism due to this lifestyle.

When slightly older children spend most of their time either on the computer, with portable video games or watching T.V., they experience physical problems that are generally suffered by adults.  There are many instances of neck and back pain minor patients at physiotherapists and these professionals, along with doctors, are "expecting a wave of the children from the younger generations.." to require such care.

I have seen many instances where caregivers put young children in front of a TV. or some video game to keep the children busy. They are subconsciously harming their wards. Most people fail to realize that children, even adults, have "adapted" to this new lifestyle but they have not "evolved" for it. Our bodies are not capable of handling such environments, yet.