No doubt, gadgets such as smartphones and tablets do have a myriad of benefits for humans, even for small children. Quite a lot of parents give gadgets to their children. The reason is usually like safe entertainment because children will only sit quietly while playing or watching. However, are there gadget influences for children's development?
A myriad of positive gadget influences for children
The effect of gadgets can be very good on children's cognitive abilities. Compared to reading or seeing pictures on books, children are more interested in moving and sounding images. Children can watch educational videos through various applications. Children can see various videos such as videos about animal and plant life, videos about objects in space, to historical videos in the past. In addition, various applications such as quiz apps and various educational games have been found on many smartphones.
In fact, gadgets with search engines will be great teachers to open their horizons. When a child wants to find out about something, he just needs to type in the keyword on the search engine thousands of answers about it ready to open.
Effect of gadgets on children's speaking abilities
But on the other hand, giving gadgets to children can turn around to be a negative thing. One of them is a gadget proven to have an effect on children's speech abilities.
A child and adolescent mental specialist, Dr. Gitayanti Hadisukanto, Sp.KJ (K) in a media discussion at Pondok Indah Hospital in March 2017 revealed that the provision of gadgets under the age of five will reduce stimulation in social interactions. dr. Gita explained further to Viva, because the gadget does not need a child's response, so it is difficult to interact and this has an impact on the speech process.
Research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco explained this. Catherine Birken, a pediatrician at Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto Canada found a connection between the use of gadgets and the ability to speak to children.
From 2011 to 2015, Birken asked parents who had children aged 6 to 24 weeks, how long they were usually given time to watch through the gadget screen. Well, 20 percent of the children involved in this study use gadgets for at least 28 minutes every day.
The result, they found that every additional 30 minutes of time spent playing gadgets can increase the risk of late speech or speech delay by up to 49 percent. While other forms of communication such as body language, emotions, until the eyes are not affected.
However, Barken notes that further research is still needed, for example experimental research to prove its influence clinically. However, this pre-research can be a future reference for parents and child health workers.
Another study conducted by University College London England found that the time spent in front of the screen also affected brain development. The study found that every hour spent watching gadgets could reduce sleep time by up to 16 minutes. In fact, sleep is very beneficial for the child's brain, especially in times of brain development when nerve development is good.
The effect of late talk on a child's life
The delay in starting to speak can have other effects. Jenny Radesky, an expert from the University of Michigan, United States, argues that when children are unable to express their frustration through words, they will tend to use body movements or loud voices to attract attention. In other words, children will look unable to control emotions.
In addition, the delay in speaking can affect a child's academic ability at school later. The ability to understand text and string words is not only important in language lessons, but can be used in other subjects such as science, mathematics, art, and social sciences.
So can children not hold gadgets at all?
Even though there are gadget influences to watch out for, you can use gadgets as learning media.
For children aged 18 months and under, the gadget should only be used for video chatting. If you want to introduce digital media, you can do this for children aged 18-24 months by watching educational shows. Make sure you watch with the child and explain what is being watched so that the child understands well what he is watching.
In children aged 2-5 years, you can allow children to use gadgets up to one hour per day. Parents must use a gadget with their children and explain what is displayed and apply what they get to the world around them.