Children & tech: Good, bad & ugly sides

Our world today is changing fast due to the introduction and upgrading of technology. Most people say it has brought positive results because of the improvement of the social well- being in our societies. But on the other hand however, there are skeptics who disagree with the positive changes that technology has brought about.
Technology has enhanced modern life in many ways. In our globalised world, we live at a time when technological advancements are at their peak. Every part of our daily life is related to technology in one way or the other. When compared with olden days, there are better facilities and luxuries; this is possible with the help of improved technology.
With kids’ greater access to technology and their ability to understand and use it, they can now use an app to learn how to read, write or spell, while waiting for dinner to be served. Instead of opposing this change in our children’s learning styles, schools are embracing technology to enhance children’s learning in educational environments.
Children who were born in the late 1980s to mid-90s enjoyed their childhood, playing in the sand building makeshift houses, cooking with stones and dry grass, pretending to be in the kitchen and they also enjoyed watching interesting programmes such as ‘Kidi vision 101,’ ‘Tales by moonlight,’ and ‘Tatsuniya’ among many others, on our local television stations. But with so many endless digital games like X-box 360, pro-evolution soccer (PES) and digital satellite television programmes like ‘Spongebob square pants,’ ‘Dora the explorer,’ and ‘Courage the cowardly dog,’  today’s kids have taken the joys of childhood out of the backyard into the living room.
Okerugo Ugochi, a mother of one, said she encourages her child to indulge in the use of technology but is also careful so she doesn’t get addicted to it. “My daughter is 11-years-old and she knows how to operate almost any technological gadget, but I restrict her because most times some of them can corrupt and spoil the moral upbringing of a child,” she stated.
Mrs. Okerugo who restricts her daughter from surfing the net said she has a timeframe when she watches the television, adding that: “Whether you believe it or not I have parental control, because I don’t want my child watching movies that are too complex for her age to understand. Technology is very good, but one has to be very careful, even adults, not just children. We have to discipline ourselves in the use of technology.”
Speaking on the pros and cons of technology, Gladness Akpan, a secretary, said: “The use of technology has both negative and positive side effects. It is positive to a large extent in the sense that it has made life easier. An instance is that, you don’t have to go a long distance to pass information. You can do that with just a phone call and the internet. But if one doesn’t moderate the use of technology, it could have negative effects, especially in children.”
She added that: “When I went to the cinema recently, I was about to buy some popcorn and a drink, I met a mother and her two sons whose eyes where fixed on their phones. You could tell from the act that they were into the gadget and were not ready to be distracted by any other thing. Even when their mum tried talking to them, asking them to get drinks for themselves, they just turned deaf ears, not that they heard and didn’t respond but because both their minds were fixed on what they were doing with their phones. Initially I was pissed off, but again I thought why the mum was not reacting as expected, she should at least have made them realise there is time for everything and that too much of everything is bad.”
Concurring with the first respondent, Evelyn Adamu believes that technology doesn’t affect children only but it also has some effects on adults as well. “Technology has its good and bad sides, on children as well as adults. It is good in the sense that it helps us to reconnect with friends and family and maintain old contacts. It also helps us to search for information when we need it. That is how good technology is,” she stated.
“On the other hand, technology can be bad if we do not use it for the right thing. For instance, people have become fraudsters and gamblers through the use of the internet. This is where caution comes in. Everyone needs to be very careful when it comes to the use of the internet or other electronic devices,” she added.
In Mary-Ann’s (not real name) opinion; “Children are like clay, at a young age you can shape them into whatever you want them to be. You can teach them that there is moderation, excessiveness, and a time for everything. Technology is something that can cripple or mould the life style of a child, depending on how well you as a parent stand as a guide to the child. Children listen and so when you help your children realise that technology shouldn’t use him or her but it should be the other way round, the better for that child.”
Mrs. Esther Ani, a mother of two, said her children have been on her neck to get phones for them but she has refused. “These phones will get their minds off their books. They will get themselves engaged in meaningless chats with their friends either on WhatsApp, BBM, or Facebook and the like,” she remarked.
“Besides their books, it will also prevent them from carrying out their respective chores at home. What even annoys me is that you’ll see some children who are just six or seven-years-old and they already have phones,” Ani added. She asked rhetorically: “What does a kid of that age need a phone or ipad for?” 
Lisa Guernsey, author of ‘Into the Minds of Babes,’ a book about children’s use of electronic media, notes that: “It’s getting more complicated to measure how much screen time kids are getting. We’re no longer talking about the TV in the den that parents can turn off. These days, many teens and tweens have smartphones, laptops, tablets, and iPods that they carry with them.”