Screens are not inherently evil – they can boost childhood development, but only if used in the right way.
Articles on Children and technology
Displaying all articles
The new school year doesn’t automatically mean a child should get a smartphone. But if they do, there are 3 vital conversations you need to have first.
It simply cannot be left up to individual teachers to enforce cellphone restrictions in schools without significant support from school administrators and work to bring parents on board.
New research identifies four main ways parents try to deal with their children’s use of screens. All have their pros and cons.
Childhood wasn’t more ‘innocent’ or ‘natural’ before digital technologies or the pandemic.
Families may want to relax some of their usual rules for digital media use due to social distancing. But keeping bedtime screen-free still makes sense.
There are ways to use tech to help kids learn, explore their interests and get creative.
Children see adults on smartphones, looking up information they need to know, and being continuously connected. They want to copy this behaviour in their play and practise being an adult.
Apps which encourage children to develop language, literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills through play are excellent gifts this Christmas.
We need to shift the focus away from parenting that relies on threats and rewards, to one that nurtures meaningful parent-child and child-technology relationships.
Teaching fear and avoidance of technology may protect people from negative consequences. But it also prevents them from finding, and benefiting from, productive uses of new innovations.
Here’s a guide to getting rid of “junk” apps and ensuring your kids develop healthy tech habits both in term time and during the school holidays
Images taken from young people’s Facebook are being used by the media with impunity.
Footage of children throwing tantrums when their tablet is taken away can be unsettling. But the fact is technology can be good for their development, if they engage with it positively.
Many people are shocked by what children are willing to share about themselves online. Is it that they don’t understand privacy, or just have a different conception of it compared to adults?
Taiwan recently made the unprecedented move of banning children two years and younger from using any form of digital technology. Older children and teenagers will also be severely restricted, with new…
You might have seen reports that Google could offer children under the age of 13 years a simple and safe way to access their internet services, including Gmail and YouTube. But will this new strategy really…
The bond between a child and their smartphone is like an umbilical cord. Now, a new survey has uncovered just how dependent the “smartphone generation” of British children are on the devices compared to…
Top contributors
-
Researcher, Digital Wellbeing, Western Sydney University
-
Associate professor Early Childhood and Primary Education, University of Canberra
-
Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education, Griffith University
-
Senior researcher and visiting lecturer in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
-
Associate Professor in Education & Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal
-
Associate Professor in Law, Australian National University
-
Professor, Education, York University, Canada
-
Research Fellow, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, Deakin University
-
Melbourne Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Melbourne
-
Associate Professor in Education, Concordia University
-
Director of Research of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, The Ohio State University
-
Associate professor, University of New England
-
Associate Professor, Curriculum and Teaching, Hunter College
-
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Pace University
-
Professor of Teacher Education, University of Toronto