Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles recently took a look into how media is affecting young people’s social skills. UCLA scientists studied two groups of sixth-graders from the same school: one group didn’t have any screen time for the duration of five days; while the other group spent their usual time looking at smartphones, TVs and other screens. What was revealed? The study reported that the group of sixth-graders without any screen time did a better job reading human emotions. Many parents are typically concerned that too much time in front of the TV or playing video games jeopardizes their children’s physical development – leading to obesity, poor eye sight, and even attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (commonly known as ADHD). Some parents also believe that pop culture presented in the media overwhelms children’s thinking and imagination, and thus limiting media exposure supports the development of intellectual curiosity. Certain rearing methods, such as the Waldorf philosophy, recommend that younger children have very little to no media exposure because its use is out of harmony with children’s developmental needs. The new study our of UCLA further questions if young people are losing their ability to read the emotional cues given off by others as face-to-face social interaction lessens in favor of social media, facebooking and texting, and as screen time increases. As educators increase the integration of technology into schools and as parents allow for countless hours of media entertainment, are they neglecting to assess all the costs?...
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 03:00:10 +0000
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