DR NICOLE SAPHIER: How best to use technology in our children's classrooms

In the past 2 decades, technology has revolutionized astir every aspect of our lives. From healthcare to communication, the digital age has reshaped however we work, interact, and learn. But as we integrate these technological advancements into our children’s classrooms, we must ask: are we doing much harm than good?

As a practicing physician, I’ve watched the benefits, but also the consequences of overexposure to technology unfold, not just in my patients, but also in my ain children. The classroom, once a place of dynamic, face-to-face learning and interaction, has become a virtual satellite wherever screens dominate. 

Most classrooms in the United States are equipped with integer devices. According to a 2020 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, about 90% of public schools in the U.S. reported having integer devices for instructional purposes in classrooms. While technology undoubtedly has its benefits in enhancing education, it also brings with it a host of dangers that are proving to person semipermanent consequences connected our children’s cognitive, social and affectional development.

The classroom was once a place of dynamic, face-to-face learning and interaction. (iStock)

Rising Attention Deficit

One of the most concerning impacts of widespread technology use in the classroom is the rise of attention deficit. For decades, children were accustomed to learning done accepted methods – speechmaking textbooks, engaging in discussions and penning by hand. This provided them with an accidental to signifier not lone good centrifugal strength and hand-eye coordination, but sustained attention, a skill that is critical in everyday life.

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Children are present faced with aggregate stimuli at once: pop-up notifications, games and the temptation of social media, all of which pull their attention away from the task at hand. Technology is teaching our children to beryllium much easy distracted, little capable of focusing for extended periods, and less able to retain information.

Studies person shown that multitasking tin impair cognitive function, and the constant switching between activities makes it harder to focus. As such, the prevalence of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses among school age children person astir doubled since 1998, according to the CDC’s National Survey of Children’s Health. Part of the increase whitethorn be attributed to expanded diagnostic criteria and greater awareness by teachers and parents, however the modifiable hazard factors and technology exposure effects also contribute.

Loss of Patience

Another alarming broadside effect of classroom technology is its publication to rising levels of anxiety among kids. Anxiety disorders among children person been steadily increasing for years, as demonstrated by the percentage of U.S. children aged 3-17 with diagnosed anxiety roseate from 5.5% to 8.4% from 2009 to 2019. During COVID, surface time for the average kid doubled and as such, patient-reported anxiety symptoms also doubled among children.

The constant bombardment of information, combined with the pressure to respond immediately, cultivates a sense of urgency that students often bring location with them. No longer are students required to beryllium with a problem, contemplate it and arrive at a solution done captious thinking. Technology creates a culture of instant gratification, and this mindset is starring to a generation that struggles with patience. 

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This changeless need for immediate feedback creates a cycle wherever students statesman to consciousness that they can’t relation without it. In turn, this hampers their ability to navigate much thoughtful processes required in solving analyzable problems oregon mastering hard concepts. Anxiety rises when a child can’t get the instant validation they’ve travel to expect from their instrumentality oregon when their learning velocity doesn’t match the pace of the digital world.

Decreased Communication Skills

Perhaps the most profound effect of technology in the classroom is the erosion of meaningful social interaction. In an age wherever surface clip has go synonymous with communication, students are missing retired on the subtle, yet crucial, interpersonal skills that were erstwhile honed done face-to-face interactions. Conversations, empathy, and emotional intelligence – these are indispensable components of growing up that technology simply cannot replicate.

A 2023 survey recovered that children who walk implicit 3 hours regular connected screens are 60% much apt to conflict with basal connection skills, such as maintaining oculus contact and the ability to interpret societal cues. This raises urgent concerns about technologies role in stunting societal development, a necessary pillar of civilized society.

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The Need for Balance

The question is not whether technology should have a place in the classroom – of course, it should. It provides invaluable tools for research, collaboration and adjacent creativity. But there indispensable be a balance. The classroom should not be a place wherever students are perpetually plugged in. 

Teachers, parents, and policymakers request to recognize the importance of limiting surface time and encouraging face-to-face interfaces, bringing backmost pencil, paper, analog alternatives (books, achromatic boards) and different tangible tools for learning.

We should beryllium focusing connected however to use technology to complement, not replace, accepted teaching methods. Importantly, we request to supply students with opportunities to engage in meaningful, real-time interactions, whether done radical work, debates, oregon community-building activities.

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As both a parent and a physician, I cannot accent this enough: the future of education is not about blindly embracing a digital gyration – it’s about striking a critical balance between the powerful tools technology provides and the proven, time-honored methods that nurture intelligence health, heavy focus and meaningful social interaction.

If we don’t reassess however we integrate technology into the classroom now, we hazard raising a generation that lacks the cognitive resilience, captious thinking and interpersonal skills essential for true success. The ability to think, reason and prosecute beyond a screen indispensable not become a lost art.

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