October 22, 2019
Well, everybody knows that right now is the age of technology and of media. We are all in an age where communication and engaging with people face to face is limited because everyone is busy texting, emailing and playing on their devices.
Children learn in the context of their social and cultural environment. In the 21st century, media are in children’s learning environment from early on, they are an important influence on burgeoning social cognition. Nevertheless, the mass media uses its agents (TV, internet…) to bring the socialization message to children in need of it.
According to a study by “common sense media,2015” shows that teens spend nearly nine hours every day consuming media. Another study by “Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight” shows that the access to mobile devices nearly universal increases rapidly from 2011 to 2017 from ages zero to eight. These mobile devices vary from smartphones to tablets.
As a result, those studies give positive and negative effects. As a positive one, it encourages communication and socialization: This may sound obvious but using social media to network does improve communication, it may be a non-traditional form of communication but it is one that is on the realization. Moving on, it can have a huge impact on kids, like Social Distrust. Some unknown online users may indulge in aggressive and might cause chaos.
Storytelling is a behavior that is unique to our species. According to “lee et al” 3 stories were tested by 7 years old kids with condition of lying and not lying (Pinocchio, George Washington and boy who cried wolf). They found out that George Washington led to lying. Turns out that the dark conclusion apparently negated any impulse to come clean.
Age 2-5, while learning from content,adult co-viewing and mediation can substantially affect the ways in which children attend to media and make meaning (Sang, Schmitz, & Tasche, 1993; Uhls & Robb, 2017). When a narrative has several storylines, young children tend to forget the main character's central goal. Focusing on one main narrative, which is supported by the action, will be most effective for preschoolers (Mares & Acosta, 2008). Whereas discerning the moral lesson from stories is even more difficult for children if the stories are folk tales or fables rather than realistic stories (Larsen, Lee, & Ganea, 2017; Richert, Shawber, Hoffman & Taylor, 2009).
Age 6-10, while learning from content will face a difficulty with the subplots, the characters moves should be in sequence with actions and consequences in order for children to be able to make the links. Moreover, younger children tend to retell specific parts of the story instead of deriving a more general principle.
Age 11+, subplots and content that has nuance can be introduced and they won’t have the ability to fully summarize the gist or main theme of a story until age 14.
A research done with Children’s Digital Media Center @UCLA to test memory and comprehension, where the participants read short passages on paper or computer, with or without internet. However, participants in the internet condition took longer. Thus, the screen can affect the performance as well as the memory.
Another research by @UCLA required to write a report integrating multiple research sources (7 articles) with the following three conditions. Isolated medium: computer only, isolated medium paper only and the “Real World”: computer, internet and printer. Results shows that the global grade of the computer is the highest one (7.35) followed by the paper (7.19) and then followed by the “Real World” (6.26). when a task requires critical thinking and more focus, the computer might be the best condition.
A research shows that taking photographs diminishes memory for observed objects, whereas recalling the name of the folder in which the relevant information was located is easier to remember than the information itself. Also writing notes versus typing them appears to improve comprehension.
To understand computer usage and academic performance a study at West Point with three conditions: no computer, iPad faceup and a laptop. Tested at the end of quarter, students in no computer condition scored 1.7 points higher than the other conditions (out of 100).
What about video games cognitive effects? Participants in shooter video game condition show enhanced mental rotation abilities. Laparoscopic surgeons improved in accuracy by 73% after four weeks of playing Nintendo Wii. And girls who play video games with a spatial component improve dramatically in this arena.
In result, the entertainment media that teens spend hours consuming can be an effective way to impact their social learning. Meanwhile, technology, social media and a device accessibility have created a generation ready to share and to be heard.
References
Common sense media 2015
The common sense: media use by kids age 0 to 8
Lee et al, 2014
Jordan 2008
Goldman and vamlogen,1986 lynch et al, 2008
Singer and singer 2008
Subrahmanyam et al, 2013
Wilmer et al, 2017
Carter et al 2016
Green and Bavelier, 2012
Feng et al, 2007
