Technology was created nearly two million years ago and the first cell phone was created 51 years ago on April 3, 1973 by Martin Cooper. Since then, technology has advanced more than what anyone thought was originally possible. Between all of the generations of people, technology influences each one differently, and it has become a trend that younger generations are more centered and highly influenced from. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the main reasons that children are more attached to technology than ever before. While being isolated during the pandemic, technology was the main way that children were able to make connections with friends and family members, and for this reason, many children are now well acquainted with using video-chat, calling, and texting. 

After having to face the challenge of online schooling, most children are now able to learn more independently once they are able to understand how to access appropriate information. This also helps with their digital literacy skills and creative skills that they can utilize throughout the rest of their educational journey and in their future careers. 

One of the biggest positive effects that technology has on children is the boost to their independence. As stated before, with the isolation from the pandemic and having to do school online, children are used to looking up and learning information on their own. They are also able to entertain themselves for long periods of time with things like video games and YouTube.  

As seen by most things in this world, anything that has positive effects also has negative effects. Many children nowadays have access to the internet, and if parents or caregivers are not careful, these children can be exposed to negative, inappropriate, and harmful things. There are not many age restricted sites, and even if there are age restrictions in place, they are not hard for children to bypass. 

Another negative effect is cyberbullying. “When looking at the two major genders and their experiences being bullied, we found that 23.7% of girls and 21.9% of boys between the ages of 13 and 17 report being cyberbullied while 35.4% of transgender teens reported being cyberbullied,” Sameer Hinduja, from the Cyberbullying Research Center, stated. 

With being used to doing school work online and  playing video games as their endless entertainment, children are now spending more time inside instead of outside. This brings in health concerns since children are not getting as much physical exercise and outdoor exposure as previous generations. This also ties into children being exposed to mindless eating while watching TV or playing video games. 

There are ways to limit some negative effects if parents/caregivers are careful by restricting certain apps and keeping a close eye on what their children are being exposed to.

Though these are only some of the positive and negative effects of technology on children, technology does shape our world today and influences nearly everything that occurs in modern society. 

For more information, please visit 

www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167815751/50-years-ago-martin-cooper-made-the-first-cell-phone-call, smarthistory.org/our-earliest-technology/,

online.maryville.edu/blog/children-and-technology/, www.cyberwise.org/post/positive-and-negative-effects-of-technology-on-children, and cyberbullying.org/cyberbullying-statistics-age-gender-sexual-orientation-race.