As an ever-developing technology, digital media has rapidly changed our world. From daily routines and work to entertainment and leisure, digital media surrounds us. It shapes us, just as we shape it. It exerts great influence on the young, fragile minds of our children, and the next generation is going to be even more digitalized than this one. The influence that digital media has on children today is a point of concern for many parents.
If we take any historical period before digital media became an inseparable part of our lives, we would see that a child’s life was normally associated with the great outdoors. When not helping parents, eating, or sleeping, children would be found hanging out with other children and playing games of a physical nature. Running, jumping, playing ball, climbing trees and fences, and occasionally getting in trouble for it — these adventures were part of a child’s life. Many adults born before the rise of digital media remember those years very fondly.
Nowadays, children come into contact with media from a very young age. Even five-year-olds know how to operate a computer or a smartphone, sometimes with greater skill than their parents. They find videos and funny pictures more entertaining than playing soccer in the yard. They find texting easier than talking to a person directly. They often do not know the names of their neighbors, but they have dozens of online friends. The difference between the digitalized generation and the previous generations is huge.
Exposure to digital media from a young age can be beneficial to a child’s development. Leisure is not the only thing that children use the internet for. Many children also begin content creating: making videos, writing texts, drawing and posting their works on public sites, and socializing with people who live very far away. The ability to operate computers and gadgets helps them develop skills that will be useful in the future. In addition, the internet is a powerful educational tool.
However, while digital media is extremely useful, it can also be dangerous. The internet could be compared to a huge home library. However, there are some books in that library that children should not see. A young mind that cannot yet recognize right from wrong could be easily fooled by misleading or outright dangerous information. Spending too much time on the computer can also lead to internet addiction, a decline in social skills, and a lack of social connections—a problem that children of the past rarely had.