Balancing the Use of Technology for Education

Technology use guidelines recommend no more than two hours of screen time daily for high school age students. With the amount of technology being used in education, children can easily end up spending several hours per day with digital devices overall. This much technology must demonstrate positive outcomes or the efforts to include technology in the classroom results in wasted money.

Technology can make it more difficult to learn and retain information. Balance is the key. Banning helpful tools is not the goal, after all. Instead, education means ensuring that children can read, write, and do math, even when not supported by technological devices. Technology is at its most useful when it is thoughtfully added to the curriculum in a meaningful way. If it does not enhance the learning experience then it is a distraction.

Supervision is necessary in combination with firewalls to filter online sites such as video games and porn sites. The parent of a child in an online school could have no idea what the child is doing online unless sitting right next to them. Firewalls offer some protection when the parent is not sitting alongside, but they are not a foolproof, teen-proof solution.

These programs and applications can allow you to pre-approve websites your child can visit. However, teachers have inadvertently referenced inappropriate websites, sometimes porn, and a simple click from a lesson plan can steal a child’s innocence in any unsuspecting family. Families with bright, well-rounded children can benefit from online courses, but you need to balance them carefully with parental supervision and involvement, to make sure your children gain quality educational value from the program and don’t fall off the tracks.

Avoid choosing online education due to social phobias. Leaning on technology can make matters worse. Choosing online school to withdraw your child from society avoids the problem, will not be a solution, and cannot be healthy. Your child may think, “I don’t get along with kids. I don’t have any friends, so I’m doing online learning.”

This avoidance can affect their future. If they can’t connect with other kids now, when they’re in school, they will have much less chance of forming meaningful relationships when they get older. Instead, you may want to provide the safety and security of interpersonal interaction through homeschooling your children, with the option of eliminating reliance on technology, and accentuating positive social interactions.

Carefully consider the age of your child before choosing education through technology. Age and maturity are important factors to consider, as suggested technology guidelines make clear. While some online learning may be appropriate for a teenager, it would be completely wrong for a six-year-old. Younger children need more movement, touch, connection, and nature. Older children need less. Children who are developmentally delayed or cognitively delayed also need more movement, touch, connection, and nature, and less “tech.”

Cris Rowan uses a balance beam metaphor to describe appropriate technology use. On one side of the balance beam are those four critical factors: movement, touch, connection, and nature. On the other side is technology. For young children, you want to load the balance beam so the four critical factors get much more emphasis. As your child gets older, it might level out so they get equal amounts.

Consider your child’s age, ability, and maturity. One hour of online class time balanced with one hour of face time might be appropriate for older children in middle school or high school. But for elementary age children, this would still be too much technology. Children of all ages, particularly elementary age children, need to go outside and be with people. They need to be hugged. They need interaction. The research strongly suggests they need to go out and play!

This should not be news to anyone. People are in danger of forgetting key truths that have long been considered common sense. Recess has always been a key part of elementary education. It is a critical part of children’s overall development; it isn’t only to get the kids out of the teacher’s hair for a while.

Studies show that children who move a lot are better able to pay attention and learn. They become measurably smarter. One high school improved test scores by adding physical movement, with the addition of an hour a day on treadmills. They observed huge differences, after only four months. This is more evidence that kids need exercise.

Excessive hours of digital technology use can occur among homeschoolers as well. Homeschoolers may rely on many online classes and supplemental activities involving technology, sometimes exclusively. Kim McDaniel recommends that your child get one hour of face-to-face time for every hour of online class time.

Try to find a balance of technology, print, and hands-on learning. If your child takes many technology-based classes, consider ensuring they read print books. Carefully restrict other technology use each day. Limiting non-educational digital media could provide balance. If you're a homeschooler, you need to be intentional about your children’s friendships and other face-to-face interactions. You need to ensure there is adequate quality time with peers, with neighborhood friends, in co-ops, or in church groups. Adding exposure to digital technology through online classes may make the balance even harder to achieve.

Balancing technology becomes more complicated when children have special talents in computers, programming, and digital technology. These technologically gifted students can easily overuse digital technology and develop a serious problem. Their gifts and passions can lead to parents being permissive about screen time without restrictions. However, the developmental needs of gifted children are no different from regular kids. Even gifted children need movement, touch, connection, and nature.

If you are the parent of a gifted child, you must conscientiously focus on the big picture and development of your child as a whole person with a balanced life. Excessive screen time can sabotage career objectives and discourage long-term success. A broad education will allow giftedness to come out in a variety of different ways, and ensures your child has the diversified education needed in order to achieve greater success.

What do you want for your child? Most parents want them to be happy. Parents want children to be successful in whatever they do. This goal will be achieved through balance, and teaching children how to achieve balance with technology. The recipe for building such a child doesn’t change with shifting technology. Children still need the same ingredients to be happy and healthy: movement, touch, connection, and nature.

Kim McDaniel says that children with autism spectrum disorders are more likely to have difficulty managing screen time. They are more vulnerable to developing problems with digital addiction. There are several reasons, with biological and psychological roots. From a child development perspective, any child who has difficulty with real life social interactions is more prone to turning to the computer to satisfy their social needs. The basis of empathy development, emotional resiliency, self-esteem, and overall good mental health comes from relationships with others. For those on the autism spectrum, their difficulty recognizing the undertones of language – subtle humor, sarcasm, contempt, flirting, and persuasion – also make them more vulnerable to bullying, peer pressure, and manipulation.

Research shows another side of the story. Overuse of technology can cause symptoms that mimic autism. Children can display the behaviors of someone with autism; they have been so disconnected from people they lose some of their social skills. Perhaps symptoms of autism may improve for some children when they increase social contact while at the same time decreasing technology use.