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Student Opinion: Children are Exposed to Technology Too Young

By: Cassidy Hoffman, a sophomore at Leigh High School on April 30, 2019

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Wake up. See my siblings on technology. Come home. See my siblings on technology. Go to bed. See my siblings still on some sort of technology. From the television to the Xbox to their iPods, my younger siblings are constantly around some sort of technology. Because of this, I have drawn the conclusion that children are exposed to technology at too young of an age.

I really believe my younger siblings are addicted to technology. If they get in trouble, the first thing my parents do is restrict their access to another electronic. Trust me, they get really crabby, really fast when this happens. It’s almost as if they go through withdrawals from not getting enough screen time. I think the reason is that they are around screens all day every day and don’t know what to do with themselves when they are away from tech.

I can recall that when I was younger, all I wanted when I was somewhere between the grades four and six was a Nintendo DSI. My parents actually got me one for Christmas one year and I thought that was one of the best presents I had ever received.

Fast forward to today and children grades four through six already have iPhones and their own iPads. Yes, technology is evolving. Yes, we need to keep up with the times, but it is ridiculous at what age kids are receiving their own phone or some sort of device to entertain themselves. It is also partly the fault of any parent or babysitters. Rather than give them attention and play with them, they just plop them in front of the television or hand them their phone to play on. It almost becomes a habit, when they get older, to play on technology, and technology alone, to entertain themselves.

I feel that children are exposed to technology at too young of an age and because of this, they are basically addicted to technology the same way other people are addicted to drugs. It is absurd how early children are getting their own devices to entertain themselves with. I know that the times are evolving and technology is becoming and even larger role in our lives, but at what age is all of this technology really appropriate and necessary? Somewhere, the line needs to be drawn.