Technology use and Recommendations for Young Children

Based on the best currently available research, this talk focused on building strategies for appropriate use and limits toward technology for young children. This was a talk given to a parent community upon request.

Transcript

1. Ecole Edwards Elementary, March 2012 Derek Keenan www.MrKeenan.com Technology For Kids What, Where, When and How; Doing it right!
2. A Changing World How do we set our kids up for success? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3i0bEjv2ts
3. Background and Outline My Background... Our tasks tonight Effective Online Time & Guidelines Modelling & Household Use Safety & Security
4. Effective Online Time & Guidelines The American Academy of Pediatrics has produced guidelines for technology use in children. Guidelines for School Age Children’s technology time is no more than 1-2 hours per day for screen time, any screen. What the experts say:
5. Pay Attention Overuse of technology is generally a result of parents not paying attention to what children are doing with it. Know the times, uses and restrictions on your child’s device usage; what they can and can not do. I will offer suggestions on this later.
6. Set Boundaries Children must know that there are limits, what they are, and why they are there. Use a timer or other system to track screen time, and be consistent.
7. Set Boundaries If your child has accounts on websites, use those sites with them until at least age 10. Inform your child that you will have access to and periodically monitor email and other accounts until age 13. 13 is the required legal age for most social media sites for a child to set up an account.
8. Set Boundaries Students in grades 1-4 should have no access to the internet that is not supervised. Essentially important after children are able to read, as content can vary wildly between sites. Guideline for starting to allow independent access is 12 years old.
9. Modelling and Household Use If we want our children to use technology appropriately, we must show them how to do it. We do this by: Creating Technology Safe Zones Walking the Walk Providing Positive Learning Materials
10. Technology Safe Zones Technology Safe Zones are times and places where technology is never allowed.
11. Technology Safe Zones Suggested ‘safe zones’ for children: Mealtimes: This is a time for connection and personal discussion where technology can be turned off. Bedtime: An excellent time to promote reading and creative storytelling. Research indicates sleep improves if there is no ‘screen time’ in the hour before bed. Experts also indicate that children should not have TVs or computers in the bedroom.
12. Technology Safe Zones As a final note, that early childhood development, and attention spans are impacted heavily by television. Experts warn that having any TV, particularly adult TV on in the background when no one is actively watching is harmful to children. In the study, children from households where this happens have higher rates of ADHD, and lower IQ scores overall.
13. Safety & Security The number one security measure for your children is you. Very little can happen online that can not be understood and effectively dealt with by a responsible adult How do we minimize the chances of harm?
14. Security Settings Both PC’s and Macs have security features designed to support parents in creating safe online experiences for kids. Windows Family Safety site: http://www.microsoft.com/security/family- safety/childsafety-age.aspx Apple Family Safety site: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/ #parentalcontrols
15. User Accounts Both platforms recommend setting up a user account for your child, which can then limit the internet content and time available to the user. This setup takes time, as you have to allow each specific site, user they can interact with and configure other options, but it is well worth it.
16. iOS & Mobile Devices All iPads, iPods, iPhones, and Android devices have configurable settings as well. One key is to disable ‘in-app purchases’ on any device your child will be playing games on. Adjust content settings to appropriate levels to ensure ‘inadvertent’ content is not displayed. Turn off YouTube and web browsing when they are not needed.
17. a final thought... "What kinds of experiences develop increased self-control?" Klungness asked rhetorically. "Activities which require patience -- such as waiting for seedlings to sprout or working on a craft project which requires wait time between steps -- are the types of activities accessible to all children with appropriate parental supervision."
18. Questions and Feedback Please let me know if you have any questions, my email is: mrkeenan@gmail.com