The older I get, the more I realize the impact of technology on our lives. I’m a millennial, but I am very close to the cut off for being considered “Gen Z.” Generation Z is notably characterized as the generation that grew up with the most accelerated technological advances in history. People who fall into this category are native to social media, messaging, cell phones, and they largely don’t remember a world without these features.

This fact creates generational divide, because shared experiences and memories bring people together. Thinking about Baby Boomers, grandparents of current students, these people grew up in an entirely different world. Most notably, they saw the rise of television. Kids nowadays are growing up with augmented and virtual reality simulators, high definition video games, smart assistants and IoT connected home devices, and smart phones and tablets.

We are living in a world that would feel like science fiction 50 years ago. Parents and grandparents, you cannot relate to how this rapid change of technology had affected your children, but you must educate yourself on the positive and negatives effects of your child being a digital native.

One major change brought about by the developments in technology, specifically the internet, is how we take in information. There is a wealth of knowledge available at your fingertips. This is great because it allows increased efficiency in accessing information. However, the overabundance of information has changed the way in which our brain focuses. Rather than carefully reading and digesting information, we are encouraged to scan and intake information rapidly.

This affects the way in which your child learns to focus. On one hand, it’s efficient-this skill of scanning, skimming, and multitasking allows them to be more productive and take in more information, but on the other hand they are losing the ability to concentrate for extended periods of time. This specific trait makes focusing in the classroom increasingly difficult for children. While education can somewhat evolve to keep up with trends in students, ultimately a child who is unable to focus will fall behind.

There are many other implications both positive and negative surrounding technology’s impact our children. Many of them boil down to attention issues, focus, and activity level (indoor vs outdoor). One of the best ways to manage the negatives side effects of technology is to balance the time your children spend interacting with a phone, tablet, video game, or computer, with the time they spend playing outside, reading an actual book (look up the research about children reading physical books versus reading on a tablet and the implications on attention and focus), and doing educational and formative activities.

Technology is great in many ways, the amount of information we have available and the ease at which we communicate is valuable. There are also some downsides especially for young children that are overstimulated with technology. Take time to make sure your children have balance in their lives. Understand that as digital natives, they will inherently have different

approaches to many things such as problem solving. Lastly, make sure you educate yourself on the impact of technological development on young children. There are some really negative outcomes when technology intake in not managed.

-        Bria