Introduction
Recent technological advancements have shaped how children think and behave. The advent of video games has led to children spending much of their time playing rather than engaging in beneficial activities. However, the integration of technology into children’s routine activities can be beneficial to their mental growth. Social learning theory postulates that social behavior is learned by observing and imitating others. Meanwhile, Erik Eriksen’s theory of psychosocial development argues that individuals undergo various stages of life that influence their social behaviors. Although technology is an integral part of societal progress, it can negatively influence a child’s social interactions.
Technology and Children
As children grow, many parents utilize modern communication technologies to keep them busy. The advent of computer games has enabled children to focus on computers and hand-held devices (Woodward et al., 2022). Consequently, their parents get enough time to finish their activities without the children’s interference. Additionally, technological advances have allowed children to access social media platforms and the content available on the internet. Although many devices and software have integrated parental control measures, children still access restricted content online (Wang et al., 2021). The effects of the excessive use of social media may not be immediate for children. Therefore, it takes a long time to notice how children are affected by uncontrolled use of the internet. Therefore, it is recommendable for parents to restrict the amount of time their children spend using technology.
Many schools and parents have adopted tech-aided learning that allows children to know information without a teacher’s assistance. For instance, the emergence of COVID-19 led to increased use of technology in the educational sector. Therefore, many parents use information technology to teach their children at home. Moreover, some computer games help in mental growth among children. While technology is either beneficial or harmful to children, it is crucial to understand its influence on their lives based on theories of social development.
Technology and Child Development: Theoretical Approach
Social Learning Theory
Behaviorists believe that all learning is directly influenced by the experience with the environment through association and reinforcement. However, Bandura’s social learning theory propounded that direct reinforcement cannot account for all types of learning (Kaur, 2021). The theorist believed that human beings can exhibit learning through things that they have no direct experience with (Kaur, 2021). For instance, even if someone has never swung a baseball bat, they would possibly know what to do if handed a bat and told to hit a baseball. This is because the person has observed others doing it on television or in person. According to Bandura, learning would be exceedingly laborious, if people had to rely on their direct experiences to inform them what to do (Kaur, 2021). Owing to technological capabilities, children can learn negative or positive things as informed by the social learning theory.
Technology plays a significant role in children’s social and cognitive growth, and Bandura’s three-modeled theory informs their observational learning. First, observational learning among children can be through a live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating a specific behavior (Le & Hancer, 2021). The theorist demonstrated this through a doll named Bobo: children imitated the aggressive actions of an adult toward the doll (Hey et al., 2021). Similarly, children can imitate aggressive actions as demonstrated through social media platforms and other technological devices they interact with. Therefore, it is likely that children will develop aggressive behaviors upon seeing people on television or in computer games acting aggressively. Children can learn positive or negative behaviors by observing such actions on social media platforms and other technologically enabled devices.
Secondly, Bandura argued that children can learn from the behaviors of real or fictional characters as displayed in books or films, a symbolic model. A classic example of symbolic model observational learning is through watching animations (Hey et al., 2021). While some of the animations demonstrate violent actions, others exhibit kindness. Consequently, children will likely demonstrate either behavior when exposed to such animations. Last, Bandura stated that observational learning can be through verbal instruction. The model involves descriptions and behavior explanations (Le & Hancer, 2021). For instance, some technological platforms promote immoral behaviors, including hate speech against a specific race. Children exposed to such technology will develop hatred against the race. Therefore, the social learning theory informs the different behaviors exhibited by children through interacting with technology.
Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Children undergo different stages of life that may conflict with each other in the course of social interactions. Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development propounds that personality among children develops in a series of stages (Maree, 2021). The theory is centered on the epigenetic principle: human beings grow in a sequence that occurs over time and in the context of their communities (Wijaya, 2022). According to Erik Erikson, children undergo the first five stages, from birth to eighteen years: trust versus mistrust, autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, and identity versus role confusion (Wijaya, 2022). The five stages exhibit important events which are feeding, toilet training, exploration, school, social, and social relationships consecutively. Technology plays a significant role as children grow and transition from one stage to another.
The first stage, trust versus mistrust, is the most fundamental since children are utterly dependent. Consequently, the parents exhibit love and care for their children to gain their trust from them. The parents use technologically enabled devices such as simple sound games to fill their gap in case they are absent. The second stage, autonomy versus shame and doubt, involves the children gaining little independence (Maree, 2021). During this stage, very simple computer games can be used to promote independence among them. The use of technology in keeping children busy during the first and second stages ensures that they are attached to their caregivers without mistrusting them.
In the third stage, initiative versus guilt, children assert their power and control through social interactions. It is during this stage that children can confidently react to films and play complicated computer games that require keenness. During stage four, industry and inferiority, children develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and ability. Meanwhile, stage five involves children exploring their independence and developing a sense of self (Maree, 2021). During the fifth stage, some children may choose to spend time on social media platforms interacting with their friends. While excessive use of social media and other modern technologies proves independence among children, it can harm their social interactions with close relatives (Wijaya, 2022). Therefore, the use of technology among children through their stages of psychosocial development should be closely monitored.
Conclusion
Advancements in technology have revolutionized how children grow and interact with their communities. Inventions of computer games and social media platforms have enabled parents to keep their children busy. According to social learning theory, children imitate behaviors through observations. Therefore, positive and negative actions among children can be a result of what they observe as they interact with technology. Additionally, technology can help children effectively transition from one stage of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development to another. Parents should control their children’s interactions with technology for positive social and cognitive growth.
References
Hay, D. F., Paine, A. L., Perra, O., Cook, K. V., Hashmi, S., Robinson, C., Kairis, V., & Slade, R. (2021). Prosocial and aggressive behavior: a longitudinal study. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 86(2), pp. 7–103. Web.
Kaur, K. (2021). Psychology: the science of mental processes. In S.P. Sahni & P. Bhadra, (Eds.), Criminal psychology and the criminal justice system in India and beyond (pp. 1-19). Springer. Web.
Le, L. H., & Hancer, M. (2021). Using social learning theory in examining YouTube viewers’ desire to imitate travel vloggers. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 12(3), 512–532. Web.
Maree, J. G. (2021). The psychosocial development theory of Erik Erikson: Critical overview. Early Child Development and Care, 191(7-8), pp. 1107–1121. Web.
Wang, G., Zhao, J., Van Kleek, M., & Shadbolt, N. (2021). Protection or punishment? Relating the design space of parental control apps and perceptions about them to support parenting for online safety. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CSCW2), pp. 1–26. Web.
Wijaya, S. (2022). The roles of Parents Teachers Association in school-age children’s psychosocial development according to Erik Erikson. Edunesia: Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan, 3(1), pp. 45–54. Web.
Woodward, J., Alemu, F., E. López Adames, N., Anthony, L., C. Yip, J., & Ruiz, J. (2022). “It would be cool to get stampeded by dinosaurs”: Analyzing children’s conceptual model of AR headsets through co-design. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Web.