Katie Dickison

LBST 391

Sally Walters

November 7, 2019                                         

Reading Review 4

When I began research on the topic of parental use of technology and the impact it has on a child’s development the first thing that I came to notice was the lack of research in the field itself. When trying to compose a list of sources to analyze for my reading response I had quite a hard time finding studies on the topic. That’s not to say that it is obsolete, but it is microscopic in comparison to other areas of research in the field. The main focus as of right now seems to be the effect technology use has on adolescents and how that can negatively impact their mental health etc., but for me, the concern should start at the base of introduction, especially knowing how important a child’s development is during infant years. The most vulnerable within our society are being cared for by those who put technology over the importance of their child and many of these people know that they are doing something wrong, but don’t care enough to turn it off or put it away. This is a cause for great concern.                                              

The little research that I could find on the topic focuses precisely on the effects parental use of technology has on a child’s development, which was very helpful in the beginning since that was my primary focus. However, the challenge for me is that everyone seems to have a very similar hypothesis and it is only the setting that seems to be any different. With that being said, when everyone’s asking the same question they will come up with the same answers in return. Therefore, allowing little variation in reason and in turn lacks encouragement for other areas of research in the field. For me, one of the questions that seem to be missing is what is so compelling about technological devices to parents or caregivers that puts the importance of, say a cellphone, over that of an infant? Why does a mother feel the need to be on her cellphone while breastfeeding? Or why is it that when you go to a playground you will see a parent looking down at their cellphone rather than watching after the safety of their child? I believe most parents have the awareness that what they are doing is wrong, but the question then becomes how are they able to throw that all away and justify their actions?

Knowing that there may be a correlation between parental use of technology and implications on children’s development you have to look at what is causing the problem and then figure out what within the relationship between humans and technology leads to problem behaviour. In terms of carrying out this research, I think the best way to execute such a study would be to take a qualitative approach and conduct interviews. In conducting interviews with parents and caregivers you can then get a better understanding of this attraction to technology. Obviously, you need to formulate a solid hypothesis before you can even think about conducting research, but it all begins with an inquiry. An inquiry adds fuel to someone’s passion for investigation. But for that to even be possible, for someone to become passionate in a way that they will put their all into finding the answers, people simply need to care, but they need the knowledge to care and I think that’s what is lacking the most. I don’t believe that enough people are knowledgeable about these specific issues. That obviously has something to do with the fact that these are fairly new findings, but I have to say, I’m still surprised that people are so slow to catch on.