The Smartphone Debate

Week Ten

After reading an ​The Atlantic Daily​ article "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?" by Jean M. Twenge, I followed up with a counter point reading in Psychology Today "No, Smartphones are Not Destroying a Generation" by Sarah Rose Cavanagh Ph.D. Twenge argues that the impact of smart phones and social media have increased teen depression and suicide rates. Cavanagh debated that the presented data was cherry-picked and there is information which supports active social media use can "positively affect resilience". Researched based and numbers driven data can sound convincing in cross-sectional studies. In contrast, using longitudinal research, quantitative and qualitative data can be collected to account for the individual impact or details of each the participants in the research. This is how many sound psychological studies are conducted over a long period of time.

Left to their own devices, children may while away their entire childhood surfing explicit web content, online gaming, or on social media accounts day and night. Moreover, there has been some research conducted finding there to be a correlation between social quotient and fine motor skills in children. One study revealed that by improving fine motor skills, social skills can be enhanced in children. In another study conducted with 4–6-year olds, similar findings support increased physical activity as having beneficial effects on children's motor skills and cognitive functioning. These studies both suggest less sedentary time is highly beneficial for the social, motor skill, and cognitive development of children. One could take away from this that physical activities are highly essential in the holistic development of children. In conclusion, parent can play an active role participating in their children's lives by modeling appropriate use of internet devices, while guiding them to become more physically and socially active, to encourage a healthy balance in their daily lives.

References

Dehghan, L. (2017). The Relationship Between Fine Motor Skills and Social Development and Maturation. Iranian Rehabilitation Journal, 15, 407-414

http://irj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-734-en.pdf

Zeng N., (2017) Effects of Physical Activity on Motor Skills and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: A Systematic Review. BioMed Research International, Article ID 2760716,

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2017/2760716/