Technology's Negative Effects on Memory in Children

Negative Aspects of technology and Attention and Memory for children

Although technology can have some good parts to using it, there are many negative aspects for young children when using these devices. Some aspects that will affect children’s memory development is…

1. Technology is in the hands of many children and because of this, they have become very reliant on these devices to help them think of information. The first place a child will turn to is technology if they are unable to think of something but “Researchers say that if you spend time trying to retrieve information from your memory first, rather than look it up, you are more likely to remember it later. The very act of retrieving memory strengthens the synapses that connect our brain cells or neurons to each other” (Burcham, 2017). Children will have difficulty developing their memory skills as they will constantly turn to technology to help solve their questions or find an answer. They will not use their thinking skills and think back to see what they already previously know about the topic.

2. Developing a child’s memory skills is essential for them but is halted as “the higher frequency of internet use is associated with a significant decrease in verbal intelligence, mainly related to language skills and concentration/attention abilities. One study reported frequent internet use by children as related to decreased memory performance” (Ricci et al., 2022). Using the internet as a main form of entertainment leads to children being underdeveloped in their attention skills since they start adapting to the ability to concentrate on multiple things at once. When a child is engaging in activities that do not require technology they are able to gain the opportunity of having their attention focused on one thing and getting that task done. This helps them when they are older as they will be able to focus on essential tasks.

3 Technology is in the hands of many children and because of this, they have become very reliant on these devices to help them think of information. The first place a child will turn to is technology if they are unable to think of something but “Researchers say that if you spend time trying to retrieve information from your memory first, rather than look it up, you are more likely to remember it later. The very act of retrieving memory strengthens the synapses that connect our brain cells or neurons to each other” (Burcham, 2017). Children will have difficulty developing their memory skills as they will constantly turn to technology to help solve their questions or find an answer. They will not use their thinking skills and think back to see what they already previously know about the topic.