Infants And Toddlers: A Case Study

1. The key issues for an individual’s development are that infants and toddlers are being exposed too much to technology. According to Barron (2015), infants should not have any interaction with technology and toddlers ranging from ages 3-5 should be limited to one hour per day. Allowing too much screen time can physically change the brain which is an issue in young children whose brains are not completely developed. Another key issue is that toddlers being exposed to technology more than one hour a day have difficulties with self-regulation causing them to throw more temper tantrums (Barron, 2015). Self-regulation is a child’s ability to identify themselves as a physically separate human being (Berk, 2017). The last key issue in an individual’s

Infants and toddlers today face a much different reality compared to in the past. This is called a history-graded influence which states that development is affected by unique forces in a specific era such as technological advances (Berk,2017). This can include the advancement of television, computers, the internet, etc… All of these factors contribute to a change in development to the brain. Development of the brain is crucial during the sensitive period. The sensitive period is a period of time in which it is biologically ideal for certain capacities to appear because the child is open to their environmental stimuli (Berk,2017). This sensitive period is most prominent in developing children such as toddlers. Technology can affect children’s attention spans or their sustained attention because they are distracted much easier (Berk,2017). When exposed to technology children lose their ability or do not develop the ability to focus. When attention is compromised, memory, language, decision making, etc… is compromised. Some simple skills such as recognition and recall should be emerging around 6 months old can develop slower when exposed to technology (Berk,2017). This is because technology allows toddlers to lack imagination and fragmented attention while something such as reading requires imagination and full

A family’s unit will be impacted by the use of too much technology because a family’s child will have issues with self-regulation (Berk,2017). If the child has issues with self-regulation the child will lack the control of their own emotions, thoughts and most importantly their behavior. If a child has issues regulating their own behavior this can cause havoc and chaos in the family’s home. This is especially true if more than one child is exposed to too much technology and is experiencing problems with self-regulation. Problems with self-regulation is due to children being in a state or “digital fog” which is where they feel fatigued and distracted and to counteract this the brain secretes high levels of cortisol which alters neural circuitry for a child’s self-regulation (Barron,2015). The impact of this situation is negative because it can cause conflict among the family members. The impact of these issues discussed in the article are immediate. Problems with self-regulation cause toddlers to throw more temper tantrums