Navigating a Digital Crisis: The Impact of Technology on Early Years Education and Parenting
Exploring how the rise of digital media and echo chambers influences the development of our children, and why it's crucial for parents and EYFS practitioners to lead the way in fostering healthy digital habits.
We can’t all be, think or act the same! It’s important that we learn to embrace our differences and learn how to how to have our voice be heard safely.
As I sit here reading the most recent Byline Times article about Donald Trump, I cannot help but feel quite nervous about what is happening to the world around us. I can’t help but feel that the hegemonic narrative is telling us to reject and deny anything that does not fit within our ‘tribal group’. As an early years practitioner, I have had to witness a comeback of racial slurs and misogynistic behaviors in our young children. This change in behavior and, in my opinion, societal regression is coincidentally happening alongside the ever-increasing amount of digital media that we and our young children are consuming.
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands – Literally!
As a millennial, I have had the privilege of growing up in a world where technology was slowly introduced to me, rather than thrown at me. I believe that I got to have the best of both worlds, one with and without the constraints of portable digital devices. When I was a child, yes, I played computer games, but I could not transport them easily, not without consequences. The outside world was still exciting; nothing in the digital world could ever stop me from enjoying being with my friends and playing outside.
Now, sadly, our younger generations are growing up with all of this technology being thrown at them and readily available. It is now no longer frowned upon to have a child sitting at the table watching the TV or playing a game; in fact, it’s become standard practice. Furthermore, it is not just our children who are utilizing technology in this way, it is also us adults. With the device in your pocket, you can pretty much do everything – you have access to the entire world in the palm of your hands.
Lost in an Echo Chamber
Some marketing genius came up with the idea of creating algorithms to analyze consumers' movements online to help sellers target their advertisements more directly. Why waste time trying to sell trainers to someone who only wears high heels? While on paper, this sounds fantastic, this use of algorithms has been expanded to all areas of our digital lives. From political views to what you like to eat, the cloud has data on your preferences, ensuring that only content related to your tastes makes its way to your screen.
The issue I find with this is that it makes it difficult for you to explore something different. It traps you in an echo chamber of only your thoughts, with nothing pushing back or giving you a different perspective on things.
This is a dangerous place to be in. It prevents you from expanding your own thoughts and knowledge on a particular topic. It also allows those with the big purse strings to manipulate these echo chambers in favor of their own agenda. Think of it like a puppet master playing with the strings of society – manipulating it to do its will. Scary stuff when you think about it too much!
So, you might be thinking – what has this got to do with EYFS and parenting? EVERYTHING!
Uncharted Territory
In the new EYFS framework, they removed technology as a strand. I would argue that this is a huge mistake. Technology is everywhere, and our children are consuming over 3 hours of it a day, according to OFCOM in 2023. When I look at some of our children and their behaviors, I truly believe that this statistic is inaccurate and much higher than this. We are dealing with a digital crisis, where our children now have free reign over the world and have no idea or skill set on how to manage it. Like us, the algorithms are funnelling content on their digital devices, and their small worlds have just become even smaller. They are also caught in their own echo chambers, being influenced by God knows who – literally!
It’s no longer about stranger danger and looking out for the dodgy neighbor; our children need our help more than ever. This digital consumption will be our generation's lesson. Watch the Netflix TV series Adolescence and let that be your guide as to why this is important. Our children learn from those around them, so it is important that we act as role models when it comes to developing critical thinking skills and healthy relationships with technology. If we are not safely navigating the digital world, how can we expect our children to do so?
Something Has to Change
We cannot continue as we are. Looking at the national statistics of mental health issues rising in our young children, is it really surprising when you think about the messages and digital content that they are consuming? It starts with our youngest. We need to develop these healthy habits and conversations from the get-go; we cannot wait for it to become a crisis before we actually start to do something. I would argue that technology has just become our most important subject and strand in our curriculum – don’t you think?