Degree
Master of Business Administration Executive
Faculty / School
Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)
Year of Award
2015
Project Type
MBA Executive Research Project
Access Type
Restricted Access
Executive Summary
Child development is basically the growth path of an Infant to a young child and further to a teenager, with the advancement of technology and innovation the Involvement of electronic gadgets like mobile phones and digital tablets In child development Is increasing. This research is based on evaluating the impact of technology on children's development and what issues and consequences mothers face in the light of the current topic. The researcher believes that these electronics should not be extensively involved in children's daily lives as they can have a negative impact in the growth and development and consequently parents and teachers should avoid them in the early stages of a child's life.
The current research will only take into account children less than 8 years of age and the primary research will be conducted In preliminary school that cater for such young children. The research sample will include mothers of these children as the children are too young to respond to the research questions or understand the significance of the topic. An expert opinion will also be taken from doctors as they also monitor child development closely and can contribute scientific evidence to the research findings.
Although education in Pakistan does not include the usage of such electronic gadgets in their syllabus as a compulsory requirement, yet there are many private preliminary schools that use technology to assist teaching methods and attract children with colors, music and games. Whereas, in the government sector the system is pretty much in bad shape and there are no good facilities to accommodate early child development. This has been a major issue why the literacy rate of Pakistan is so low and there is no attention given by the government to improve our education system from the early stage learning.
Innovation is always meant to improve existing methods or life style but sometimes there are few drawbacks of technology. In our current environment children are given mobile phones and digital tablets to play to keep them busy so their parents or elders can continue their own tasks or work but in actual this creates an alarming situation with children facing problems like weakening of eye sight, laziness to avoid physical activities, addiction and stubbornness.
A combination of questions from quantitative methodology and small semi-formal interviews from qualitative methodology were adopted to generate results to conclude the research hypothesis. The questionnaires were filled by 158 mothers who had 409 children collectively that fell In the research subject and this was the research sample. Chapter 3 in this report displays findings and analysis in detail but just for the readers to understand the report few essential results will be stated below.
The results show that 85% of the children watched television for cartoons, 68% of children used digital tablets or notepads for playing games, 95% of children play games on mobile phones while only 9.5% children use computers. These results dearly state that the usage of technology and gadgets is high in the research sample and also from another question in questionnaire it can be seen that in Pakistan almost 93% of the children have access to mobile phone. Hence, this proves the HI hypothesis to be true.
However, how the mothers of children react to issues is an alarming situation. The researcher points out three aspects of the phenomenon which are perspective consideration, potential fears and the actual experience. First is the consideration part that what mother conceive and the results show that 53% of the mother think their children will become addicted and stubborn and this outcome proves H2 hypothesis to be true. Second part is the fear that is which is treated as potential threat and the results show that 34% mothers fear of weakening of eye sight, 34% fear child becoming lazy and 17% fear child to become stubborn. This proves H3 hypothesis to be true. Third aspect is the reality where only 35% mothers actually have complaints from their children about headache, stress, eye sight, laziness and stubbornness.
The research results also reveal that about 61% of the mothers believe that technology is useful in higher level of education and there has been no improvement in child development as such if compared with previous conventional teaching methods. It can be said that these gadgets and devices are only assisting teachers. The use of technology is not compulsory part of education at this level which 88% of the sample supports the fact as there is no standard requirement in any preliminary schools.
The qualitative analysis from small semi-formal interviews with doctors also portray light on the subject with scientific evidence that microwave rays emission from mobile phones can be harmful to child development as young children have weak immune systems which could have a negative impact on their brains. Astonishingly, 80% of the doctors say that there has been no proven evidence of harm to eyesight but regular usage can lead to eye fatigue or sight exhaustion. 20% of doctors recommend avoiding consistent involvement of mobile phones and digital notepads in early ages. Further the doctors suggest a regularly eye test if the child complains about stress, headache or weakness.
About 86.66% identify the risk of non-hygienic and bacterial Interaction with the child from the surface of mobile phones and digital tablets screens or buttons. Since children at small ages are delicate and weak this aspect could develop problems in later stages. These results can conclude that even doctors do not suggest extensive use of the technological gadgets for children and also elders due to their negative consequences. Hence, H4 hypothesis is also proven to be true.
The researcher can also conclude that findings from primary and secondary research do not support usage of such devices and gadgets in child development as there are greater risks that lead to health deterioration. The alarming issues include weakening of eye sight, increase in stress level, children becoming addicted and stubborn.
Pages
41
Link to Catalog Record
https://ils.iba.edu.pk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=55299
Recommended Citation
Tabish, M. A. (2015). Impact of technology on childrens development (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-emba/228
The full text of this document is only accessible to authorized users.
