Effects of Computers on Children

It is an undeniable fact that computers have had an enormous impact on the 21st century. Computers have introduced today’s society to “instant getification,” a term which represents how people are able to shop, listen to their favorite songs, find an old friend or get information on virtually anything they desire at the touch of a mouse click. Long gone are the days of depending on phonebooks, encyclopedias or the Dewey Decimal system; and rightfully so, especially when there is Google. Despite the indubitable pros of computers, there is one area in which computers have had undesirable effects: child development. Today’s generation of children are introduced to computers at younger and younger ages. It is because of this that computers have in a sense, made children of today lazy. Children spend hours playing computer games instead of playing at the playground. They type papers and assignments in programs that automatically spell check the documents so they don’t feel the need to enhance their spelling and grammar skills. And perhaps most importantly, their increased computer usage disables their social networking skills by allowing them to dissociate from reality and participate in a virtual world. Computers are by far one of the most ingenious inventions known to man; however, their effects on children today are nothing short of questionable.

Computer games have become increasingly popular over the last couple decades but today have become a matter-of-course activity in the everyday lives of young people, including children. These computer games, like television, have aided in the decrease of children playing sports or even just playing a game of hide-and-go-seek with other neighborhood children. Computer games can most definitely be linked with the increase in child obesity. Instead of running around and being active, more of today’s youth is simply sitting in a chair clicking a mouse for hours at a time. This inactivity is a leading factor in why some many children today are overweight and lazy.

Another example in how computers are detrimental to a child’s development is in the area of spelling. Children today are growing up today believing that it is obsolete to learn how to spell when most writing and email programs provide a spell checker. Computers can fix one’s spelling errors and even indicate where a comma or period is needed. And while this is helpful when it comes to typing