FOR NJOSH ONLY

Phones and Children 7

Use of Phones Among Children

Aziz

COSK12

Karen

March 28, 2017

Use of Phones Among Children

Mobile phones are among the devices that have come with technological advancement. Mobile phones range from the simple phones to the sophisticated smartphones. Currently, almost everyone owns a phone, the young, and the old alike. The phones have come with lots of effects, both positive and negative. In the past, adults dominantly used phones but the number of children using the phones is gradually increasing. Use of mobile phones among children comes with its benefits, challenges, and risks.

The benefits of children having phones are numerous. Many parents give their children phones in order to ensure they keep in touch. The phone is a vital communication device. The children are able to call their parents to enquire about anything. For instance, children can call to ask about their pick up from school. The parents also use the phone to pass information to their children. In case the parent will be arriving late from work, they can inform the children to avoid unnecessary anxiety. With the increase in divorce cases, the children can use the phone to keep in touch with both parents.

Parents use phones to keep track of their children’s location. They use the global positioning system to see their children’s location. This helps the parents to know when the child skips a class or sneaks out of the house. They are able to track the child when it is out after the curfew hours. The phones also provide a sense of security to the children. They know that in case of an emergency they can reach their parents for assistance.

Phones also boost the confidence level of the children. It gives them a sense of responsibility. The child feels trusted by the parent to be given the device, which boosts their sense of responsibility. The phone can therefore be used to encourage good behavior. The phone can be taken away when the child fails to abide by the rules set by the parents. This way the parent controls the behavior of the child without a lot of struggle. The children can use the phones for entertainment. They can play games on the phone. The parent needs to limit the games the child has access to in order to ensure the child does not get involved in unsuitable sites. The parent can also play with the child and use the chance as a bonding opportunity.

The children can also use the phones as an added avenue of learning. They can download educational applications, use online libraries, and dictionaries. This enables them to have access to the latest information since the applications are updated from time to time, unlike the hard copy books whose content does not change. Mobile phones provide very many resources to be used by the children in their learning.

The children can also use the phones to get assistance with their homework. The smartphones contain features such as documents to go, which children can use to do school papers and presentations. They then submit them to the teacher through their emails. Children are also able to access Google resources online for their homework. They are able to research and obtained relevant information for their homework.

The use of mobile phones by children is not without negative impacts. The children are easily addicted to the phones. The children spend a lot of time on their phones chatting with friends and making calls. They can also get addicted to playing phone games. All these negatively affect their schoolwork. They spend more time on their phones than on their studies, which reduces their productivity in school. They send messages during lessons and make calls during break time. This distracts them from their studies and translates to poor school grades.

Students also use the phones during exams as a malpractice. They can send answers to their friends who are in the examination hall. The malpractice has grave consequences in case the students are caught. Exam malpractice contributes to awarding of unrightfully won grades. The students later on in life end up in senior positions in society without the required knowledge. They then provide poor services to their clients causing dissatisfaction. This can cause failure in the industry at large.

Having smartphones opens a channel for children to access all types of websites and photos on the internet. This can contribute to the development of improper behavior among children. They can access pornographic sites on the internet that corrupts their morals. The parents must therefore be on the lookout to control what their child have access to on the internet. They can limit their frequency of using the phones and monitor the sites the children visit.

The use of mobile phones also has negative health implications on the children. Research has shown a correlation between use of mobile phones and the development of the non-malignant brain and ear tumors. Use of mobile phones is associated with an increase in the risk of brain tumors known as the acoustic neuroma. This is a benign tumor of the brain, which develops from the nerves of the middle ear. It affects hearing and balance. It also causes ringing in the ear. It’s a slow growing tumor but can occasionally press on the brain and affect vital functions of the brain. It is treated by radiation or surgery.

Use of mobile phones among children is also linked to the development of cancer. The radiation from the phone is a possible carcinogen. The radiation is connected with the development of the malignant tumor of the brain known as glioma. Glioma is a cancer of the support cells of the brain. The effects of the carcinogenic radiation are more pronounced in children than in adults since the children absorb twice the amount of radiation compared to adults. Their developing nervous system contributes to the fast development of cancer in children.

The use of mobile phones also affects the brain activity of children. A two-minute call can cause more than one hour of brain activity disturbance. The radio waves penetrate into the brain and affect learning and behavior of the children. It also affects the moods of the children. Use of mobile phones affects the general health of the children. Some of them might get malnourished since they spend so much time on the phones and skip meals. This exposes them to nutritional diseases.

Their parents or guardians should control the use of mobile phones by children. This will ensure that they use the phones for the right purposes. The time spent on the phone should also be limited in order to ensure it does not affect their school grades and reduce the health effects that come with the use of the phones. Some of children spend their all the night playing on the phone in dark rooms and that effect their eyes and look tired in the next morning

In conclusion, the use of mobile phones by children should be limited to simple functions of communication. They should not carry phones to school. Unless where it is necessary, children should have simple phones instead of smart phones.

References

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Kam, M., Kumar, A., Jain, S., Mathur, A., & Canny, J. (2009, April). Improving literacy in rural India: Cellphone games in an after-school program. In Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD), 2009 International Conference on (pp. 139-149). IEEE.

Stockwell, G. (2010). Using mobile phones for vocabulary activities: Examining the effect of the platform. Language Learning & Technology, 14(2), 95-110.

Kundi, M. (2009). The controversy about a possible relationship between mobile phone use and cancer. Environmental health perspectives, 117(3), 316.

Divan, H. A., Kheifets, L., Obel, C., & Olsen, J. (2012). Cell phone use and behavioral

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