Effect of Technology on Childhood Development
The conflict theory advocates for individuals in the society using conflicts as opposed to consensus in the community in settling disputes (Burrell et al., 234). Consequently, the powerful people in such a scenario will take advantage of the vulnerable to gain more mileage. The developing children observe and learn from their environments any action that takes place during their growth would harm their way of thinking. The developing children conflict with their environment in their way of living.
Media
In relation to the conflict theory, mainstream media affects early childhood development in different ways. As aforementioned conflict theory advocates for those with power oppressing the poor in the society. In the last decade, based on the most of the details in the news and the internet, conflict theory is well-evidenced in the American culture and different countries in the entire world. Most of these things are not subject to questioning. The audience hardly does their research on what they read and most of the times wrong, or inaccurate information disseminates to the society. Many people do not have time to fact check most of the information and media forms and houses takes advantage of this to sell. However, this impact negatively to young children as reported by (Burrell).
The American elections of 2016 saw Hillary Clinton lose the elections to Donald Trump. The two candidates are Power figures in the United States. Donald Trump hails from a Dynasty, which made him who is and proudly campaigned on how his father loaned him one million US dollars to start up a business (Patterson 42). Trump before being president was a successful businessman with corporate empires all over the world. Hillary Clinton on the hand is a former first lady of the United States, served in the capacity of secretary of state in the Obama regime and an author in her own right. The media put it out that for an interested party to make it as an American president, the individual should be either rich or have power as in the case of Clinton and Trump (Patterson 56). The rich make up the 1 percent of the United States; this means that the 99 percent of Americans are surviving (Patterson 57). Therefore most young children may lose hope in life on the premise of the “rich and powerful” stereotype hence affecting their leadership ambitions.
Jimmy Kimmel is an American of a Canadian descent who has a late-night show. The presenter has a segment where he questions kid on the Hollywood Boulevard about different subjects ranging from family to politics. There is this one time he asked the kids what they think about Donald Trump. Most of the children gave different opinions ranging from the president being a racist to him being rich. The children’s reaction could only mean one thing that someone has been feeding them with information – the media. Some of the children clearly showed disgust at the mention of Donald Trump’s name. The kind of hate propelled in the social media makes Donald Trump look like he is better than others and this promotes hate to the young generation (Patterson 60).
TV Shows
Television shows impact on minors and adults differently, however, kids are the most affected when it comes to these products since they depict each community from a different perspective as showcased in different movies. Regardless of the parental control that the parents and guardians have over the programs their children watch, children still have their discovery channels for watching programs that are not recommended for them (Berseka 65). Most of them are accidental, in the sense that a parent could be a fan of a show like Empire and the timing of the show matches with the time he or she hangs out with his kids. Consequently, these children will watch the show with their parent without any restrictions (Berseka 67). Shows like Empire portray blacks in a bad way giving the world a wrong perception of the community. Growing up children can easily conform to this perception and view the black community as they are portrayed in the shows.
The empire show portrays blacks as dysfunctional and stereotypical characters. The show tries to inform people out there that people of color are not good at relationships especially when it comes to the opposite sex. However, in real life pointing out black families that have worked out for a while is quite easy. For instance, the Obama family and the ex-rapper who is currently an actor who goes by the pseudonym Ice cube (Harrington, 345). Moreover, the female roles in the show are depicted as baby mamma, ratchet criminals and gold diggers. When children get to see this, they will have a wrong perception of black women or being a black woman.
Exploring the social dysfunctions aspect, the show has brought about division in the black community probably into two groups. There is the group that desires the show for its campiness and the ones that are made of the tropes that expose the black community. Dome fans have stopped watching the show since most of the characters are either a white savior or light-skinned black women. These stereotypes and depictions are not just on the television. The empire show was for the black entertainment, at least that what the community believed in its debut. However, it has since become an avenue of selling the bad side of the blacks to the world. Such perceptions can affect a growing black child to have low self-esteem just because of the depiction and a white child to hate blacks just on the premise of stereotypes.
Empire equally brainwashes the blacks into glitz, hip-hop music, dysfunction, and glamour. Most blacks love being extras and viewing fellow community members in these programs. However, they forget the pervasive messages like sexual deviance, crime, self-hate, drug abuse among others. Every episode of the program there is a conflict between the rich and the poor. Most of the scenes are about how the rich take advantage of their social status to undermine the poor. There conflicts in the empire show are endless, and writer like Lee Daniels use this technique to keep the audience glued to their screens anticipating the subsequent episodes. Therefore, when children are exposed to such programs, they believe that the rich have value more than the ordinary man.
Education
Technology has impacted in education in different ways. In the 21st century, some students take their classes online with the help of their computer screen, and they do not have to have a physical teacher to see them through their studies. The technology is the reason behind the generational gap especially when it comes to the old teachers (Gess 39). Nonetheless, some teachers think that technology is the bridging between the old and the millennial. Therefore there is a conflict between embracing technology in schools and sticking to the traditional ways of studies. For instance, the possession of cell phones in the school environment has been up for debate for a while, and different institutions have different rules on this subject (Gess 41). The pro-cellphones argue that the cellphones act like computers these days and make students access their school matters faster as opposed to back in the day. The schools that are against the possession of cell phones in schools among the children believe that they are tools of destruction. However, we can never, stop the emerging issues on earth especially when it comes to technology. The children these days are in environments that embrace technology, therefore denying them that this when it comes to school work will be unfortunate. Conclusion
In conclusion, the media influence the way the young people think in many ways. For example, in the American 2016 elections, the media depicted trump as not presidential and the rich and the powerful as the ideal candidates for the American presidency. The notion would instill a notion to the growing children that the presidency is on only for the rich and the powerful in the society. Secondly, TV programs like empire depict black people as inferior in the society, and this could lead to children hating black people or hating to be black themselves. Lastly, education in school has controversies over embracing technology. Some schools are for the idea while others oppose it; this is because there is a debate on traditional education and the modern education. However, students, especially of the young age are brought up in smart environments and denying them that in school would be absurd.
Works cited
Bereska, Tami M. “Hollywood Bites.” Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy (2017): 191.
Burrell, Gibson, and Gareth Morgan. Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis: Elements of the sociology of corporate life. Routledge, 2017.
Gess, Ashley H. “steam education: separating fact from fiction.” Technology and Engineering Teacher (2017): 77.3, 39-41.
Harrington, Stephen. “How can we value entertainment? And, why does it matter.” Entertainment Values. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2017. 1-10.
Patterson, Thomas E. “Pre-Primary News Coverage of the 2016 Presidential Race: Trump’s Rise, Sanders’ Emergence, and Clinton’s Struggle.” (2016).