Generation iPad: The Impact of Technology on Today’s Children

Tech is an unavoidable staple of childhood. From smartphones and tablets, games consoles, smart home devices, you name it - today’s kids are growing up surrounded by screens. But what does immersion in the digital world mean actually mean for their well-being and development? Are we equipping a generation with essential skills for a high-tech future or setting them up for a lifetime of zombie-like screen dependence and shattered attention spans???

It’s an anxiety-inducing question for many parents, one which I didn’t even want to research (in case I found out that I’d done something wrong.) But I think we need to get our collective heads out of the sand and really understand the impacts (both positive and negative) of the world we’ve collectively built for our children. Only then can we try and implement a strategy that’s actually rooted in reality.??

So let’s dive in.??

My first plunge into the topic was actually pretty reassuring.??

There was recently(ish) some interesting research from UNICEF which suggested that technology isn’t all bad for kids. Phew. The study (and others) showed that certain types of digital experiences, particularly those that encourage creativity and connection, can actually enhance children’s social skills and self-confidence. Games which involved creation and collaboration were particularly beneficial. Okay, score one to tech.?Nice. Close laptop, job's a good'un.

Well, not quite.

I was quickly brought back down to earth when I moved on to social media. Here tech’s benefits were harder to find, especially when the (very real) risks were so widely publicised. Now, there was some great stuff out there about how teenagers use social media to do all sorts of positive things, like build community (especially in niche interests not supported locally), find new avenues of self-expression and maintain connections to friends and relatives otherwise rendered impossible through geography. All very good things, certainly, but on the other (far more ominous) hand, teenagers’ use of social media can paradoxically increase feelings of isolation and heighten anxiety, increasing the need for external validation perpetuating our current culture of comparison. Social media has had very, very real negative consequences for many teens, especially the facilitation of new avenues of bullying. Anyone with kids old enough to use it, or any teachers reading this will no doubt be wearily familiar with all the above.?However, even knowing all that, it often doesn't feel realistic to stop your kids from accessing it entirely (and even if you could, I’m not entirely sold on that being the best idea). ??

But we’re getting way ahead of ourselves. I don’t want this to be an unstructured stream-of-consciousness where we all just get vaguely anxious about tech, and then sorta collectively shrug, agree to maybe think about implementing some stricter limits on screen time, then move on. I think to properly wrap our heads around where we’ve found ourselves, we need to understand how we got here, and perhaps what the scaremongering looked like along the way, and how much of it turned out to be true.??

Digital technology’s arrival in children’s lives wasn’t seen as the dawn of some new age, it was a curiosity, a side-show. Arcade games, GameBoys and clunky educational experiences promising to make learning not only more effective but more fun, and I think they sort of worked. Digital experiences, when well-designed, do provide kids with opportunities to explore, create, and connect. A clean set of expectations and capabilities: ?

“I will head over to?this giant machine, spend 30 minutes learning my 8 times table in a less boring?way. Then eat some delicious turkey twizzlers, life is good.” ?

Even in the days of Encarta and NetScape, there were fears that we were corrupting the youth. The focus was mainly on violent games then, unfounded fears which are nevertheless still prevalent today. Another little sigh of relief.

"Am I just another worried parent fretting unnecessarily about whether playing too much Mario Party is going to ruin my kids’ lives? Are future generations going to laugh at my anxiety?"

However, a lot has changed since then. We’re no longer at the point where technology is a physical destination, there’s not a room in the house with a big dusty grey desktop and CRT monitor. It’s now an extended part of ourselves – carried around at all times – virtually joined at the hip. And the ways in which we engage with it have continued to expand and blur. It’s not now just a word-processor; it’s where you do your research prior to writing too, it’s where you talk to friends, it’s how you share and receive news, it’s how you unwind after you’ve finished working. All of these processes meticulously optimised to maximise your engagement, fine-tuned with hundreds of thousands of data points, from the colours to the notification ping sounds. We’re not playing Frogger anymore. Tech isn’t just the accessory we once believed; it’s now the main event. And with this dual role, part teacher, part entertainer, come benefits and undeniable drawbacks. ?

Let’s go back to those reassuring findings I was talking about earlier. Research from UNICEF’s RITEC project shows that digital games aren’t always the villain here; they can actually support kids’ development when used the right way. The study, which surveyed hundreds of children in several countries, found that games can actually promote emotional resilience and help kids build social skills. The trick? Games with an emphasis on collaboration, creativity, and exploration seem to foster these positives. When kids play games that allow them to team up with friends or create their own digital worlds, they experience that much-needed sense of accomplishment and connection.?

But, here’s the catch: not all games are created equal. Games that encourage creativity and problem-solving can be beneficial, but the ones designed purely to maximise engagement (think heavy monetisation, not skill-testing)?are less ideal. They hook kids without offering much value, keeping them entertained for hours while teaching them... well, very little. So, it seems like the trick here is to understand what games kids are playing, and to look to steer them towards games that meet these desired criteria. (Portal: Good! CandyCrush: Probably bad!) Thankfully, there are places you can go that’ve put in the leg work to sort the wheat from the chaff here. LearningWorks & Common Sense Media are where I’d recommend starting out if this is of interest to you. Failing that, getting your child to explain what they have to do in the game (or even giving it a try yourself) can be very valuable (provided you have the time/inclination). ?

Now we arrive at social media, which is already a far cry from Tom from MySpace, and many parents understandably don't feel equipped to talk about it with their kids as the landscape has moved so fast. The Royal Society for Public Health found that teens often feel more anxious and lonely whilst using?platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. The polished, filtered feeds of their friends?can easily lead to self-esteem issues. You don’t need me to tell you this of course, you know it already.

Teens also feel pressured to present an idealised version of themselves online, which, unsurprisingly, leads to that uncomfortable gap between their online persona and their lived reality. As Dr Donna Wick, a clinical psychologist, puts it, this kind of dissonance often leads to “imposter syndrome” - kids feeling they aren’t as “together” or “cool” as they appear. A negative feedback loop appears, where the communication these platforms facilitate becomes, with teenagers posting idealised content to keep up with the idealised content of their friends. Everyone's looking fantastic, everyone's miserable.

Wonderful. ?

Teens today are incredibly adept at communicating digitally. But when socialisation happens more online than in person, they miss out on vital elements of real-world interaction, like body language, facial expressions, and voice inflections. Dr Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist, notes that when teens rely on texts and social media to communicate, they lose out on those in-person experiences that build empathy and help them develop social skills. Texting and online messaging make it easy to misunderstand each other, which can lead to real frustration and even hurt feelings.?

This lack of in-person communication has another effect: it makes face-to-face interaction feel intimidating. Many teens today are anxious about phone calls or face-to-face conversations, with some describing calls as “too intense.” They simply haven’t practised the real-time social skills that in-person conversations require.?

Moving away from social media for a second, let’s look at how screen time affects concentration. This was a big worry for me. ?

Research shows that screens offering constant, stimulating content can make it harder for kids to concentrate on slower-paced tasks (like reading or homework). Teachers are seeing this play out, too, with many noting that students seem more easily distracted. But here’s where the nuance comes in: not all screen time is the same. Studies show that certain types of digital experiences, particularly educational programmes watched with parents, can actually improve attention and comprehension. So, the real issue isn’t screens per se, but how we’re using them. We’ve all been guilty of being relieved that a kid in our lives is quietly staring at an iPad, allowing us a well-earned breather – but; that’s unfortunately the most important time for us to get involved.??

Another downside to constant screen access??

Kids are missing out on (of all things) boredom. ?

As strange as it may sound, we’re finding that boredom is crucial for creativity and problem-solving. Researchers from the University of York found that when children rely on screens for entertainment, they’re less likely to engage in imaginative play or to come up with their own games. So yes, that familiar whine of “I’m bored!” may actually be a good thing. Boredom forces kids to explore, experiment, and create. So, while screens are often the quickest way to placate a restless child, they scratch the itch that our children would otherwise have to solve themselves, a reliable source of infinite entertainment can actually be a bad thing. ??

Speaking of bad things (though let’s not go crazy, there’s nuance here), let’s talk about a new(ish) element in kids’ media: AI-generated content. YouTube, which dominates children’s digital entertainment, has seen a massive rise in channels that churn out AI-generated videos at breakneck speed. Many of these claim to be “educational,” but experts (and me) worry that they often lack the quality control necessary to ensure they’re beneficial for young viewers.?

The trouble with AI-produced videos is that they’re often low on human input and quality (if it’s there at all). Some channels rely on quick, repetitive animations and computer-generated voices to pump out content that can be hard for busy parents to distinguish from quality programming. Stuff that’s purpose-built to be so keyword-laden that it comes up on the AutoPlay function that captivates many very young kids being entertained by?YouTube. ? YouTube?says it plans to introduce labels for AI-generated videos, but it remains to be seen whether that will actually make it easier to sift the good content from the junk. Now, to be fair, AI isn’t all bad, if you’ve read any of my other pieces you’ll hopefully know I don’t think it is. Used thoughtfully, it can enhance children’s media experiences. PBS Kids, for instance, is using AI to create interactive content that responds to children’s interactions, fostering a more personalised, engaging experience. But experts warn that without the right oversight, AI-generated content runs the risk of becoming what Dr David Bickham calls “junk food for young minds” - quick fixes that entertain but don’t really teach or nurture (the ‘boredom’ stuff I brought up earlier resonates here again). ?

Parents today have a tough job finding the balance between encouraging healthy tech use and ensuring that children are also experiencing the world outside of a tech context. And yet, a recent Oxford Internet Institute (OII) study found no definitive evidence that screen time is universally harmful, which is a genuine comfort. But there’s no denying that the landscape of tech today is?- a jungle. One filled with predatory apps, low-effort algorithm-soup?and?anxiety-inducing social networks. There’s real joy, discovery and community there too, but it all requires careful management. ?

Screens may not inherently be bad, as study after study continues to tell us – but neither are?sparklers or a pair of rollerblades. We, as adults, understand that these things require careful oversight.?

Many experts agree that it’s not just kids who need to be mindful of screen use – us parents (annoyingly) also need to set the example. Children learn digital habits from what we do, not what we say, so parents checking their phones constantly (who hasn’t been guilty of this from time-to-time?)?sends a clear message. ?

Establishing tech-free zones (like the dinner table) or tech-free hours helps keep screens in check and creates pockets of time for real connection. Dr Steiner-Adair also suggests a tech-free ride to and from school. Small rituals like these not only encourage conversation but also remind kids that they’re worth your undivided attention. If we model a healthy relationship with phones and computers, our kids are far more likely to adopt one themselves. ?

Another key piece of advice that kept cropping up is to help kids find interests they can develop offline. Getting children involved in offline activities that build skills and confidence - whether it’s sport, art, or music - helps them naturally diversify the time that they’d otherwise spend online. As ever, it seems to be about balance.??

So, where does this leave us? As technology becomes an ever-larger part of children’s lives, the goal isn’t to ban screens but to use them wisely. Research shows that tech has both the potential to enrich and challenge children, depending on how it’s used. Digital games and social media can foster creativity and connection - but only when thoughtfully designed and balanced with real-world activities. ?

So like; phones, games, iPads, YouTube, TikTok, are they good? Bad??The answer is unfortunately complex and usually a variant of ‘somewhere in between?’. There are real dangers out there. AI-generated algorithm-slop is definitely something to try and protect our kids from, as is excessive time on social media, but it truly isn’t all doom and gloom. The research isn’t anywhere near as damning as you might expect from the headlines.

A generation of kids raised with the accumulated knowledge of the entire species at their fingertips is potentially a brilliant, transformative thing – we just have to be present enough ourselves to show them how to use it.?